“Don’t frack our future.” “The climate is changing…WHY aren’t we?” “Fracking = climate chaos.” “Changing minds, NOT the climate.” 

These words were few of the many written on anti-fracking protest posters. Sept. 24, Bonita Vista High’s (BVH) Green Team wielded the signs inside of Sweetwater Union High School District’s (SUHSD) building in an effort to pass a resolution that advances the fight towards a safer climate in the future. Luckily, this moment called for celebration because about three weeks ago, their resolution was passed in a unanimous 5-0 vote. 

For those who are unfamiliar with what fracking entails, Merriam Webster defines it as “the injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources (such as oil or natural gas).”

With that in mind, Green Team aims to put an end to this practice and lend society a helping hand in getting one step further in the right direction, a world free of fracking. These progressive individuals acknowledge that fracking is not an environmentally friendly process. 

Fracking, while seeming harmless at first glance, is the root of exacerbation for many environmental challenges. As Joe Hoffman, writer for Teach the Earth, puts it “Risks and Concerns of Fracking [include:] contamination of groundwater, methane pollution, air pollution, exposure to toxic chemicals, blowouts due to gas explosion, waste disposal, large volume water use in water-deficient regions, fracking-induced earthquakes, workplace safety, [and] infrastructure degradation.” All of these consequences are primary contributors to the degradation of our sole Earth and we do not have another to fall back and restart on.

According to a 2007 report conducted on fracking, there was a staggering 310 percent increase in nitrogen oxide pollution due to the fumes emitted when the colossal rigs are drilling into the Earth. In these fumes, toxic chemicals are given the chance to spread. Among these fumes, “75% of the chemicals could affect the skin, eyes, and other sensory organs, and the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems,” as per Joe Hoffman. 

While some may argue that fracking does reap some economic benefits in fracking communities such as “produc[ing] an additional $400 million of oil and natural gas annually three years later, […] increas[ing] total income (3.3-6.1 percent), employment (3.7-5.5 percent), salaries (5.4-11 percent),” according to the American Economic Association, it is at the cost of wreaking havoc on the environment.

To combat this on a local scale along with Green Team, the state of California is working to end the fight against fracking. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, “California regulators haven’t approved permits for the controversial oil and gas extraction process known as fracking since February.” Due to climate change concerns, a total of around 109 permits were rejected by California’s Geologic Energy Management Division. As such, accompanied by the efforts to stop fracking in California, all the chemicals and environmental catastrophes fracking causes will come to a halt. Therefore, public health should increase.

Sure, the economic benefits from fracking oil are commendable, but they are only temporary, whereas the damage done to the environment—is forever. Green Team’s progress is one small step towards a healthier world.