What is Fracking?

Hydraulic ‘Fracking’ is a process being used in the drilling and recovery programs for oil and natural gas, here in North America and in other parts of the world, in oil fields that are past peak.

This process employs hydraulic pressure and results in the creation of fractures in rock structures that are used to open access to natural gas and oil in these porous rock formations. The fracturing is done from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations to increase the rate and ultimate recovery of oil and natural gas, especially in areas that are considered near depletion.

Hydraulic fractures may be natural or man-made and are extended by internal fluid pressure which opens the fracture and causes it to extend through the rock. Natural hydraulic fractures may be caused by volcanic dikes, sills and fracturing by ice as in frost weathering. Man-made fluid-driven fractures are formed at depth in a borehole and extend into targeted formations. The fracture width is typically maintained after the injection by introducing a proppant into the injected fluid. Proppant is a material, such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped.

The problems observed from Fracking include wide spread poisoning of water tables, aquifers, and wells...and as the Fracking forces oil and gas to be expelled, occasional explosive apparitions have occurred. More than would be considered rare...as the toxic effect spreads so do the problems related to Fracking.

This process is not new… being invented and first used in 1947…but it has been accelerated recently in many North American regions. But things are not always ‘normal’ when you use water and Fracking Chemicals to force oil and gas from their million year hold in the stone below. In just one incident of hundreds…a well blowout in Clearfield County, PA on June 3, 2010 sent more than 35,000 gallons of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the air and onto the surrounding landscape in a forested area. Campers were evacuated and the company, EOG Resources, and the well completion company C.C. Forbes have been ordered to cease all operations in the state of Pennsylvania pending investigation.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has called this a "serious incident".¹

1. ^ Gas eruption fallout, The River Reporter, June 10–16, 2010

World Water Day!

Today is United Nations World Water Day, which is recognized annually on March 22, and aims to highlight the importance of the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme for 2011 is “Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge,” emphasizing the effects of population growth in cities, industrialization, climate change and natural disasters, like the one currently unfolding in Japan, on urban water systems.

Consider the following facts about water and cities around the world* :
• 141 million urban dwellers do not have access to safe drinking-water.
• One out of four city residents worldwide, 789 million in total, lives without access to improved sanitation facilities.
• For the first time in history, most of the world’s population lives in cities: 3.3 billion people.

Water is the most important of our resources...and we need to solve these issues... clearn water needs to be protected, water access needs to be improved and we need to work as one-planet to make this happen.

Is Nuclear Energy right for the world?

We can be sure of one thing, the world is looking closely at their use of Nuclear Power. Many nations have shut down older plants for safety inspections, others have stopped all licensing and approval of new plants.

Achieving Sustainability

The world needs to find a way to create sustainability for all of us...and that needs to address the needs of the three E's... Environment, Economy, and Equity... supported for many cultures by a fourth E... Education.

We need to realize that developed nations don't want to sacrifice their quality of life, and they realize that economy is linked to environmental management...what some of us don't realize is that equity has been overlooked in the past and needs to be addressed in our planning for today's programs and for all of those in the future. This means that we must realize that we are the Shepards for our future generations, and we need to solve our problems and plan our programs in a way that will fully support the needs and wants of future generations.

Sustainability...and the Three E's ... these are necessary elements in our sustainable processes and we must find a balance between these now and establish processes that allow us to ensure we succeed in these areas in the future.

Caribbean Based Nuclear Power...not yet...but?

Is there any Caribbean Based Nuclear Power?

The answer is no...not yet. In fact the Cubans and the Russians worked cooperatively to begin a nuclear project back in the 1990s... but they did not finish the development. The Juragua Nuclear Power facility in Cienfuegos, Cuba in fact is in full shut down today... though the Cuban Government would probably consider finishing the site if there had been a way to fund it through a third party. Shut down unit 2 at Cienfuegos.

The reality of the failed project was that Russia pulled out after the USSR folded...they could not afford the hundreds of millions it would have taken in 1996 to bring one plant online, let alone both. That does not mean Cuba would not like a nuclear power option, time will tell as they move from their current political process to what ever evolves in the future.

There have been other nations that have wanted to explore nuclear power, but none have landed a project yet...though in 2007 Suriname began discussions on the possible development of a Nuclear Power Plant. Funding would be tied to aluminum production in a related project... so who knows... Nuclear Power may very well end up in the Caribbean and with it all the concerns related to natural and man made disasters.

Reactors... failure creates contamination...is that a reason to turn them off?

Japan’s Nikkei.com is reporting that the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 reactor was due to a meltdown of nuclear fuel rods in its insufficiently cooled core. This was consistent with reports of radioactive cesium and iodine outside the plant, as well as the suggestion that it was a build up of hydrogen gas inside the reactor that led to the explosion earlier in the day.

Others think the declaration of meltdown is premature. Regardless, this is a very bad nuclear accident. Considering that at least one person, a worker in the reactor, has died so far, this incident appears to be worse than Three Mile Island. Because the Fukushima reactor has been flooded and is not on fire, there is currently no threat of it rising to the level of the Chernobyl disaster.

According to reports only three of the six Fukushima reactors were in operation when the earthquake hit. With the others in a safer, shut down condition they were not subject to damage while operating. That does not mean they were not damaged, only that they were safe at the time of the quake, and therefore in a condition that was fully controlled. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, has vented gas from the contaminated structures to prevent overpressure within the damaged structure caused by steam pressures within the chambers.

The vented gas from the Fukushima reactor structures is predominantly steam, the source of which is cooling water pumped into the reactors to attempt to cool the radioactive rods that were damaged. The steam will hold some radioactive contaminant that will become airborne during the release...but will be rapidly dispersed into the atmosphere going from highly confined to broadly disseminated...parts per million to parts per billion...and therefore less hazardous to all life.

