focus," fracking, a memethod of getting oil at a rock, is raising concererns worldwide. coming up on "earth focus." >> the caribbean and does itit stretches out across the third of south africa's land area.a. mountains separate the land in two different habitats harboring the religious diversity and the desert in the world.d.

hear, a world-class astronomy project anand a farming industry that exportsts food d around the world producing 3.4 m million sheep p year. 7 million people rely on this desert for their daily existence. most of the a area is extremely dry with about 7-10 inches of rain a year. despite a short summerr rainstorm, all of the water comes f from wells drilled into the groundnd and pumped up intno thee s surface parking back totn older, slower 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 otherers, locked

into the basin might be asas muh as 400 trillllion feet of shale gas, the fifth largestst deposit in thehe world. 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 moment -- for what thee government hopes will be greenen enenergy, jobs, development. >> one of the issssues we have with t the long-term costs of fracking is that the governments and the oil and gas indusustries are very keen to proromote it tn the basis that it bringngs 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 rulingng at the moment? that is what they call

prosperity. that prosperity is that the cost of the prosperity of future generations, thenen it is not worth it. >> this group is part of a growing resistance t to natural gas production that t appearedeo 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 with huge wigs. itit 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 c complete,t is taken away and service trks.. this is a process cannot

hydraulic fracturing. the pipipes h have halls withh e extreme pressure drives the fluid into thehe s shale and crs it, releasing the gas and other chemicals. the millions of liters of polluted watater mixed with fracking lewis returns to the surface where the liquid must be disposeded 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 pollutedixture. this c c be 50% of everything coming up the well, mostly volatile organic compounds. potential pommells with h this process s are not just relegated to thehe fracking of the well bt

every aspect of reduction. the mainin is when t ty leak out of the sideses of f the shaft io the water table through cracked cases. also, the chemicals are mixed and sofas and stored in a large pond and a must be insulated from the college which is sometimes not done. once it is drilled and producuction, it can stillll be ininvisibly polluted. as much as s 9% of the methane d out of theay leak 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 allllow fracking fluluids and other ways to rise anand pollute t the watr table. and that goese lovove - goes set went to iraq, to the rock. our problem is 10 times, 100 times bigger.. you don't find these in the u.s.. >> the product is undnder such presessure thahat is alwayss log for these e preferrered slow pa. itit is believed in it will find his way up the gas wells. > whahat will happepen a aft-

100 years after the abandonment of the well. >> the latest signs from the gas fields of america seems to support his conclusion. according too 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 the industry can use. the government suggests that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created helping to offset the 24% unemployment. small-scale farmers believe that this is shortsighted.

>> it is thinking like this that scientists have been trying to instill in governmentnt and publblic health posisitions with oversight 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 gass industry. >> one of our staff set out to systematically set up a database in order to lolook 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 cause irreveversible changes in n their health led a life. -- later in life. are not willinghere to trade their long-term future for short-term gain. >> it will in fact our enenvironment and ouour undergrd water. >> northern poland. this is a picturesque land

forms, rolliling hills, and prisistine forests. the people of fish t the indedendent and proroud of their home. some are worried. borland has found itself caught in a global hunt for natural resources. the region around the city is rich in undergrounund gas and energy companies want to drill for it. to do so that have to use a controversiaial method knonown a hydraulic fracturing. in the u u.s., thisis has been linknked to a host of social an mental problems. these polish communities have heard the horror stories and don't want this in their babackyard. the industryry disputes such consent. >> we e allow themem to go o ank fofor us. we allow them to speak based on

misinformation. >> this is growiwing globally, into the u.s.,., into europe, ,d the world beyond.d. some countries have imposed a moratorium. others, including poland, have in place to it with over 100 concessions awarded. with overbraced it,t, 100 concessions at. this is an organic farmer. his farm s sits on a gas hot sp. he is worried about the impact on water sources in ee regioion,

rticularly of chemicals usedd in these processsses leak. hehe believes other fororms of pollutioion may follow. some do except t that poland's s rereserves are economicallyy impoportant but they are opposod to the frackining process itsel.

>> in this village in the grip of wininter, farmers a are alsoo concerned.d. they maintain they were given little information by the authorities or the gas companies before the drilling g began.

residents here say t the gas industry has presenteded a misleadingng image of f fraggin. fracking. the film maker behind "gas land" recently pledged sololidarity

with polish activists. >> there is no evidence that shale gas can be developed sustainably. there is no evidence that we can withstanand at this would mean for ouour climate. >> the i is no way to extract shale gasasithout using hydraulic fracture stimulation. >> your tracks the claims that committees have been left in the dark. >> i have been to poland. i've been in the meetings and villages with the gas companies, including chevrvron, and i exexplained what is happening,, what the process is. i don't believe that every single person has been left in the dark. >> he rejects that fracking will lead t to c contamination of wa. >> i don't believeve that we wil contaminate the drinking water or doing anything harmful to the environment. >> the crititics highlight concernsver drinkiking supplies. they say the industry has

embarked on a p.r. exercise to win over heaearts and minds. lolocal people sayay that the fracking has even n used the churches influence to convince people that it is s safe and tht will b benefit the community. we t tcked down the priests alleged to have been involved.

what's the potential i is brigh. it w will take some time. it will not happen overnight. pond is off for a greatt start with the early succecess that mighght be questioioble. you would expect to see that. you don't have an experience, knowledge, trying to get a pathway forward.

