SALON, co-presented with FirstWorks and ecoRI News: Brown University Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Terry E. Tullis, Chair of the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council, on “Fracking, Earthquakes, and Carbon Disposal.”

While fracking has lowered current gas prices and made us less dependent on foreign oil, it has some negative consequences.  Ground water can be contaminated, and a dramatic incidence of small earthquakes has resulted from the injection of waste fluids produced by fracking. For example, Oklahoma now has a rapid acceleration of earthquake occurrences and more earthquakes than California. We understand why these earthquakes are occurring from laboratory and field experiments. The potential for more, even larger man-induced earthquakes looms as the Department of Energy begins “carbon sequestration” – pumping carbon dioxide down disposal wells to attempt to reduce future climate change. Join us to discuss the potential effect of our present practices on our future. We encourage Salon-goers to attend the FirstWorks presentation at the Columbus Theatre the following evening, Sat 11/21, of Half-Life, a multi-media event by L.A. performance group Cloud Eye Control, examining the psychological fallout of global disaster and exploring themes of human adaptation in a technological world (tickets available at first-works.org). Attendees are also encouraged to attend the Salon presentation on Fri 11/27 for a conversation building on the experience of these two evenings.