On Saturday night, at the home of some friends in the Catskills region of upstate New York, I attended an informal screening of Gasland – the anything-but-uplifting new documentary by Josh Fox about the plague of natural gas drilling in the U.S. (HBO will air the film through 2012, and it’s also currently playing at a few select U.S. theaters. It won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year.)
We’ve already mentioned Gasland several times on Blisstree, but this is the first time we’ve seen it ourselves. (I’m a resident of upstate New York, so the issue is particularly important to me.) But first thing’s first: This is Fox’s first documentary, and it shows. This Pennsylvania resident is unquestionably passionate about protecting his own land from natural gas hydraulic fracturing, but he’s way too interested in putting himself in front of the camera instead of focusing on the compelling and disturbing story at hand. He’s also a fan of artistically beautiful cinematography, which, in this case, repeatedly makes you want to yell “Go make an art film!” at the screen.
But I’m not a film critic, and this isn’t a movie review.
Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a method used to harness the earth’s abundant supply of natural gas. Proponents of the process will tell you that it’s clean energy that will cure us of our dependency on foreign oil by using our own natural resources. Problem is, as an energy source, natural gas is at least as dirty as oil production, if not more so. It’s basically like trading one nasty, addictive habit for another. More »
