At Odds Over Land, Money and Gas

Upstate New York is home to many gorgeous farms, some of which have been in the family for generations. With the discovery of natural gas in recent years, some have been willing to turn away from their previous livelihoods in order for the assurance of the financial security promised by the gas companies. In response to the drilling that has occurred in this area, many are outraged to the contamination of ground water used for drinking and the deaths of animals due to the toxicity of the chemicals needed in the drilling process. Some residents see the presence of natural gas as a godsend, others see it as a curse, either way it has had a major environmental and social impact on this region.
With such a detrimental ecological bearing, natural gas drilling seems to benefit only a marginal group of the population. It leaves others who are blameless for these efforts with hard prices to pay such as tainted water or dying farm animals. Natural gas is not a sustainable measure for long term energy solutions and I think the focus should be turned to those that are. Instead of putting stock in a resource that will run out sooner rather than later, why not set aside land for solar or wind energy? We could even set aside effort to create engineered natural gas from the microorganisms that already produce the necessary methane. Though ideas such as these are still in production, they have less environmental impact and will have greater advantage years to come. We should not rely on quick fix solutions like natural gas which will do nothing in the fight against climate change and our energy crisis. It will in fact have only a grievance impact on our already drained planet and augment the ongoing environmental degradation. Drilling for natural gas has unintended negative social impacts as well, such as the rifts it causes between families and neighbors. It also propagates the desire for easily made money, creating cycles idleness and dependency others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/science/earth/28drill.html?pagewanted=1&ref=earth
"The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 11 Dec. 2009. .