A simple answer for all you panic-stricken Barnett Shale residents

Whew! Lots of Barnett Shale residents are just now joining the conversation. The two main things they want to know are:

1. How can we kick the can down the road?
2. How can we make this stop/go away?

Host a GASLAND HBO Movie Watch Party. The more people who see this movie, the more people we will have to advocate for better regulation and the more people who will be willing to do what I propose below.

The answer to your current dilemma is not “drill somewhere else,” or “send it to the rural areas.” That’s not the answer folks!

To answer #1: First, I happen to live in a rural area and rural areas can’t take much more, we are all drilled up. Besides, toxic water and air does not know where the county lines are. Denton Creek has foam that stands up several feet in places. Guess who drinks Denton Creek water?

It’s all one air and it’s all one water! You really need to get that concept. If all the well water in the rural areas gets polluted, then what? Where do you think rural people will get their water? Oh no! The surface water is also polluted? Now what?

Also please stop and think: We grow your food and the food your food eats. Do you really want a Cheeseburger in Paradise raised on drilling waste? Black Angus and arsenic anybody?

DRILL RIGHT TEXAS: Best oil & gas development practices for Texas Please print this out and deliver it to your local elected officials.

To answer #2: The fastest way to make this slow down is to stop your rabid consumerism. It’s supply and demand, folks. If you slow down your consumption, the demand will go way down and so will the drilling. Slowing down the drilling will give us time to get better regulation in place.

A few simple things you can do:

Say no to plastic:

• Stop using plastic bags!
• Stop buying bottled water!
  

  Imagine a typical plastic water bottle filled 1/3rd with oil: that’s how much oil was used to make it.

• How to stop using plastic.
• Take your own containers–glass jars, or recycled plastic–to the grocery store and buy in bulk. You can do this at the Cupboard in Denton and at Whole Foods and Central Market. I know it’s a pain-in-the-a$$ but what’s worse?

Recycle everything that is recyclable. This is so easy to do and not having curbside recycling is NOT an acceptable excuse. Find a recycling center and make it a family event.

• Put up some recycling bins in the garage or pantry.
• Let the children be in charge of sorting things into the proper bins. They love smashing the boxes down.
• Once a week, throw everything in the car and take it all to the recycle center.
• Let the children be in charge of throwing the glass into the bins because they love doing that. Be sure to wear proper shoes because there might be broken glass lying around.

Cut energy use in your home by 10%:

• Turn off the lights! Do you really need all that accent lighting and landscape lighting? If you do, then maybe you have room in your back yard for a gas well.
• Turn off all electronics that you aren’t using.
• Be reasonable about heating and cooling your home.

Cut energy use in your home even more:

• Use energy efficient appliances
• Don’t run the dishwasher unless it’s full.
• Get shower heads that conserve water.
• Buy smaller houses for crine-out-loud! Oh, don’t want to because you deserve it or it’s your right??? Then welcome to life in the GAS PATCH.

Seriously folks,

You need an attitude adjustment!

UPDATE: Read the comment about house plants and the book recommendation.

UPDATE 2: Petroleum products are inescapable and permeate daily life

Scary article about how petroleum products are in everything, even milkshakes and our blood! (I make my own milkshakes sans that yucky petroleum based thickener.)

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested humans for environmental chemicals and metals, it recorded 212 compounds. More than 180 started as natural gas or oil.

Note to CDC: Please set the TDSHS straight. They can’t seem to find Jack.

Note to readers: You can find shampoo without petroleum products in the shampoo or use a shampoo bar on your hair. I used to make my own shampoo bars and will again as soon as I have room in my kitchen.

As if Barnett Shale residents needed it, here is another reason to avoid use of petroleum products.

“Unfortunately there’s a very dark side,” said Carnegie Mellon chemistry professor Terry Collins. He said the underlying premise of the petrochemical industry is that “those little molecules will be good little molecules and do what they’re designed for and not interact with life. What we’re finding is that premise is wrong, profoundly wrong. What we’re discovering is that there’s a whole world of low-dose [health] effects.”

Many of those chemicals are disrupting the human hormone system, Collins said.