I had not been following environmental issues in the United States all that closely for awhile, so when I finally did find out about the issue of deep underground drilling of natural gas within the borders of the U.S., my reaction was one of disbelief: Are we still raping the Earth for profits and exploitation? Is this for real?

It was, and it is. Taking the time to inform myself on this issue, I found that hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking,” as it has become known — involves inserting pipes deep underground that shoot high-pressure streams of water, sand and toxic chemicals into the earth. This fractures or breaks apart the solid rock so that the oil and natural gas can be essentially sucked up to the surface and from there, taken by private energy companies to do with as they please.

Huge deposits of natural gas have been discovered in recent years across more than 30 U.S. states, reputedly large enough to supply the country’s energy needs for decades. A drilling boom, a modern-day “gold rush,” for natural gas is the result.

The U.S. government’s Environmental Protection Agency says that fracking is a “commercially viable” and clean technology that is necessary in these resource-lean, job-hungry times: “Responsible development of America’s shale gas resources offers important economic, energy security, and environmental benefits.”

As I also found out, many people in the U.S. disagree. A lot of people — including people in communities who have had their natural water supplies contaminated and unfit to drink because of fracking. Other problems being raised are contamination of the air and soil by fracking, not to mention the release of radiation during the fracking process and earthquakes that are caused by the unstable solid rock deep beneath the surface after fracking.

A key battleground for whether fracking is allowed to continue or is stopped dead in its tracks is New York state. The governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, may or may not lift a ban on fracking in the near future, and thus he has become a lobbying target for those both opposing and supporting fracking in the state.

It is a classic case of The People versus Big Energy, and shifting U.S. public opinion against hydraulic fracturing nationwide has become the goal of many concerned citizens and grassroots activists. A 2010 documentary film, Gasland, focused on the effects of fracking in several U.S. communities; the film was nominated for an Academy Award. In May 2012, a rally that included activists, musicians and scientists was held in the New York state capital and has now come out as a film, Dear Governor Cuomo.

New York residents Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, partner and son of the late musician John Lennon, have lent their voices to the cause by starting a group called Artists Against Fracking (with a catchy video titled “Don’t Frack My Mother”). Hollywood even jumped into the fray with a drama featuring major stars, Promised Land, that takes on the issue of fracking and how it impacts and divides local communities.

The energy industry, however, has not taken the fight lying down. Billions of potential dollars are at stake here, and the industry has been hitting right back with its own intention of swaying public opinion in favor of fracking. The Independent Petroleum Association of America has denounced the Gasland film and created its own piece of pro-fracking art titled Truthland. Yoko Ono’s and Sean Lennon’s group, Artists Against Fracking, too has been attacked by the energy industry for not being an “official” lobby organization and thus having no right to speak out on the issue.

As a journalist and writer, I would recommend taking a look at how the New York City-based nonprofit organization ProPublica, which produces high-quality investigative journalism in the public interest, covers the issue of fracking (with an informative, entertaining music video of its own on the issue).

So now that I know about fracking, what will I do about it? First, I will lend my voice to those opposing fracking and supporting the use of cleaner, more sustainable energy resources for the long-term future. It is totally unacceptable that in this post-Fukushima age, after the destruction of two countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) to help “liberate” their oil resources, and the continued mass pollution by U.S. oil corporations on the South American and African continents, that we now must turn large tracts of the U.S. into mini-versions of the Middle East.

A line has literally been drawn in the dirt with this fracking issue, it seems to me, and I will stand unequivocally with those who want to put fracking in its grave once and for all.

We need to not only win this particular battle for public opinion on fracking; we also need to stop by any means necessary the combined efforts of corporations, governments and individuals to continue profiting from the rape of Mother Earth in the name of “progress” and “development” anywhere. It begins right here, right now with each of us, by sowing the seeds of a new mentality within ourselves to stop this genocidal/suicidal war on Nature that mankind has seemed intent on waging since time immemorial.

Shut this fracking business down!