In his own words: Bez explains his anti-fracking crusade

 

In an exclusive column for the MEN, Happy Mondays star Bez explains why he is campaigning against controversial gas extraction technique fracking

Paul Simpson
Bez from during a visit to the anti-fracking campaigners at Barton Moss.
Not sure how I came across it, but I ended up watching a YouTube video about how people in the United States are able to set fire to the water coming out of the tap.

I was confused. I’d not taken notice of the title, I was just gobsmacked as to how this was possible. This can’t be right.

This word fracking kept appearing, fracking – I thought it was an attempt at swearing or something.

So I start to research – OMG! The internet was alight with it. This new way to get natural gas from rocks! I just can’t get my head around it. 

I’d been doing some serious self assessing and my life was taking a totally different path to the one most think I’d be on.

I was getting into permaculture and the plight of the bees. Reading books that were life changing. Friends were introducing me to organic foods. I remember finding out about Monsanto and GM crops.

Looking into fracking more, I was almost over-run with the information out there – some really alarming stories. People falling sick, earthquakes the watertable being poisoned. 

This started me thinking about my interest in organic food and a permaculture society, how fracking would affect this. Simple really, when you think about it. If the water is poison then the food growing there will be poisoned too.

It is obvious that the powers-that-be still want you to be a slave to the machine. Renewable energy combined with a permaculture society would, in fact, be free.

The ability to produce your own food, your own energy, seems really attractive to me and I want to promote this way of life. Fracking would affect this. Fracking will pollute, fracking will keep you a slave to these massive corporations.

In my opinion, it’s matter of time before we see a serious incident in the UK involving fracking.

It’s an unsafe technology with huge implications for the health of us and our environment.

I’m working really hard at the moment. I’m hand-making bee hives, I’m auctioning some of my maracas off to buy juicing machines, which I’m donating to schools along with bees, hives and organic seeds in an attempt to introduce children to a different way if doing things.

Fracking has the potential to destroy all of my efforts and many others to live in harmony with our planet instead of hurting her.

I’m passionate about looking after our planet, just trying to do my bit in what is becoming a fight against greed-blinded rich types with no care for us or the planet.