Joint Scientific Statement
Opening Statement
Closing Statement
Links to my Debate Videos
Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffu1pseTX8
Part Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAUcyUyDC6A
Link to my Humanities Sense of Place Project
http://tannnerdps.weebly.com/energy-and-place.html
Project Reflection
I was arguing against the natural gas motion. My initial opinion on the topic was neutral because I was not necessarily informed. After the debate, I wouldn’t say I am against fracking for natural gas but we should consider other options rather than using fracking as a long term solution because it does effect the environment. The main reasons that my opinion changed during this process was discovering evidence of fracking damaging certain species of animals and humans. The strongest evidence that the pro fracking team had was the fact that fracking is more efficient than coal mining. The strongest piece of evidence the against team had was that Fracking chemicals were effecting humans health. If I had time, I would research further on the amount of humans that have been affected by the fracking chemicals and see if it is increasing along with the fracking wells. It was frustrating to intellectually engage with someone who disagreed with me because they kept making the argument that fracking was a full proof system when I had evidence that people were getting sick from the chemicals. My humanities sense of place project related to my position in the debate because the place I based my project on(Lake Powell) is being highly affected by the huge demand for resources. This relates to my position in the debate because the environment around the fracking wells is being affected because of the demand for natural gas. Something I did a very good job at during my debate was countering the opposing sides arguments using evidence such as news articles. One thing I would improve if I could go back and debate again would be the clarity of which I spoke. I believe that I could of planned out what I was going to say beforehand to make my statements more affective. Almost all of my facts in the debate were true or close to true, but one thing I discovered is that very few fracking companies self-inspect their own wells. Another statement I made that I fact checked was that for each hydraulic fracturing job, there is forty thousand gallons of chemicals mixed in with the water. From what I found, it seemed that this statistic was accurate but can differ depending on the size of the fracture.