McKibben’s Extreme Energy: “Why Not Frack?”

By Carol Pierson Holding

Bill McKibben, the environmentalist, prolific author, former New Yorker writer and founder of grassroots green organization 350.org, wrote a review of two books and a film on hydraulic fracturing for last week’s New York Review of Books. Until I read this piece, titled “Why Not Frack?,” I shared the opinions of Robert Kennedy, Jr., the Sierra Club and President Obama that the fracking process for removing gas from underground shale is the least of energy’s environmental evils. Infinitely cleaner than coal. Safer than nuclear. Less risky than oil.

Even the term “fracking” brings a host of reassuring associations. Frick and Frack comes from a pair of skating comedians who later conceptualized the Ice Follies. The moniker continued to be a favorite, from the pair of Chihuahuas on Dudley Do-right to the stars of NPR program Car Talk. Frack is the second half of a funny, loyal, hard-working partnership. Most of all, it is harmless.

To read more on Bill McKibben's "Why Not Frack?", visit the CSRHub blog >>