"earth focus," acking, a methodod of getting oil at a rock, is raising concerns worldwide. coming up on "earth focus." >> t the caribbean and does it stretches out across the third of south africa'a's landnd area. mountains separate the land in two different habitats harboring the religious diversity and thee desert in ththe world.

hear, a worlrld-class astronomy project and a f farmingng indusy that exports food around the world producing 3.4 million sheep year. 7 million people rely on this desert for their daily existence. most of the area isxtremely dry with about 7-10 inches of rainin a year. despite a short summer rarastorm, all of the water comes from wells drilled into the ground and pumped up into the s surface pararking back ton oldeder, slowewer time. farmers, scientists, and to these are worried that without access to clean water like this, this vast area will be economically devastated. this is the name of the desert, but it is also the name of a shale deposit. this basin stretches almost across the country of south africa. look on as a curse for some and a blessing for others, lococked

into the basin might be as much as 400 trillion fefeet of shale gagas, the fifth largest deposot in the worldld. since the moratorium on natural gas exploration was lifted in 2012, companies like royal dutch shell and others are lining up about south africa's door, waiting for the green light for what the momenent -- for what te government hopes will be green energy,, jobs, development. >> one of the issues we have with the lonong-term costs of fracking is that the governments and the oil and gas industriess are very keen to promote i it on ththe basis that it brings prosperity. what is this the talking about? are they talking about short- term gains for a few global companies and the government that is to be ruling at ththe moment? that is what they call prosperity.

that prospererity is that the ct of the prospsperity of future generations, then it isis not worth it. >> this group is part of a growing resistance to natural gas production that appearared t do whatever it takes to prevent exploration in this deposit. >> the problem of exploring is something there has never been a precedent of in the department of minerals. natural gas production in shale formations consists of three stages. drilling is down wiwith huge wi. it drills many wells using directional drilling techniques to fan out the wells like the drill had as much as 10 kilometers away in any direction. was the drilling is completete,t is taken away and service trucks. this is a process cannot

hydraulic fracturing. the pipes have halalls with the extreme pressure drives the fluid into the shale and cracks it, releasing the gas a and othr chemicals. the millions of liteters of polluted water mixid wiwith f fracking lewis returnso the surface where the liquid must be didisposed of. often near this with the liquids and volatile compounds can evaporate into the air. for the 8-day year life of the well, trucks must take away the polluted mixixtu. this can be 50% of everythg comi up the wl,ostly latile oanic cpounds. potentntl pommellsith this procs are not st relelated the frackinof t well but

every asct of reduction the mamains whwh ty leleakut ofhehe ses of e shsht into the water tablehrough craed cas. also,he checals areixed ansofas d storedn a lge po and a mt be insated from the colge whichs sometimenot done on it is drilled and producti, it ctille visibly pouted. as much as 9% of theethane and o of theay lk well. most shale basins are even flat and maintain a fairly regular deep layer with you a hard rock contractions that would allow water to move upward. dog did from the university of the free state supported natural gas extraction until he embarked on instead of the geology of the desert. he fears that political pathways

made by lava flows will allow fracking f fluids anand oththers to rise e and pollllute the watr table. and that goesove -- goeset went to iraq, to the rock. our proboblem is 10 times, 100 times bigger. you don't find these in the u.s.. >> the product is under sucuch pressure that is always looking fofor these prefererred slolow . it is believed in it will find his way up the gas wells. >> w what willll happen a after-

100 years after the abandonment of the well. >> the latest signs from the gas fields of america seems to support his conclusion. according to the study, and another from cornell university, wells are leaking gas and other chemicals into the air of a rate of about three times what t the industry can use. the government suggests that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created helping to offset thehe 2 24% unemployment. small-scale farmers believe that this is shortsighted.

>> it is thinking like this that scientists have been trying to instill in govevernment a and public heaealth positions with ovsisight over the drilling activities. what is in the nature? nobody knows for sure and most companies and not telling. this group has worked with the u.s. national science foundation and the massachusetts institute of technology to uncover a list of 246 products used by the natural gagas indusustry. >> one of our staff set out to systematically set up a database in order to look at the long list of chemicals that we have at hand. those products that have health 1%-6% effect.ave 43% of the product on our list

contained in the quinn disrupt the chemicals that could interfere with the development of individuals before they are born and causese irreversible changes in their health led a life. -- later in life. are not willingherere to trade their long-term future for short-term gain. >> itit will in fact our environment t and our undergroud wateter. >> northern poland. this is a picturesque land

forms, rolling hills, and pristine f forests. the pepeople of fish the independent and proud of their home. some are worried. borland has found itself caught in a global hunt for natural resources. the region around thehe city is rich in underground gas and energy companies want to drill for it. to do so that have to use a cocontroversial l method known a hydraulic fracturing. in the u.s., , this has been linked to o a h host of social mental problems. these polish communities have heard the horror stories and don't want this in their backyardrd. the industry disputes s such consent.t. >> we allow them to go and s spk for us.. we allow them to speak based on

misinformation. >> this is growing globally,y, into the u.s.s., into o europe,d the e world b beyond. some countries have imposesed a moratorium. others, incncluding poland, have in place to it with over 100 concessions awarded. with overbraced it, 100 concessions at. this is an organic farmer. his farm sits on a gas hot spot. he is worried about the impact on water sources in the region,

particularly of chemicals used inin these processes l leak. he belieieves other forms off pollution may y follow. some do except that poland's gas reserveves arere economically importantt but they arere opposd to the fracking process itself.

