We have never believed that any potential future benefits from

Hear, O seekers of truth, the words of Barry Gardiner: “We have never believed that any potential future benefits from fracking make it acceptable for the government to bulldoze over the concerns of local communities or the very real environmental dangers that can occur as a result of weak safeguards controlling the technical process.” This is no mere passing statement—it is a cry of conscience, a warning from one who has seen how the lure of wealth can blind rulers to the cries of the people and the groaning of the earth. In these words we find the age-old conflict between profit and principle, between the voice of power and the whispers of those who dwell closest to the land.

Gardiner speaks of fracking, a process where the bones of the earth are fractured to release hidden fuel. To some, this seems like a treasure buried beneath the soil, waiting only to be claimed. But to the wise, it is a dangerous pact, for in tearing open the earth’s depths, we awaken risks we do not fully understand—poisoned waters, trembling ground, and the silent disappearance of life where once it flourished. Thus, he warns that no promise of benefits can justify the silencing of communities or the neglect of environmental safeguards.

Let us recall the tale of the Dust Bowl in America during the 1930s. Farmers, driven by profit and pressured by demand, plowed deep into the prairie, stripping away the native grasses that had anchored the soil for centuries. At first, the land yielded riches, but without wisdom, the harvest turned to ruin. The winds came, lifting the earth itself into the sky, and families fled as their farms were buried in storms of dust. Here is the lesson of history: when men ignore the warnings of nature and the wisdom of stewardship, the earth itself rises in protest, and all promised benefits vanish like smoke.

So too does Gardiner cry out against the arrogance of any government that would “bulldoze” over its people, casting aside their concerns as though they were pebbles in the path of progress. For what is government if not a servant of the people? When leaders forget this sacred duty, they cease to govern justly and instead wield power as a weapon. True strength is not found in silencing voices but in listening to them, not in ignoring danger but in guarding against it with wisdom and care.

The local communities, whose homes, waters, and fields lie closest to the sites of fracking, are the first to suffer when safeguards fail. Their concerns are not abstract—they are born of lived experience. They know the taste of their wells, the tremors in their earth, the sight of the rivers that run through their villages. To ignore them is to ignore the watchmen on the walls, those whose cries might have warned of disaster before it came. Their voices are not obstacles; they are guides to truth.

Thus, the teaching is clear: do not be dazzled by promises of quick riches or short-lived prosperity. A wise people will measure every potential benefit against the cost it demands in the life of the land, the health of the people, and the future of generations yet unborn. To choose otherwise is to sell tomorrow for the coin of today, to gamble with the inheritance of your children.

For us, the path is plain. We must demand that leaders weigh not only the gold in the ground but also the blood of the earth and the well-being of its people. Stand with communities when they cry out, for their voices are the truest measure of justice. Resist the temptation to look only at the promise of wealth, and instead ask: what will this decision mean for the rivers, for the forests, for the unborn who cannot yet speak?

And so, children of the future, take this lesson: progress without wisdom is destruction, and power without listening is tyranny. Let every man and woman commit to guarding the balance between need and nature, between ambition and care. Only then shall the promise of the earth be fulfilled—not as a treasure seized by force, but as a gift preserved in reverence, passed down from one generation to the next.