What we do know is that there is a real problem with the release of radiation to human and non-human alike. Our real question is "Should we turn off our Nuclear Reactors due to the problems that could come at any of these sites?"

Our best wishes for the Japanese

Let's start today's note with a sincere wish for calm and full recovery for Japan and the Japanese people. The forces of nature are far more powerful than those of man...and the ability to control nature are not, for the most part, within our reach.

The four elements... land - water - wind - and fire... these are the fundamentals of our world, and we need to appreciate them for their value to mankind.

Pakistan's Food Bubble process... (2)

Perhaps the most recognized cause of the food bubble crisis is the inability to effectively irrigate arable lands with recoverable water resources. Let’s take Pakistan as an example. This nation has a growing population of 183 million; it also hosts the largest livestock herd in the world…both of which put an increasing demand on water resources. Now add to that the demand for water to irrigate Pakistan’s wheat and rice crops. The Indus River, the primary water source for all human, agricultural, and industrial demand in this nation, is over taxed. A situation that is made worse by lower mountain snow packs and over utilization of Pakistan’s rechargeable aquifers.

If the water fails, crop yields will depend on precipitation alone…a problem for a region suffering from a multi year drought…yet overcome in 2010 by record driving monsoon rains delivered at an unimaginable intense rate which caused floods throughout Pakistan as never before seen in modern times. All of which was made exponentially worse by Pakistan’s intentional deforestation executed since the 1950s in order to establish cleared land for corps and grazing.

For Pakistan, at least, the food bubble is closer to its bursting point due in part to the demands placed on the land to meet the ever growing population, over grazing by its herds, excessive use of water resources, and the deforestation that is preventing natural recharging of now fragile aquifers. And this is only one example of one nation near the edge, there are dozens more.

The world population today is 6,903.325,000, and of this 6.9 billion more than 950 million suffer from hunger; hunger is defined as a scarcity of food that promotes malnutrition and underdevelopment to a broad sector of the population. This 950 million is a conservative estimate. Many sources would declare that this is truly an under estimate and that more likely there are 1.2 billion worldwide in abject poverty and suffering from hunger.

If this is an accurate picture of today’s global population, and if an increasing number of nations are in jeopardy due to producing food on a “Bubble” then what’s next? Potentially a global crash like we have never imagined. Food security is in the balance…unless we are willing to do something about it immediately, without the delays imposed by debate and governmental foot dragging and finger pointing, we may find out what our breaking point really is…and these are the concerns of today. What about when we hit a population of 8.5 or 9 billion later this century?

Man tends to be short sited. We often fail to consider the history that impacted past civilizations, many of which failed when their food sources failed; nor do we look down the road to where catastrophe awaits. In this case, less than 50 years out when water, climate, population growth and economic factors will challenge Food Security for all of us, and as an extension global stability.

Our time for action is now, not sometime in the future, and America needs to lead this effort. Our failure to do so will challenge our global leadership and threaten international collapse. Food security is not only necessary for all of mankind, it is simply the responsibility of all.

* Failed State Index as reported annually by the US based Fund for Peace think tank organization.

Potential for Conflict: Food …and the Security of Nations (1)

One of the most important but often overlooked issues of the coming decades is most certainly that of Food Security. This is an issue that in today’s world cannot simply be assigned to Departments of Agriculture, or the Ministries of Land Management. As of January 2011 more than 120 of the 195 established nations have been placed on the Failed States listing in an Alert or Warning status*, and of these most have food sustainability issues that must be addressed, many immediately.

More than 60 of these countries are incapable of raising the food needed to meet national demands which forces them to import record quantities of grain, due to reduced productivity and increasing populations, to feed their people. These issues in turn promote conflict, hording, black market economies, food diversion and social unrest (including food riots).

Many of the nations hovering just above the line are producing crops from a ‘Food Bubble’ posture. A food bubble is a situation in which, due to land, water, climatic, or economic constraints, production failure is eminent. Simply put, these countries are fast approaching, when the bubble bursts, a point where they will not be able to produce enough food for their populations. Not unlike 2008's housing bubble in the developed world, the global food bubble will be devastating and it will reach much farther down.

Warming or Cooling?

Conflict over whether the world is warming or cooling is in full force. It appears to be a political rallying point. The reality is that for most of us it is a real coin toss. Me, I try to focus on pollution...cause I know our pollution is bad, and I can't really prove warming or cooling.

For the moment however let's consider the history of the world, and what we know about the cycle that the earth has gone through for millions of years. Most of us learned in our early grades that there were ice ages...that means cold. As it turns out there have been several ice ages with massive ice drifts that pressed down through all of our regions...cutting river valleys, like the Hudson river gorge in New York State. The Ice Ages were real, and at points the entire world, save a few volcanic hot spots, was covered with a thick sheet of ice, hundreds of feet to thousands of feet...in motion, crushing weight and pressure...now that's global cooling.

Today our winters seem colder...as compared to the past few decades...but geologic terms don't care much for short stretches of time...decades are hardly noticed. Ice ages last centuries, that's plural. So a few degrees and increased snow pack this year and last make little difference, nor do excessive heat...as experienced in the summer of 2010. The Russians believe there is climate change going on based on 115* summers and dead crops... perhaps it is.

Ok, so there have been changes to the worlds weather in the past few years...are these demonstrating new trends...maybe, but are they a short lived cycle or part of something much broader? Guess we will have to keep watching. In the mean time...how about we try to reduce pollution so we can make water and air easier to use...you know, that human needs thing.

Cooling: http://www.isthereglobalcooling.com/

Warming: http://www.globalissues.org/issues/178/climate-change-and-global-warming