Blog post #2

I have found two sources on the subject of hydraulic fracturing. The first source is tufts. This is a valid source because it is an educational site and it discusses the pro's and con's of hydraulic fracturing. This source does a good job of giving examples on how fracking can be dangerous. This source explains how the hydraulic fracturing process is carried out. It does not give as much details about the process that some other websites would. Tufts is focused on not only the bad things about fracturing, it also presents solid points on how hydraulic fracturing can be good. According to Tufts, fracturing provides substantial economic benifits and the problems associated with fracturing are very few. The next source I used for research was in The New York Times opinion pages. This is also a valid source because it is a post from a very popular magazine. Although it is an opinion post, the author adressed some of the pro's as well as some of the con's. The main focus of the article seemed like it was focused more on the con's though. This article dicusses how hydraulic fracturing can be harmful to local environments and also how fracturing contributes to the global climate change. Hydraulic fracturing has been going on in America since the 1940's, which is quite a surprise to me. I thought that fracturing started much later. I hope to find more sources that detail how many people are affected by this and also what the long term effect of hydraulic fracturing will be.

To what extent does hydraulic fracturing effect our climate?

The question I am asking in this blog is, to what extent does hydraulic fracturing effect our climate? I have heard that hydraulic fracturing is really not that harmful to our climate. I have also heard the contrary, that it is a very dangerous way to get natural gas and that there are some serious risks involved in it. To answer this question I will need to do some research and discover how bad it actually is. The process of hydraulic fracturing involves heavy machinery and drills that dig deep into the ground and shoot water at high pressure into the underground rocks. Once the water is shot into the ground the rocks crack and natural gas is released into a collection chamber. I have heard that some of this gas can leak into the atmosphere which is harmful. I have also heard that some of the chemicals that are used in this process can leak into the ground and cause water pollution. I am not sure how much this process actually effects our water and climate but it sure does sound dangerous. Hydraulic fracturing is in use in many of the fifty states. If it were to be outlawed then a huge number of people would be without a job. If hydraulic fracturing really isn't that bad for the climate, then I don't see a problem with it. If it is really dangerous and a serious risk to our water and climate, then I think we should find a new and less dangerous way to obtain natural gas. There seem to be a lot of pros and cons involved in hydraulic fracturing, so I am going to find out exactly how bad it is for the Earth.

Test Blog

This is a test blog for English 121.