Event Date:
- Capps Forum on Ethics and Public Policy
Premature births, unexplained human and livestock sicknesses, flammable water faucets, toxic wells, and the onset of hundreds of earthquakes: the impacts of fracking are far-reaching and deeply felt. Sara Wylie describes the “’fossil fuel connection” between climate change and endocrine disruption and how the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries’ twin toxicities might be resisted together. Beginning with her work with Theo Colborn developing the first database of chemicals used in fracking and their health effects, Wylie discusses the need for, and examples of, new academic-community collaborations to address the environmental and human health impacts of fossil fuel and petrochemical infrastructures. From her work building online tools for community-based accounting for the impacts of oil and gas extraction to her experiences promoting citizen science, Wylie explores the need, and potential, to build alternative public interest databases and environmental health research tools.