Jeff Danner's blog

My Common Science blog this week in Chapelboro is about fracking  (To Frack or Not to Frack?), a relatively new technology to extract natural gas from deep underground shale formations.  There have been proposals to allow for this tecnology to be used in North Carolina including, potentially, in neighboring Chatham County.  Last month 400 people showed up for a cautionaly meeting about fracking in Fearington Village.

 After reviewing the benefits and risks, my view is that we will eventually need to extract this gas but should wait until some improvements in the technology are made to safeguard the evironment.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Every year when the piles of leaves appear along the side of the streets  my family has to suffer through my complaints about the absurdity of this practice.  I thought I'd post this blog entry to share the joy.

Generally speaking, if your yard is big enough to need raking, it's big enough for a pile for the leaves to sit and compost.  My yard is approximately 0.2 acres and every year I rake the leaves into piles underneath the trees and bushes where they sit and compost.  After a day or two or after the first good rain the leaves stop blowing around and I can forget them while they protect the tree roots from cold weather and decompose into new soil.

This board often discusses possible reductions in town expenses.  Though it is a small line item, seems like someone should pick up the pen and line this one out.  Am I missing something?  Why should we not just stop the seemly silly process of sending out trucks and personnel to pick up leaves?