We spoke to the anti-fracking protesters on the Triangle

Fracking has been a hot topic of late.

Climate change and how we are going to deal with it often clashes with the overwhelming need for fuel and power. It is a foregone conclusion that fossil fuels will run out within our lifetimes and this is a reality that is and frankly should be scaring people shitless.

Fracking is the practice whereby shale gas is extracted from the ground by injecting water (and other substances) at high pressure into the rock to release the gas or oil inside and licenses allowing oil companies to conduct exploratory activities for gas and oil have been granted by the government.

There are concerns that carcinogenic chemicals released as a result of fracking will contaminate water supplies as well as the risk of long term pollution. It has also caused several minor earthquakes in Lancashire, where fracking is already taking place.

As well as this, several big banks have been investing in fracking.

Barclays is the biggest offender, something which is well documented and was indicated by protesters, who congregated outside the Triangle Branch of Barclays yesterday to protest the bank’s investing in the practice of fracking.

We spoke to Sigurdi, one of the anti-fracking protesters about why they were there:

“I am a pensioner and I draw my pension from a county council that invests about 7% of what is a very large pot in the extraction of fossil fuels. I am concerned that public money is being used to finance fossil fuel extraction which is damaging the climate for my children and my grandchildren.”

“I am part of a small network of grandparents and elders, as it’s about the next generation and the generation after that and whether they’re going to survive with the way that climate change is going. So that’s why we’re standing outside this particular bank at the moment that has the worst track record for fracking.”

“We are also against all fossil fuel extraction and we’ve had actions done at Broadmead last year we carried an empty coffin through Broadmead on a busy Saturday in memory (and we were all dressed in funeral clothes) of those who are already dying as a result of climate change. ”

“It’s not just in the distant future, it’s happening now. In the poorest countries in the world you see rising sea levels and pollution which are all coming from our lifestyle of fossil fuel extraction, which is killing people by the thousands. So it’s the future but it’s also the present now.’

It was refreshing to have an older person speak up for young people as the older generation are often dismissive of the concerns of many millenials. His concern regarding the world that we will be left to contend with is certainly thought provoking and makes us question the ultimate cost of our insatiable quest to extract resources from the earth.