There’s been a lot of hullabaloo in the UK over the Balcombe fracking protests. WUWT reader Eric Worrall writes in with this comparison photo.
Original picture source: http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-08-16/anti-fracking-activists-camp-without-permission/
Here is a tagged version of the same picture of all the plastic high tech synthetics used by anti fracking protestors in England, captured in a single photograph.
![frackpic[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/frackpic1.jpg?quality=83)
It really makes you wonder – do anti-fracking protestors think nylon tents, PVC groundsheets, and plastics grow on trees? No doubt the tents also contain high tech synthetic fibre sleeping bags, and gas powered camp cookers.
Do these hypocrites actually think about what sort of world they would have to endure, without the cheap hydrocarbons, and cheap plastic synthetics, the petroleum source of which they oppose?
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An excellent way to express the hypocrisy that these people display. Is it worth sending the picture to the Press Association in London who might be interested in circulating it to all the British press, or perhaps just sending it to the Editor of one of the more friendly dailies? To get it into the press would be a wonderful coup for we, the sane minded of this world..
Reminded me of a years ago protest of Greenpeace with one of their ships against a local PVC plant in Italy (PVC is made by chlorine, the “element of the devil” according them). Someone of the factory visited the ship and did take pictures of all items made of PVC at their ship: from water hoses to a self-made chair from PVC pipe to the lifeboats, all PVC…
One word indeed: hypocrites.
I don’t think they get into this because they actually care about the environment. There are a lot of people in this world who do not really fit in anywhere, they drift about until they find a niche that gives them meaning, something they can belong to. They say we plan our life’s course age 7; if you reach age 8 and find you sole ambition is to own Malibu Barbie or a new pair of Nike trainers you may find yourself at a loose end later in life.
Steve B says:
August 23, 2013 at 7:34 pm
short answer – NO
Mate, when you have a second: look up the word rhetorical.
Kajajuk says:
August 23, 2013 at 8:29 pm
Consumers of plastics have their concerns with fracking mute by their consumption? Cool.
So as a meat eater i can have no objections to the way animals are grown and harvested for food. That’s brilliant!
As i use electricity, likely generated by nuclear power stations, mum is the word…shhhh
You missed the point, possibly because you’re too close to it to be objective. You can use all those products and object to them at the same time, of course. That includes eating meat and objecting to the way animals are reared. The point is: it’s HYPOCRISY.
It’s ignorance.
Sometimes I want to weep at how spectacularly ignorant many people I meet are. These are people that have been through higher education, but are so ignorant of the basics of science and engineering that the equivalent would be me not knowing who Shakespeare was.
P.S. I now have a blog of my own. Thanks to WUWT for inspiring me to get on with it.
Plastic protesters?
I’ve never seen so many stupid comments, most claiming hypocracy. Fracking is frought with problems known and as it is a new technique, some no doubt unknown – unpleasant suprises in store? All those items identified in the picture were made without the fracking gas from balcombe.
Let me see the frackers turn up on the doorstep of those who cry ‘hypocrite’ to do some fracking under their houses – see who the term hypocrite really applies to. There are ways to do things and ways not to do things – why are you a hypocrite if you protest against the ways not to do something? All those crying HYPOCRACY here are the ones needing to inform themselves and stop their nonsense comments, they are like sheep who think they know…
Caroline Lucas MP is seen in the centre wearing a red scarf surrounded by police
MP among 29 arrested at anti-fracking rally in Balcombe
Green MP Caroline Lucas was among those arrested at a sit-in aimed at halting plans to drill for shale gas in a West Sussex village
David, UK says: … “That includes eating meat and objecting to the way animals are reared. The point is: it’s HYPOCRISY.”
Not so: Hypocrisy is the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess. See Google, Wikipedia, etc.
The points that Kajajuk makes are fair. I may eat meat yet recognize that some animals are raised in ways that I don’t approve of. I might drive a car while regretting the use of resources. I can use electricity but not agree with subsidized wind farms or solar arrays.
