Scratching my head

As more and more anecdotal stories pour in about methane gas coming out of people’s faucets in Central Pennsylvania, polluted wells and imbalanced inner-earth pressures, I am beginning to understand that gas drilling, especially those activities planned for the Upper Delaware River Valley, is a little bit like tooth decay. While you may religiously brush and floss, over time, the quality of your teeth deteriorates and there is an inevitable level of acceptance of fillings, root canals, bridges and false teeth.

When I mentioned the metaphor to one of my colleagues, she didn’t agree. “You can win over tooth decay,” she said vehemently.

By the end of the day, I had changed the metaphor.

“Natural gas drilling is like slavery,” I told another colleague. “There were many a good folk in New England, especially the early Unitarians in New England, who knew that slavery was morally bereft, but were too economically involved in the trade to actually have the will power to fight against it.”

I’m not sure he agreed.

What he did say in response was that he wondered whether we would wonder, ten years hence, when the area was a dark shadow of its pristine nature now, why we didn’t do more to stop its destruction.

And that question seems hard to reconcile in the face of our national policy and even stanch environmental groups who advocate that natural gas is a transition fuel.

Almost as an answer, the Word “office” assistant, that annoying "helpful" icon that answers questions, somehow turned on because of a inquiry that I had earlier today, scratches his head and raises his eyebrows. In this moment, he echoes my sentiments and seems almost prophetic.

So what do we do with these conflicting values, and how do we become totally clear about challenging our community to reconcile their willingness to sacrifice clean water and public health for economics and energy.

If I was cynical, which I don't think I am, I might ask the question, “What else is new?”