Fracking at UNC: Josh Fox wants Colorado to take action

            On November 15 filmmaker and activist Josh Fox came to UNC to talk about fracking, the subject of his documentary "Gasland." Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is  a way to extract natural energy from under the ground. This is important to the UNC community because the board of directors accepted money to allow fracking under the campus last year.

            Fox found himself in a similar situation, though on a smaller scale, in 2008. He was offered money to allow fracking on the land his family home sits on. He decided to decline and didn’t think too much of it until the topic came up repeatedly while he was going door-to-door campaigning for President Obama. People were nervous about the dangers of fracking and wanted to know the candidates’ stances on it.

            Fox decided to make a short film to show his neighbors, encouraging them not to accept the offers of money that were pouring in from the fracking industry. While in the process, he saw sick kids and pets and realized the issue was bigger than he’d imagined.

            “There was something deep and desperately wrong with this,” Fox says. The short film for his neighbors became “Gasland,” the documentary that has won awards and earned Fox constant vigilance from the oil and gas industry.

            Fox told students that the danger of the situation, from sickness to water catching on fire, is covered up by politicians on both sides who see the financial benefits.

            “I watched expert after expert lie to Congress and say it was safe,” says Fox. He encouraged the audience to take a stand against fracking, which he thinks is possible and important since Colorado is a decisive state, recently having made a major impact on the outcome of the presidential election.

            “The social contract has been completely fractured and mauled, shredded, by the oil and gas industry,” says Fox of the claims that fracking is safe and offers of money that is sometimes accepted out of need.

            Fox suggested the audience fight against fracking at UNC, even if it means civil disobedience. “Tell this university in no uncertain terms that what they’ve done is totally unacceptable,” he says.

            Local research biologist Shane Davis, who joined Fox on stage after the talk, agrees that fracking must be stopped in Colorado. “Someday they will put a fence around Weld County, I guarantee it, it’s a disaster site,” says Davis of the future if fracking isn’t stopped soon. Davis runs the website Fractivist.

            Junior voice major Janette Ruiz was in the audience, and said she learned a lot from the talk. “I knew that it wasn’t exactly safe, but a lot of this information still baffled me,” Ruiz says of the dangers Fox warned about. 

UNC Election Night Party

            Election night, past gyms full of students running and playing basketball, the UNC Rec Center was holding an election results party. On one end of the gym, in front of bleachers, was a large inflatable screen showing CNN coverage of live election results.

            When the party started at 7, a few students sat on the bleachers, but more were milling around the gym. There was a table full of pizza and sodas as well as several games students could play to win tickets for prizes like sunglasses and gift cards: trivia, pin the tail on the donkey and elephant, red and blue “sumo” wrestling, flying disc toss into slots with President Obama or Governor Romney’s photos on them.

            As the night wore on, though, the crowd at the bleachers grew larger and louder. When a candidate was projected winner of a state, their supporters would cheer and wave their plastic slappers. The block of students for Obama was larger, but a vocal group supporting Romney formed as well.

            While the results came in students on both sides of the aisle were excited, but nervous too. “I am excited but I’m also fearful,” said junior art and design major Samantha Valenzuela, an Obama supporter. “I feel nauseous, I really do,” said junior accounting and elementary education major Africa Kosky, a Romney supporter.

            The energy was certainly high, and students in attendance expressed belief that the election matters and the outcome had the potential to change their lives. Both Valenzuela and Kosky were active during the campaign, even seeing the candidates speak in person.

            “I voted for President Obama because he stands up for students, he stands up for women, he stands up for all the things that will build a better economy,” said Valenzuela, adding that she found Obama very relatable when he spoke in Fort Collins because he said he had only paid off his student loans a few years ago.

            Kosky was equally enthusiastic for Romney, having met him as well as Paul Ryan and both of the candidate’s wives. “Where do you even get started?” she enthused about her belief in Romney,  “he doesn’t want to take away Obamacare completely, just alter it so our taxes can be more beneficial.” In addition to healthcare reform, Kosky finds Romney relatable because of his faith and family values.

            For much of the evening the results were trickling in, leaving the electoral count for each candidate fairly stagnant. Then the numbers started pouring in, and President Obama was projected to have won his bid for re-election. The gym erupted in cheers and moans. Party attendees hurried out through the rest of the rec center, where students not attending the party were frantically checking their phones and telling friends the results of the election. Outside people yelled “Whoo!” and “Obama won!”