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Tamara Steger, PhD Milos Milicevic, PhD Candidate Central European University Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy Environmental and Social Justice Action Research Group (ACT JUST) Nador ut 9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary Title: One global movement, many local voices: Discourse(s) of the anti­fracking movement Abstract: In this chapter, we “occupy the earth” with an overview of the anti­fracking discourse(s) of diverse local initiatives converging as a global movement opposed to fracking. By mapping the discourse(s) of the anti­fracking movement, the articulation of the problems and solutions associated with fracking raise questions not only about the environment but draw attention to a crisis of democracy and the critical need for social and environmental justice. With the help of a multiple theoretical framework we draw on insights about environmental movements and their democratizing potential; conceptualizations about power and (counter) discourse; and depictions of the environmental justice movements in the United States. Toward this end, we analyze the framing of the anti­fracking movement: the many local voices engaging in political struggles to sustain their communities, places and ways of life, and the global movements’ forum for collective solidarity, recognition and civic action. Shedding light on the multiple frames employed by movement members, we discuss the implications and potential embodied in this widening debate. 'This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://people.ceu.hu/tamara_steger and actjust.ceu.hu). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.' The DOI and a final version of the book chapter is included here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S2051­503020140000015002 1 Introduction In this chapter, we “occupy the earth” with an overview of the anti­fracking discourse(s) of diverse local initiatives converging as a global movement opposed to fracking. By mapping the discourse(s) of the anti­fracking movement, the articulation of the problems and solutions associated with fracking raise questions not only about the environment but draw attention to a crisis of democracy and the critical need for social and environmental justice. With the help of Arturo Escobar’s insights about environmental movements and their role in articulating “alternative imaginaries”; Michel Foucault’s conceptualization of power and (counter) discourse; and Giovanna Di Chiro’s depictions of the environmental justice movements in the United States, we analyze the framing of the anti­fracking movement: framing across the many local voices engaging in political struggles to sustain their communities, places and ways of life, and the global movement’s forum for collective solidarity, recognition and civic action. In this process, three important spheres of the movement are identified: 1) what constitutes knowledge about fracking; 2) communities struggling in and across places; and 3) the explicit and powerful articulation of a resonant, alternative political and economic imaginary based on democracy and social equality. 'This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://people.ceu.hu/tamara_steger and actjust.ceu.hu). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.' The DOI and a final version of the book chapter is included here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S2051­503020140000015002 2 Overview of Fracking Hydraulic fracturing, also referred to as ‘fracking” (or “fracing”) – a controversial high pressure, water (and often, chemical) based, horizontal drilling technique for removing oil and gas largely from shale – is engaged more and more across the globe. While the science and technology on fracking has been advancing for decades, it has only reached a point of recognition in this second decade of the 21st century as an energy “game changer” and the advent of a “New Gas Age” shifting the geopolitics of global energy. Fracking is currently widespread in the media and on the political agenda of major countries around the world, where the gas and oil industry and many governments are hailing it as: an economic necessity or even a boon (“Gas Rush”); an opportunity for energy security and independence; and a clean “transition fuel” to mitigate climate change. It has raised energy production capacity in the United States (US), where fracking is most widespread, to the point where the US is anticipating a role as a new major gas exporter. China, Russia, parts of South America and the United Kingdom and others are joining its leagues as they encounter great potential in their own territories. As the gas and oil industry and governments get excited about the further prospects of fracking, however, local and global communities have another story to tell. Fracking, they assert, damages their communities, consumes and/or pollutes precious water, air, and soil 'This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://people.ceu.hu/tamara_steger and actjust.ceu.hu). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.' The DOI and a final version of the book chapter is included here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S2051­503020140000015002 3 resources, causes earthquakes and creates noise pollution. Fracking, they say, will furthermore not solve unemployment problems and will further exacerbate climate change and deter the much needed attention to alternative, more sustainable, energy developments. Especially important in the anti­fracking movement, however, is the quest for (a real) democracy, less corruption, and the articulation of a better life and a better world. Hundreds of local anti­fracking initiatives have appeared all over the world, and as these initiatives are increasingly creating links between one another, they are generating a truly global movement against fracking. Protests on the streets and in camps are popping up all over the world, as social media are flourishing with solidarity across movement activists working to organize their own communities and join and support other communities in their anti­fracking efforts. Many localities such as New York and Pittsburg, Philadelphia (see foodandwaterwatch.org for an exhaustive list) and countries (e.g., France and Bulgaria) are winning bans and moratoriums against fracking. Such wins have been paramount in the global movement against fracking. Global Frackdown, Camp Frack and others have generated global forums for local and state anti­fracking initiatives to share information, find and generate solidarity, and record the strategies and successes to date. For example, according to the Global Frackdown web page, their first global effort in 2012 accounted for 200 actions across 20 countries. The organization Food and Water Watch quantifies moratoriums, bans, delays and other political successes, and 'This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://people.ceu.hu/tamara_steger and actjust.ceu.hu). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.' The DOI and a final version of the book chapter is included here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S2051­503020140000015002 4 report 416 measures (to date) to prevent or stop fracking in the United States (Food and Water Watch, 2014). Thus, while the global movements coalesce anti­fracking efforts to promote solidarity, exchange, and widespread recognition, it is in the everyday of the people of the local initiatives that struggles for water, air, food and land in the after­waves of a severe financial crisis and an unprecedented gap in social inequality where the thrust of the movement gains resonance. In these places and across these communities, people are not just struggling for the subsistence of their everyday lives, they have found themselves in the middle of a crisis of democracy where “truth” and “power” are one in the same; and where their “truths” about fracking confront and repoliticize a dominant global discourse on energy politics that is largely orchestrated and perpetrated by the gas and oil industry and various political entities at local, state, federal, and international levels. In this context, the movement is challenged to originate an “alternative imaginary” in which a different path, an energy path included, can be articulated to guide the movement as a force for change. In this chapter, we explore the counter­discourse of the anti­fracking movement from the perspective of local and global anti­fracking efforts. Through anti­fracking frames we discover the heart of the movement and shed light on “the power of the people” in a time of emerging hyper­globalization and consolidation of industry and governmental interests. 'This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://people.ceu.hu/tamara_steger and actjust.ceu.hu). Emerald does not grant

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