SumOfUs members are fantastic -- over 25,000 of us have joined with Ryedale in saying NO to fracking in less than 24 hours.
The local community group Frack Free Ryedale can't believe the outpouring of support. They've been fighting tooth and nail for two years now, and have been raising money to fund their campaign through donations, coffee mornings, sponsored walks, cake sales and film shows. But to continue the fight against the financial might of Third Energy, they need your help.
We can't let the oil and gas industry win. Can you help keep Frack Free Ryedale fighting with a special emergency donation?
Fracking is an especially destructive form of oil and gas drilling -- it uses a technique of breaking up rock to get to oil or gas supplies, and there are serious environmental concerns. Ground water can be contaminated by the gases and toxic chemicals used in the fracking process. And toxic radioactive wastewater from the fracking process is commonly mishandled.
The big losers of the fracking process are us: our health is at risk, while the big oil companies take the profits.
The government is touting the potential temporary benefits of a new oil or gas discovery. But is the potential permanent loss of our natural beauty really worth it? When fracking company Cuadrilla started drilling in Blackpool in 2011, it caused not one, but two minor earthquakes.
David Cameron has boasted that his government is going 'all out for shale' -- regardless of the fact that less than a quarter of the UK public thinks fracking is a good idea.
The council received 4,375 objections to the application, against only 36 letters in favour of Third Energy's fracking plans. Third Energy clearly have no social licence to frack in Ryedale, and the local community have declared that the decision is not in their name.
Ryedale depends on tourism and agriculture for its prosperity. Don't let the fracking industry turn Ryedale into a gas field.