I am really trying my hardest not to start every blog with the line "we had a lovely day" - however, its tough when every time we do something, it is a lovely day.
We set off to ask people of Lancashire to send a message to the county councillors, telling them that we don't want fracking, and to not let Cuadrilla have licences to frack. The Preston group were joined by Jess and Elliott from Manchester and Greg from Liverpool, and together we set up our frackometer in the town centre. Having never used a frackometer before, it took us a bit of time to set up, but finally we got it up and running.
What is a frackometer?
Its the same as a test your strength machine, only it has various fracking facts along it - people hit it with a hammer, in an attempt to ring the bell at the top. People shopping in Preston loved it - in fact, they loved it so much, they broke it! We managed to get around 150 people to sign postcards to our councillors, and I am sure we could have got more, but people wanted to tell their stories, of concerns about fracking in Lancashire. Worries varied from the legacy we are leaving our chldren, to water contamination, to dropping house prices.
Most people were in agreement that fracking is not the answer, although a small minority said they thought fracking was a good idea, with misconceptions of cheaper energy prices and what else could we do with energy running out? Some didn't want to listen to our replies - that energy will not be cheaper and that even Cuadrilla have stated this, and that there are alternatives such as renewables, and that even if shale did produce, it won't until the late 2020's or 2030's anyway.
Granada television turned up to see what we were up to, and did an interview. The reporter said they were looking to do a more in depth programme on fracking, so she might only use a little of what we were doing today, and she was true to her word - we were briefly on the local news that night.
We stayed for four hours, and then took our frackometer down, and went home to have a cup of tea and count our cards. It had been a good day, engaging with the public, who on the whole seemed to to agree with us. Lets hope now that our county councillors feel the same way, and say no to Cuadrilla.
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