Eco-warriors

[Richard]

do we need environmantal protestors with a 'bee in their bonnet' costing plenty in Police time and money paid to prevent damage to legitimate business interests ?
It seems many people in this part of the world want to protect the environment in meaningful ways but doesn't the fauilt lie with themselves in many ways ?

[Anonymous1]

There's always two sides to an argument and regardless of right or wrong we need folk to present the "other view". Because Politicians don't always represent the views of the folk that elected them peaceful protests perform an essential part of our democracy.

[Richard]

there are indeed two (or more sides) to be considered and usually it is a case of 'nimby-ism' (not in my backyard) in the case, for example, of 'Fracking'
I don't understand what is the fuss, people need jobs and just like coal-mining underground, the extraction of resources has its consequences.

(and don't people use up precious land and resources to live and breed on just the same?)

[Mymblesdaughter]

I don't think it's nimbyism, many people in this country are against fracking. Why are the government giving people a say in wind farms but not fracking. Wind farms are much less harmful. This is a fossil fuel and something we should be moving away from.

People should have a say in what happens in this country and protesting is one of the only ways at the moment. Although those rights are being eroded.

I take it Richard you've never felt strongly enough about anything to Protest about it?

[Richard]

people have a right to say what is happening but in my view the 'Fracking' protest is about a potential threat that is not necessarily accurate in any case
If my gas heating bills are reduced by half owing to cheaper extraction via 'fracking' then I am all for it and technicians will soon learn how to make progress and reduce any harmful effects.

The fossil fuel debate is valid in that such fuels clearly damage the environment but unfortunately alternative technologies like 'Wind farms' won't be able to contribute very much as they are massively expensive and made in Scandinavia somewhere_ _ _

[Derek Jempson]

I think we should be very sceptical about politicians' claims - there is often a hidden agenda that has nothing to do with ecology, green fuel and the like. When North Sea gas was first discovered, I remember Margaret Thatcher claiming that, "Soon, gas will be so cheap that it will hardly be worth charging for". What a hollow claim that was!

[Richard]

I don't know about the time-scale of that one Derek
If you can control the supply you can control the price, assuming the demand is always there - even Thatcher would have known that so why did she make that claim?
If it was around the time of the Miner's conflicts then it begins to make sense, also if it tied in with North Sea Oil which was a 'cash cow' tax bonanza for the gov't.
Now these oil and gas supplies are falling off so the equation maybe has changed.
Whatever the answer the next hydrocarbon revolution is definitely centred on 'Oil Shale' and gas released by Fracking will be important in reducing bills because we are being charged more and more currently as the supplies of our own 'Natural Gas' are dwindling in Europe and we are paying through the nose to buy it from the Russians via 'Gazprom'.

[Allen]

No-one disputes people's rights to mount a peaceful protest, but a lot of these seemingly "professional protestors" appear to actively look for opportunities to provoke the police into action, so they can then complain about heavy-handed treatment.

Also, they need to know something about the subject of their protest. One of them was quoted in The Times last week as saying she didn't know anything about fracking, but was protesting because "it doesn't sound very nice".

And another thing, it's rather distasteful to see pictures of very young children carrying placards inviting people to "Frack Off".