Mark Rylance calls for protection of Sherwood Forest: “where won’t they frack?”
Friends of the Earth has joined forces with Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance to raise awareness of the looming threat of fracking to England’s beautiful countryside and most important ecosystems.
With agreements in place for seismic surveying – the first step towards fracking – within just a few hundred yards of Sherwood Forest’s Major Oak, the question is raised: where won’t they frack?
Rylance is featured in a candid short film explaining the wonderful variety of plants and animals that call Sherwood Forest home, as well as a history of the forest and its prominence in English folklore.
Mark Rylance, a vocal campaigner against fracking, discusses the damage it causes:
“I’ve visited Pennsylvania and seen the extensive networks of piping, trucks and refining facilities required – which have caused enormous problems, and basically, I don’t think we need it.
“We should be spending money on insulation and other measures to reduce our use of energy, on the importance of the central grid where we use a third of our energy, and investment in offshore wind and other renewable energy sources.”
The full film can be viewed and downloaded here .
Sherwood Forest is just one of the many green spaces in England under threat from fracking. Recent government proposals could make it as easy for fracking companies to drill as putting up a garden shed, threatening to industrialise huge swathes of our countryside.
