Resources - Environmental Transformations - page 23

Box 2.1 Fracking

Fracking (or hydraulic fracturing, to give it its full name) is a process that is deployed to extract shale
gas from the ground. It involves a two-stage process. At the first stage engineers drill down into
rock formations and lay a series of explosives. These explosives are used to breakdown (or 'fracture':
from where fracking gets its name) the divisions that exist between different pockets of gas within
the shale rock. The second stage of the process involves the injection of water, sand and chemical
additives into the rock formations. This injection process means that pressure is applied to the gas
deposits and that they can be released using well technologies.
The shale gas industry has been growing rapidly in the USA in recent years. The latest estimates
suggest that the industry could expand from providing 15 per cent of total US gas supply (as it did
in 2011) to 46 per cent in 2035 (EIA, 2011). Shale gas extraction is also starting to be developed in
the UK in an attempt to secure new supplies of domestic energy. Shale gas extraction is controversial,
however, because it is associated with a series of environmental side effects. There are concerns,
for example, that potentially carcinogenic chemicals, which are used in the fracking process, could
enter watercourses and pose a threat to human health and surrounding ecosystems. The use of
explosives in the fracking process has also been linked with rising incidences of small earthquakes
in the communities located near to fracking activities. Fracking activities carried out by the energy
company Caudrilla in the UK have, for example, been linked to small earthquakes that were
experienced in Lancashire in 2011.

Key reading

See BBC (2011) 'What is fracking and why is it controversial?', http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14432401
(accessed November 2012)

Gaslands

For a fascinating insight into the social and economic consequences of fracking watch Josh
Fox's film Gaslands. In this documentary feature film, Josh Fox journeys across the USA
to talk to people in the communities that have experienced first hand the side effects of this
energy extraction process.
For an informative review of this film see: Bridge, G. (2012) 'Gaslands', Area 44: 388-390

potash, phosphate and nitrogen in ammonia
(which are used as fertilizers in agricultural systems
- see Chapter 3) , salt (which acts as a preservative
in a range of modern foodstuffs and is used in a
series of manufacturing processes) and sulphur
(this is primarily used for the production
of sulphuric acid, which is used in a range of
commercial contexts including the production of
agricultural fertilizers). The fact that society now

2.2.2 Metal and non-metallic
minerals

If energy resources are used to power our modern
society it is metal and non-metal minerals that
are used to build the things we use and consume
in the modern world . Figure 2.5 i llustrates contem-
porary levels of global production of non-metallic
minerals. These non-metallic minerals include