What if they are wrong about fracking and it does cause damage?

I'm not exactly a Green activist!

But, crossing the Ashdown Forest recently, I thought: What if they are wrong and fracking does damage the environment? I would hate to see all that fantastic countryside lost for ever.

Having read some geology reports (I do actually have a BSc in Geography and did geology and botany on the course), I understand that earthquakes are unlikely. The process expels no more energy than someone jumping from a ladder. Filling the landscape with reservoirs is more dangerous because of the weight of the water. Having said that, it's not wise to do such things in a fault zone!

However, geologists are concerned with the concrete fillings of the wells, which can crack under pressure, possibly causing contamination. Chemicals are used in the fracking process.

Another concern is that it is an industrial process in the heart of the countryside, bringing lorries, muck, noise etc etc.

My jury is out...

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The whole sooth and nothing but the sooth - anyone know a good prophet?

Flowers around Caesar's statue in Rome (UKpix.com)




THERE WAS a time when you could rely on the odd soothsayer or two to give you a head start, but the prophets of doom ain’t what they used to be.

As poor old Julius Caesar found out to his cost, it doesn’t always pay to ignore an advance warning. Every year on March 15 flowers are still laid at the foot of his statue outside the forum in Rome because he didn’t “Beware the Ides of March.”

Ancient Romans were keen on reading the signs and they had legions of religious officials - augurs - who foretold events by observing and interpreting signs and omens.

Even today, Romans are a bit stressed out because of so-called predictions. If you believe the interpretations, Raffaele Bendani, a seismologist, forecast in 1915 that a big earthquake would hit Rome on May 11, 2011. Not a murmur in Italy on the day, but an unusual quake in Lorca, Spain, kept the idea alive among the Twitterati - even though the quake was closer to Madrid than Rome.

Predicting the future has been a popular pastime since man emerged from the swamps. And, of course, if the soothsayer is vague enough, someone will interpret their visions as uncanny. Bendani forecast other earthquakes in Italy, but, as the country is in a quake zone, even I could do that.

If you actually believe in your own predictions, you might want to be a bit more specific - but throwing them a few hundred years into the future helps. US Christian broadcaster Harold Camping, 89, predicted that May 21, 2011 (ah, yes, today!) was the end of the world and his credibility has been shot to hell (if I make it beyond midnight, that is).

One of the most famous prophets of doom and gloom was Michel de Nostredame, or Nostradamus to you and me. The French apothecary and reputed seer published a book in 1555 called Les Propheties (The Prophecies) and is credited with predicting many major world events. Yet academics say his work is misinterpreted or mistranslated, often deliberately.

Nostradamus (left) was a happy soul who wrote about plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, battles, everything to cheer you up during your last day on Earth.

Enthusiasts say he predicted the Great Fire of London, and the rise of Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and many other things. But they only ever cite the events AFTER they have happened.

I, for one, like a bit of advance warning. A correct weather forecast wouldn’t go amiss now and then (especially if you are the Iranian President and say Europe is stealing your ‘rain’ just before it starts raining).

But I don’t really want to know if it is positively, absolutely the end of the world. So, if you spot a seagull flying in the wrong direction to negotiate a huge chunk of rock heading for Earth, keep it to yourself.

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Europe 'stealing' our rain, says Iran President - and then it, er, rains

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that Western countries are causing drought in Iran by using hi-tech equipment to drain the clouds of raindrops.

And just after making his extraordinary comments at the inauguration of a dam in a central province, it started to rain.

First we have the predicted end of Rome by a massive earthquake, and Romans are stirred but not shaken; then it's supposed to be the end of the world today, and we're still here; then there's "proof" that we're stealing rain, and there will probably be a hosepipe ban because of drought in the UK.

All these soothsayers, prophets of doom and supreme leaders with inside information are obviously not what they used to be - bring back Nostradamus.

I'm going to predict that it will be a long, hot summer in Europe - break out the umbrellas.

IRAN RAIN STORY - TELEGRAPH


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