Let’s cut the hippies a bit of slack and just get on with the drilling 😉
While it is true that it’s very hypocrite of these protestors, at the same time you are doing yourself a thin favor, because the first accusation globalwarmingologists always use against their critics such as you is precisely that skeptics are paid by the oil companies.
And in this post you are indirectly defending the oil companies.
I say it because each time I try to refute something, using or referring to you or NOAA data or whatever questions their “truth”, they basically say anyone who questions the warm side of climate change is paid by or works for the oil companies.
Cheap accusation denoting they don’t give a damn about investigating and bothering to collate information, but still, it’s a block.
Worrel: “… the petroleum source of which they oppose?”
Ann in L.A. says:
August 23, 2013 at 11:41 pm
What’s amazing that there is almost nothing in that picture that is *not* a petro-product.
===
What even more amazing is the plethora of venemous attacks on these people here, all based on the totally false pretence that they are protesting agains petroleum.
Reality check: nylon tents are not made from natural gas. 😉
Still , don’t lets facts get in the way. If they don’t agree with your selfish desire for cheap energy whatever the consequences (in someone else’s town) , they must be hypocrits, right?
Greg: your
Since they are protesting about injecting chemicals into the ground to extract gas ( not commonly used for making plastics) your whole article is pretty STUPID and you (sic) allegations of “hypocracy”(sic) totally unfounded.
Natural gas is generally used to make polyethylene, which is the basis for the most common plastics.
That fact makes your comment incredibly stupid.
Speaking of related hypocrisy, Dow Chemical is against the export of LNG from the US. They say that it will increase prices for US consumers. What they are really saying is that it will increase the cost of its NG feedstock. They are against the export of LNG, so that they can continue to export cheap plastic feedstock. Sadly, they have Markey and anti-fracing liberals as allies. Strange bedfellows.
so, basically, i cannot protest against anything, because i have been made into a hypocrite…i cannot protest against gmo food, because i eat it; i cannot protest against the bad air, because i am breathing it; i cannot protest against any chemicals, because i am using them and i cannot protest against bad land use, because i am part of the problem.
Neil: your
I’ve never seen so many stupid comments, most claiming hypocracy. Fracking is frought with problems known and as it is a new technique, some no doubt unknown – unpleasant suprises in store? All those items identified in the picture were made without the fracking gas from balcombe.
Fracing is not new. The first variation was patented in 1864. Hydraulic fracturing has been done since 1949. Since then, it’s been done in millions of treatments in North America alone.
It is almost certain that some of those plastics were sourced from fractured oil or gas wells.
Not long ago at the Guardian I brought up a very similar issue. I pointed out the thousands of products derived from oil and coal and asked other commenters how easy is it going to be to live modern life without fossil fuels? (HERE). The Guardian article is titled:
On Bill McKibben’s website called 350.org they boast about visiting different countries in the fight against the
weatherclimate change.Neil says:
August 24, 2013 at 2:00 am
Fracking is frought with problems known and as it is a new technique, some no doubt unknown – unpleasant suprises in store? All those items identified in the picture were made without the fracking gas from balcombe.
Neil, fracking is not a new technique, but recent developments in horizontal drilling allowed to expand the technique to near unlimited area’s.
Do you know how many fracking wells were drilled in the US and how many of them until now did give unpleasant surprises?
There are at least as many unpleasant surprises from so called “conventional” gas exploration: the northern part of The Netherlands is sinking, including (small) earthquakes, because of the huge removal of natural gas from the underground, despite lots of water pumped in the wells.
And as natural gas is currently the main feedstock for the production of ethylene in the US, the main raw material for near all plastics, it is highly probable that the plastics were made by fracked gas, if the plastics were made in the US…
A few months back there were articles about Green groups investments in fossil fuel industries. They really are a bunch of hypocrites. Al Gore being the very worst of the lot.
Jonathan Castle got their before me!
Greg says:
August 23, 2013 at 10:30 pm
They are drilling for oil, not gas!!!! A small but highly relevant point!
As to the comments about selfish desire for cheap energy, one may not be alone. Apart from the neo-feudalists & eco-Stalinists, I have a sneaky feeling the rest of us desire cheap energy, it’s what got the world out of poverty. That tends to put me & others in the MAJORITY! That’s why we tend to want every body to have it, no more guilt trips, but of course, then there’d b nothing left to protests about, would there?
