Since 2012, the Global Frackdown – an international day of action initiated by Food & Water Watch to ban fracking – has helped connect activists across the globe and demonstrated the growing power of the movement to stop fracking, gas infrastructure, sand mining and other related extraction methods. This movement is fueled by increasing scientific evidence of the impact of fracking on water, air, health, seismic stability, communities, and the climate on which we all depend.
This year groups from around the globe – moved by our joint spirit of “Not here or anywhere!” – rallied again in solidarity for a Global Frackdown.
People all over the world showed their commitment to a common future that is free of fossil fuels, including the very personal story of Canadian Jessica Ernst on how she took legal action against the oil and gas company Encana and the Alberta government; the joint letter of environmental groups targeting Members of the EU-Commission and Member States representatives against the prioritization of fossil gas infrastructure projects through a “List of Projects of Common Interest”; the trans-atlantic livestreamed discussion about the fracked gas transfers from Pennsylvania, across the Atlantic to Scotland and Norway; the rally and demonstration against the so-called “silver lake”, in Germany; the „blew bubbles action“ in Nottinghams’s Market Square in the UK; the protest for a fracking-free region in Murcia, Spain; and the celebration of the Irish fracking ban in Leitrim.
We can be really proud of big successes of our movement in 2017 – such as the fracking ban in Victoria, Australia, the ban in Ireland, the indefinite moratorium in Scotland, the fracking ban in Maryland, and the partial ban and extended moratorium in Western Australia.
But the strong push to import fracked US LNG to Europe, the increased misleading advertising from the industry that gas is „renewable“ and recent unnatural disasters such as Ophelia and devastating wildfires, force us to continue fighting the fossils.
For us this means that in order to win, we need to continue to organize worldwide. It will require a strong, and likely tedious, struggle for at least a few more years to come.
It also means that we’ll need more Global Frackdown Days of Action — but we won’t stop until the work is completely done to keep fossil fuels in the ground. It’s as simple as that.
P.S.:
Creative and colourful actions continued until the end of the year– in particular in the UK. Groups around the world had the opportunity to sign the international letter to stop fracking – over 180 organisations followed our call.