>> whatever ththe coming monthts and years old, those advocating fracking have their work cut out. down, you cangng smell gas. , you u can aree dinining smell gas. >> they h have takenn oil froroe nonorth sea. we will see what happens. >> hydraulic fracturing or fraacking involves pumping g a mixturure of water, s sd, andnd chchemicals into thehe ground in order to extract natural gas. the government lifted a moratorium on the f for anpaving thehe way

unprecedented-for gas. >> this is hugely contrtroversi. this is likely to lead to higher fuel bills. say that fracking is just part of a wider trend of exextreme enenergy extraction. >> we expect more to be done in the 14th round. as much a as 3-5 ofof the c cous up foror grabs and people are right to be concncerned about ts because the government is trying to change the system and local planningng. ththis is said that large investors can g go and gett apoveded. we are actctually seeing

production appliedor and wee have seen n areas of the coastline p preparing for coal exploratioion. three could come from o other countries but this has alalady arrived.d. >> to o cannot look at t a shels or frackining a as a single thi. whwhat we're l lookingng at is e energy. this is not just abobout technonology, this requires extreme fininance, extreme governance. to force these m measures throu, they are engineering thehe systm to allow the last exploration it -- the gas expxploration. >> the issue has become sensationalized. >> this has b bome the v viewpot or the image of fracking around the world. the media loves senensationalism and that h has now 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 a it letetter t to dd cameroron who is signed by membs of parliament. immediatelliling for ann ban on shale gas. are d delivering it from all regions. >> i think committees arare quie right to be very worried about the impact of drilling and fracking. we know that t there are e real risks of water pollution, for example. what we are talking about here is p potentiaially a huge numbef

wells. in some cases, we're talking about 3400, somometimes inn incredibly sensitive areas. in scotltland, thesese local reresidents arare using bototh tradititional water pollution, air pollution, and also f fugitives -- fugitive methane emissions. >> this s rmer is s concerned despite living a c considerable distanance from the proposeded developmpment. >> i is all part of one big landscapes system with the mountains to the n north and the nationalal parks to the westst. it is s difficult to separatatet whwh is going on.

thisis is quitete in landscscape coexext. >> ththe potential impact on the reregion's farmlandnd has alsoo worried committees living near to castro and operations. >> m my biggest fear is ththat s and itd is a green area is a very y important area. wewe distributute our cropops tr the u.k. parent of this kind of industry here, the amoununt off wellththat they need to make it viable were completely destroyeyed. >> this willll not bring jobs or .ecurities for the farmers there are huge unknowns about healalth risks, risks t to the water, t the offers. is susceptiblele at thehe best of times. there arere all sorts of risks associated and we need toto address that. we need a reliable future. this is very short t and

potentially disastrouous. > opposition grew draramaticy following an earthquake linked to expxport tory g gas drilling. > it will devastate the whole country. i cannonot walk away from this. peoplele need to know abobout i. once you know the f facts, they will sayay, stop fracking. led to a temporaryy nationwiwide moratorium. although this has been lifted, some remain in limbo. >> we are not surprised. >> in sussex, it is unclear whether fracking will go ahahea. >> t this is a a process i woult wish on anyone ananywhere. i think it t is a poisonous, potentially very dangerous process. here, we live in a beautiful part of the world thahat is classified of an a area of f the outstanding natural beauty. people have livestock, farms.

we have beautififul streams running through. it is a lovelyly place to live.. fracking and the indudustrialization of the landndscaped cou r ruin at.. >> forcicing high volumeses of water and carcininogenic chemics into the ground at the kind of presessure that t would f fracty in your old rock, relying on your own cement cases,, t that a leleak, it will go through, it will go into the ground water. it will leak into the atatmospherere. water n needs water, water gogos from e everywhere e to e everyw, you cannot separate it. you cannot t legislate for the vagarieses of subteterrean geolology. >> proponenents say much of thee opposition i is based onn misiorormation. >> if sosomeone makekes a mista, it leaks out. ii think p people are e foolisho

thinink that that was s some otr enenergy t that comes that t and of risk from that pops out of the g ground and produces e eney that has no c consequences or risk. that is s not possssible. > thehey're t trying to c cos that thehey will ditarefully. safe fracking is the oxymoron of the decade. [captions made possible by kcet television]

[animals screeching] man: l ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the executive director of the restorative justice for oakland youth, fania davis. [cheers and applause] fania: thank you so much. bioneers, you are blessed, you are privilegeged to have had tht presentation and to experience the many more wonderful presentations here at this conference. what--how amazing. as it was said, my name is fania davis, and i'm here to introduce