>> in this village in the grip of winter, farmers are also concerned. they maintain they were given little information by the authorities or the gas companies before the drilling began.

residedents here say the gasas induststry has presented a misleading imagege of fraggigin. f fracking. the film maker behind "gas land" recently pledged solidarity

with polish activists. >> there is no evidence that shale gas can be developed sustainably. there is no evidence that we can withstand what this would mean for our climate. >> there is no w way to extract shale gas withohout using hydraulic fracture stimulation. >> your tracks the claims that committees have been left in the dark. >> i have been to poland. i've beeeen in the meetings and villages with the gas companies, including chevron, anand i explainened what is h happening, what the process is. i don't believe that every single person has been left in the dark. >> he rerejects that fracking wl lead to contamimination of wate. >> i don''t believee that we wil contaminate the drinking water or doing anything harmful to the environment. >> the critics highlhlight concererns over drinking supupp. they say thendustry has

embarked on a p.r. exercise to win over hearts anand minds. local pepeople say that t the fracking has even usused the churches influence to convince people that it is safe a and tht will benefitit the community. we tracked down the priests alleged to have been involved.

whatat's thee potential is brig. it will take some time.e. it will not happen overnight. poland is s off for a great stat with the earlyly success thahat might be questionable.e. you would expect to see that. you don't have an experience, knowledge, trying to get a pathway foforward.

>> whatever the coming months and years old, those advocatingg fracking have their work cut out. down, you cang smell gas. , , you canou are dining smell gas. >> they have tataken oil from te north sea. wewe will see what happens. >> hydraulic fracturing or frackingg involvess pumpiping a mimixture of water, sand, and chemicalals into the groround in ororder to extract natural gas. the government lifted a moratorium on the for ann paving the way

unprecedented-foror gas. >> this is hugely controversisi. this is likely to lead to higher fuel bills. say that fracking is just parart of a wider trendf extremee energy extraction. >> we expect more to be done in the 14th round. as much as 3-5 5 of the countrys up for grabsbs and peoplple are riright to be concernedd about s because the government is trying to change the system and local planning. this is said that large investors can go and get approved. we arere actually seeing

production applied for a we haveve s seen areas of the coastltline prepararing for coal explororation. three could come froro other countries but this has alreadyy arrived. >> to cannotot look at a shell s oror fraracking as a sisingle t. what we're lookingng att is exte energy. this is not just about tetechnology,, thiss requires extreme finance, , extreme govevernance. to force these measurereshrough, they are e engineering the systm to allllow the lastt expxploratt -- the gas exploratition. >> the issue has becomome sensationalized. >> this has becomome the vieiewt or t the ige of fracking a aroud ththe world. the media loves sensationalisism and that has nowow transcended e

entire scientific evidence that says that fracking is safe. >> fearing the worst, communities up and down the country have begun to mobilize. >> this is s a it letter to davd cameron who i is signed by membs of parliament. immediatecalling foror an ban on shale e gas. a are deliverering it from all regions. >> i thinknk committees are quie right to be very worried about the impact of drilling and fracking. we know t that there e are real risks of water pollution, for example. what we are talking about here is potentially a huge number of

wells. in some cases, we're talking about 3400, sometimeses in incredibly sensitive areas. in scotland, t these localal residentnts are usingng both traditionall water pollution, air pollution, and alalso fugitives -- fugigite methane emissions. >> this farmerer is ncererned despite living a considederable didistance from ththe proposed development. >> is all l part of one big landscapes system with the moununtains to the north a and e nanational parksks to the west. it is difficicult to separate ot what is s going on.

thisis is quite in landscape context. >> the popotential impact on the region''s farmrmland has a also worrrried committees living near to castro and operations. >> my biggggest fear is that ths andtand is a green area is a very importrtant area. we distrtribute our r crops to r the u.k. parent of this kind of industry here, the amount of wells s that they need to makakt viable were e completely destroyed. >> this will not b bring jobs or .ecurities for the farmers ththere are huge e unknowns abot health risisks, r risks to the wateter, the offers. is susceptible at the best of timeses. there are all sorts of risks asassociated and we neeeed to addrdress that. we need a reliable future. this is very short and

potentially disastrous. >> opppposition grew dramaticacy follllowing an earththquake lind toto export tory gas drilling. >> it wiwill devastate the whole country. i c cannot walklk away from thi. people need d to know about it.. once you know the facts, , they will say, stopop fracking. led t to a temporary natitionwide mororatorium. although this has been lifted, some remain in limbo. >> we are not surprised. >> in sussex, it is unclear whether fracking wilill go ahea. >> this isis a p process i woult wish o on a anyone anywherere. i think it is a poisonous, potentially very dangerous process. here, we live in a beautiful part of the world that is classisified of an area o of the outstanding natural beauty. people have livestock, farms.

we havee beautiful strtreams running through.h. it is a lovely place to lilive. fracking a and the industrialalization of the landscaped could ruin that. >> f forcing higigh vololumes of water r and carcinogenicic chems into the ground at the kind of pressure t that wouldd fractioiy in y your old r rock, relying on your own cemenent casases, thata leak, itit will go through, it will go into the ground water. it will leak into o the atmohehere. waterr needs w water, water goes frfrom everywhwhere to everywhw, you c cannot separate it. you cannonolegislate for the vagagaries of sububterranean geology. >> propoponents sayay much h ofe opposition is s sedd on misinforormation. >> i if someone e makes a mista, it leaks out. i thihink people e are foolisiso

think thatat that was some other energy that comes t that any kid ofisk from t that pops out of the groundd and produces e enery that has no conseququences or risk. ththat is not possssible. >> they're trying g to convincns that they will do it carefully. safe fracking is the oxymoron of the decade. [captions made possible by kcet television]

8úxúbq

[applause] [captions made possible by kcet television] the mostt generous audience in the world. the only time you can get a standing ovation before you have said anything. [laughter] thank you. i want to share something. i woke up this