Crunching Numbers | 650 and 50,000

There are more than 650 hydrofracking products that contain known or possible human carcinogens. 50,000 Californians have already signed petitions to ban fracking in their state

["Numbers rule the universe," Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras said. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the theme from September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday.]


According to the April 2011 report "Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing, which was issued by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Minority Staff, out of 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products, "[m]ore than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or listed as hazardous air pollutants."

"Across the United States, people are waking up to the threat fracking poses to our environment and health," said Josh Fox in a recent Food & Water Watch press release about the grassroots movement in California calling for a ban on fracking.

Fox's Emmy Award-winning documentary Gasland helped to raise public awareness on the dangers of hydrofracking. Around 50,000 Californians have signed petitions by Food & Water Watch and CREDO Action supporting the ban.

"Once you contaminate an aquifer, you can't go back—just ask the residents of Pavillion, Wyo., Dimock, Pa., or Garfield County, Colo. The evidence is indisputable that this destructive practice must be stopped."

• Would you be OK to have hydrofracking occur in your community? [add comment]


• Do you believe that fracking is dangerous for the environment and drinking water? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Tell Governor Brown to ban franking in California (CREDO Action)
• Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter

PAST SERIES

• Ars Animalis: Looking at animals throughout the history of art
• Women's History Month: Remembering 22 women in science
• Purity Month: Looking at 100%
• Instead of This, Try This: Starting the new year with change
• Victory Month: Celebrating positive change through grassroots action
• Of Rice and Men: Cooking the world's most important grain for human nutrition
• 21 Days, 21 Reasons, 21 Recipes, 21 Quotes: Eating plants, loving animals
• Rich Dog, Poor Dog: Considering man's best friend
• Physicists & Priests: Looking at the relationship of science and religion
• Deep Space: Staring at the stars
• Gray Matters: Thinking about thinking
• Flower Power: Stopping to smell the angiosperms
• Animal Cruelty: Looking at the devil within
• Chemical Month: Exploring the vast laboratory of our daily lives
• Africa Month: Visiting the world's second-largest continent
• Reports from 2050: Imagining the future

image: NYC anti-fracking rally (credit: Owen Crowley, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC - The Amazon, Brazil, Flickr Creative Commons)