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Food Not Fracking!

Posted 10 years ago on March 31, 2014, 6:56 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt (1) from Plainfield, NJ

It's no secret that NY is under attack by shale gas infrastructure: pipelines, compressor stations, waste dumps, storage facilities, LNG ports...However, we have held off on the actual high volume horizontal fractured drilling, in big part due to the incredible grassroots organization that has mobilized around the issue.

By looking at present day West Virginia, still suffering with no water at the hand of fossil fuels, and western Pennsylvania where the industry is taunting, suing and putting restraining orders on citizens who speak up, we are looking into New York's future, unless we mobilize around the few shots we have to protect what is left in New York State and change the course of history, set a precedent for the future of energy policy in the nation and be leaders in the Renewable Energy Revolution.

Our organization, Sane Energy Project, decided to organize a tour of New York State. A listening tour: Food Not Fracking! Organizing an alliance based on the beautiful painting by Will Sweeney, we have built a giant network of farmers, vintners, breweries, distilleries, food CoOps, CSA's, restaurants... All businesses that rely on clean water, air and soil to survive.

We hit 7 areas of NYState and met with incredible farmers who are bright, hard-working, creative... but struggling. This is a good problem. With our creativity and work ethic, we are building a growing alliance to promote their farms, to educate the public on what it takes to get the food to your plate, and to reach into the growing "locavore", organic and anti-GMO food craze to promote frack-free-food as something of high value. The stronger this alliance grows, the louder consumer demand gets, the harder it will be for the gas industry to do business here, given that the NYC public school system is mandated to buy local NY food, this is also another "in" on promoting safe, frack-free-food.

Granted, we will still have to continue our work on fighting the infrastructure projects that is undermining public health and our democracy while pushing for renewable energy implementation, we also have a valuable resource to protect and promote that is overflowing in New York: a stunning, world-renowned wine region on the Finger Lakes, incredible dairy farms making delicious small patches of cheeses, apple orchards galore. Food Not Fracking is one way to develop a powerful and positive resistance against a poisonous industry that feeds directly into Wall St.

To learn more and get involved in Food Not Fracking, visit our website at http://www.foodnotfracking.org and keep your eye open for a musical and artistic Food Not Fracking Festival this July on a gorgeous farm by connecting with us on http://facebook.com/FoodNotFracking

Kim Fraczek is a member of Occupy the Pipeline and the People's Puppets of OWS. While fighting the Spectra Pipeline in NYC, she collaborated with the organization Sane Energy Project, who had been mobilized around fighting the project prior. She now works as the coordinator of Sane Energy Project.

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