Event Focuses on Environmental Issues in Southwest Michigan
The Sierra Club Michigan Chapter
presents a screening of The Sky is Pink, a short film
about horizontal hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. “fracking”) by Josh Fox, the
Oscar-nominated director of Gasland, Tuesday, Dec. 4, from 7-8 pm at the
Kalamazoo Central Library, Van Deusen Room, 315 Rose St., Kalamazoo.
Southwest
Michigan residents concerned about the quality of their water, air and natural
resources are invited to this free event, which will focus on important regional
environmental issues such as fracking and the Kalamazoo River Tar Sands oil
spill and how concerned citizens can get
involved. The “25x25” effort – getting utilities to use 25% renewable energy
and energy efficiency by 2025 -- to make Michigan a leader in renewable energy
and energy efficiency will also be discussed. To RSVP, email William Strong at williamstrong@sbcglobal.net.
The Sky is Pink is an 18-minute documentary about New
York state’s urgent crisis of drilling and fracking, a brutal but increasingly
popular method of extracting deep-seated natural gas that recently has come to
southwest Michigan. Exempt from environmental regulations, fracking blasts 3-7
million gallons of chemical-laced water into rock to release gas. The result is air pollution and toxic water
wells that can produce flaming faucets, as shown in “Gasland,” and even
earthquakes.
The Sierra
Club Michigan Chapter has been working with legislators on a package of bills
to delay its actual practice in order to strengthen regulations to protect
people from the fallout of this dangerous process. Learn more at www.michigan.sierraclub.org/issues/greatlakes/Hydrofracking.html
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