It is a glorious day for a bike ride. The sun shines through the bows of the trees above, flashing like a strobe light between the shadows of the leaves. The two of you ride past huge overgrown hedges along the riverside trail to the park, where there is a cluster of fair trade shops, a locally owned coffee bar and microbrewery. You sit on the terrace of the latter, basking in the half sun half shade, and order some food.
Sipping on a frosty pint, you elaborate on the job offer and the decision you have to make while you wait for your food to arrive.
“Sounds like a great opportunity. You might end up saving this river after all!”
“The thing that worries me,” you explain, “is that I can’t tell if they’re genuinely concerned or if they’re just trying to greenwash their campaign. I don’t want to put my name behind a candidate and work on getting them elected unless I really think it’s going to make a difference. I don’t care about who wins the election. If future generations can’t enjoy a healthy environment then it doesn’t matter.”
“Well that’s very honourable of you,” says Jessie raising their glass, “but if you really want to know where they stand, how about you ask them something a little more controversial? It’s easy to pick on small polluters, but what do they think about all this fracking that’s going on? Never mind the local eco-system, the oil and gas industry is putting the entire planet in jeopardy. Are they willing to take on that Goliath? Because if not, they aren’t serious environmentalists.”
“You’re right. I need to look into all of their policies, but especially on climate change and resource extraction. Thanks for the advice.”
“There’s a public forum about fracking tonight at the community centre if you’re interested. There will be representatives from industry, local politicians, and specialists from both sides. It might be a good place to start if you want to learn more about it.”
Your food arrives and the conversation drifts to lighter things with the lubrication of malted barley. You decide not to think about it for the rest of the afternoon.
Original photo by: Simon Cocks