As to materials, it’s wasn’t so long ago that the vegetarians & vegans were still walking around in leather shoes, if they aren’t still? Ho hum.
Re: Kajajuk
If you have the choice between factory farmed meat and free range meat then for as long as you continue eating the factory farmed meat you can have no objection. As for electricity, if you have no choice in where your supply comes from then by all means complain.
It is the availability of choice that renders your argument hypocritical. The tents, the shoes, the buckets, the paints, the ponchos are all available in other (renewable) materials. They made the choice to purchase the plastic versions. You might argue that they couldn’t afford the renewable versions, but all they would have to do is go without some luxuries to save the money. Fewer nights out, walking instead of driving, cheaper or no holiday etc.
Quote: Copyright, Texaco, 1990
Polyethylene is made from ethane, which is found in natural gas. Natural gas is found deep under the surface of the earth, usually in pockets of crud oil. Before the process of making polyethylene can begin, the oil must be pumped up to the surface, and the natural gas must be separated from the oil. Several difficult engineering problems arise when transporting natural gas to the surface.
Quote: After the oil has been transport up and out of the ground, the natural gas is separated from the liquid oil, into a gaseous component and a liquid component. This is done by flash distillation. …
Fracking is frought with problems – especially relevant when that fracking is done near natural resources and/or homes. You cannot tell me it is not a new technology just because someone did something like it in 1864. In 1864 they did not have the (new) technology to do what is being done today – would that be a fair comment? So to claim as you do is (engelbeen, les) not appropriate.
Fracking can be done well away from populated or even semipopulated areas, in remote areas, wastelands, etc, etc. They want to drill a mile from the village of Balcombe!. Can anyone here look me in the eye and say if they had a house in Balcombe, that they would not be concerned about fracking under their houses? If you think you can then I would advise you to go do some reading up on the subject…..
Quote: Hannah Martin, at the Reclaim the Power camp at Balcombe, said: “The camp has been a fantastic success in fuelling a national debate about energy futures and community rights, but the real heroes of this story have been the people of Balcombe who represent all those everywhere who are standing in the way of undemocratic, invasive and exploitative fracking plans.”
Hypocracy is the last term applicable to these protestors.
How bad are those chemicals? I’ve read that they’re pretty innocuous, and that one pioneer claims to have developed a brew that is so innocuous he drank a glassful of it in front of a reporter.
Also, how likely is it that they will leak upwards? I haven’t heard of any cases of that happening, just of methane leaking occasionally.
Also, isn’t methane safe to drink in moderate quantities? It’s not “poisonous,” is it?
Of course you wonder how they got to the protest in the first place, by horse?
Quote: In his first interview, Simon Greenwood, the owner of the Balcombe estate, where the site is located, said: “My extensive research has so far not found any reason, assuming the kind of safeguards that one expects to be put in place under UK law, not to consider [fracking] if an economic deposit of oil or gas is found and planning permission is granted.”
Greenwood is both the landowner and a member of the parish council, which gave permission for Cuadrilla to drill at the site, about a mile from the village
So to say they are drilling for oil not gas is….what? alan
How about this………….
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100429102920.htm
Rishi: your
so, basically, i cannot protest against anything, because i have been made into a hypocrite…i cannot protest against gmo food, because i eat it; i cannot protest against the bad air, because i am breathing it; i cannot protest against any chemicals, because i am using them and i cannot protest against bad land use, because i am part of the problem.
You should protest if you are given no choice. You do have a choice in GMO food. Buy organic.
The air you are breathing is cleaner than it was 20 years ago. But by all means, protest that you
want cleaner still. Just remember that probably means using natural gas or nuclear.
You have a choice in using “chemicals”. By all means, stop using them.
If you wish to protest against oil and gas development, then you need to do it in canvas running shoes, with natural rubber soles, while living in canvas tents, and wearing only hand grown and hand manufactured cotton clothes.
Otherwise, you are indeed just a silly, ignorant hypocrite.