National parks could become drilling sites as the Government speeds up the application process so fracking companies can start drilling within 6 months. But the Government and the Industry haven’t even turned up at any national debates, nor have they researched fracking’s clear and significant impacts. On the eve of the Global Frackdown, read about what we don’t know about fracking and what you can do about it.

While the oil and gas industry is working hard to protect its profits and drown out the worldwide demand for clean, renewable fuels, there is a tremendous global movement afoot to protect our air, water, climate and communities from fracking. Over 200 partner organizations around the world are coming together for an international day of protests on October 11, 2014, calling for an end to fracking. Enter your postal code to find an event near you or create your own.

In conjunction with the Global Frackdown, there is a major day of action against international trade agreements in Europe. A number of groups who work against fracking are participating in this event, which includes an anti-fracking platform. Find trade related actions

To date pretty much all debate between the sides has been mediated by the media; it is a contest based upon sensationalised sound-bites, not a debate based on the complex evidence. A few years ago this technology would have been subject to a thorough, independent evaluation by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution or the Sustainable Development Commission. These bodies were dissolved within months of the coalition government entering office in 2010.

What we have seen are highly partial reviews of these technologies, promoted by interest groups, the Government, or the industry. Not only this, but the Government has actively moved to curtail public debate through recent regulatory and policy changes. At the same time, the immature state of the science a few years ago has recently begun to mature – and what we now know is that “we don't know”. We know there are problems with unconventional gas production, but as yet there has not been enough work, and enough data collected in a structured manner, in order to definitely demonstrate the scale and severity of impacts.

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