Don’t Frack with Ithaca: Rally in the Commons

Fracking fractures lives — join anti-fracking advocates across New York state this weekend who are rallying to compel the government to acknowledge this inconvenient truth. From 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. this Sunday at the Ithaca Commons, there will be a rally to “visualize resistance” against fracking, ahead of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Feb. 13 deadline for a decision on hydraulic fracturing laws.

After the rally, attend Shaleshock 101 training at the Unitarian Church Annex, 208 Buffalo Street, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.. Dr Sandra Steingraber, founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking, and Martha Robertson, chair of the Tompkins Country legislature, will speak at the event. Banners, chants, and musical instruments are welcome.

The rally in Ithaca has its roots in an anti-fracking demonstration-cum-concert put together by a coalition of artists, activists, and scientists in less than a month in mid-2012. This event, a response to news that Governor Andrew Cuomo was deliberating lifting the moratorium on fracking in New York, aimed to educate people on the risks of fracking and mobilize more activists to take a stand against fracking. The demonstration was captured in director Jon Bowermaster’s documentary Dear Governor Cuomo, which premiered at the 2012 Woodstock Film Festival, and played at Cornell Cinema last November as part of a statewide tour of town halls and schools.