( CNN ) -- As easier-to-extract fossil fuels are depleted , techniques that involve more effort , environmental destruction and carbon emissions are being developed . Each new wave of more extreme extraction methods , be it tar sands , deep water drilling or mountain top removal , brings a new level of destruction to the area concerned . In the UK , gas production from the North Sea is in terminal decline . Prices have risen and consumption is falling . It is within this context that the UK government has proposed building up to 40 new gas-fired power stations in the hope that some unconventional gas will be found to fuel them . This apparently insane gamble does have some , admittedly warped , reasoning behind it . The threat to the energy corporations , whose influence in government is huge , is not energy shortages , from which they will profit handsomely , but sensible energy conservation which will make people less dependent on them . Whatever the outcome of that gamble , higher prices and less gas are assured , but the destruction of communities and the environment however , is something we do have a choice about . In the U.S. , the shale gas boom is fast turning into a bust . Fracking companies are losing money hand over fist , drilling has slumped , prices are rising and gas production looks set to decline . The drop in demand due to the 2008 recession is what has lowered U.S. natural gas prices and emissions , not shale gas . It is clear that the idea being pushed of a shale-fuelled economic miracle is just so much hot air , fuelled by the usual irrational exuberance . The impact which a desperate scramble for unconventional gas will have on the UK would be profound . The tens of thousands of wells and thousands of miles of pipelines would have a vast greater impact than has been seen in the U.S. or Australia . The UK is one of the most densely populated countries in the world . As the evidence of water contamination , air pollution and health effect from the U.S. and Australia mounts up , people in the UK are scared . The UK government is preparing to sell off over half the country for fracking in the next year . It has instituted an Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil to cut though what little regulations previously existed . Plans are also afoot to take planning decisions about these developments out of the hands of regional governments so that local communities will have even less influence of the outcomes . On a global scale the threat from the exploitation of unconventional gas is even more dire . We can not afford to burn the all the conventional fossil fuel reserves . The three main unconventional gas techniques are shale gas , coal bed methane ( CBM/CSG ) and underground coal gasification ( UCG ) , which literally involved setting fire to coal seams underground to exploit the energy released . Between them they could unlock enough carbon to cause a five to 10 degrees Celsius global temperature increase . In the UK , as with many countries around the world , ordinary people are organizing to resist this invasion of their communities . Groups are being formed , public meetings are being held , films are being made and protests are being organized . People in the UK do not believe that their health and well-being should be sacrificed for the profit of a few . We take particular heart from Australia where a growing movement of organized communities appears to having some success in resisting the spread of fracking companies . The message is clear -- fracking and associated extreme energy methods like tar sands extraction , are intrinsically destructive to people and the planet . They must and will be opposed wherever they are being imposed on communities . In the end , fracking is a road to nowhere and the sooner we start heading back towards safety ground the better it will be for all of us .
The Group : Shale gas could have greater potential in UK than in Europe Frack Off : Unconventional gas exploration could cause huge global temperature rise . Group : Health and well - being of people in UK should not be sacrificed for profit of a few .