“Talisman Terry’s Energy Adventure” Image via maddowblog.msnbc.msn.comFracking made headlines this week with features on NPR’s “This American Life” and the Colbert Report.
Monday’s Colbert Report took a dig at a public relations tool created by natural gas drilling company Talisman Energy. The “Talisman Terry’s Energy Adventure” coloring book was published by Talisman to teach children about the wonderful benefits of fracking. I won’t ruin the pleasure of watching Colbert give his own critique of the coloring book and the “friendly fracosaurus,” but I will say he provides a new definition of fracking: “It’s like giving the Earth an Alka-Seltzer–if the Alka-Seltzer shattered your internal organs so oil companies could harvest your juices.”
Watch the episode here (fracking segment begins at 4:10).
On this week’s “This American Life,” host Ira Glass brought listeners two stories on fracking. The first introduces two professors who made very different calculations—one on how much natural gas is in the Marcellus Shale and the other on how much risk fracking poses to public health. The second story covers a Pennsylvania town’s battle with the natural gas industry. The episode, “Game Changer,” provides great first-hand insight into the complicated world of natural gas drilling.
Listen to the program at www.thisamericanlife.org, or download the free podcast at any time.
