Californians are thirsty. As of August 29, 2014, it’s safe to say dehydration is affecting our brain’s cognitive ability because we continue to deprive our soil of nourishment and hydration.

At the start of 2014, citizens learned various practices to conserve water as we prepared for the driest season we’ve seen in years; We’ve cut back on shower times, replaced front lawns with pebbles and let the flowers wilt in a panicked response to our greatest fear: running out of water.

Meanwhile, energy companies in Northern and Southern California continue to use practices that emit cancerous chemicals into our water.

The practice known as “fracking” has been a controversial issue over the past several years as researchers have proven it is harmful to the environment, wildlife, and water supply.

The process of Fracking “is a method of oil and gas production that involves blasting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and toxic chemicals, under high pressure deep into the earth”. The process emits methane into the air that’s 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and creates what is known as the “Greenhouse” effect into our atmosphere.

A federal report released on Thursday August 28, reports fracking “isn’t that bad”, giving energy companies the green light to continue their work in the rich oil areas of San Joaquin and Monterey Valley. Former Livermore Lab Director Jane Long, explains there hasn’t been clear evidence of water contamination from fracking in CA, but further says that the water near the fracking sites hasn’t been tested yet. This research, clearly unfinished, gives a win to the energy companies as they start their drilling projects.

The companies are allowed to frack along the sites and environmental studies will be done as oil and gas development continues. The premise behind this is that we will cross our fingers in hopes that we aren’t permanently ruining our water. California residents are the new test subjects.

In the beginning, the drilling companies were thrilled to hear that new projects would project 13.7 billion barrels of oil, but recently the federal govt. reported that they would actually only see 600 million.

We are well aware that the oil companies aren’t as concerned with the environment as the LMC sustainability committee. But we also know that it’s going to be hard for the companies to enjoy their 5-star steak meals when the cows they’re eating are also being harmed from the fracked water.

Cornell University recently released a study that includes Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, which shows that cows living near fracking sites were producing mutated calf and saw an increase in stillborn labors. This will have a negative effect on our economy since dairy products are one of our largest exporters.

Governor Brown turns a blind eye to evidence in the east coast that shows how fracked water has killed its residents. Sue Kinchy, a nurse of Bradford County, PA said, “Medically, we saw fracking linked to rashes, dizziness, headaches, and many, many more accidents.

Crime skyrocketed, trucks crowded the roads, and kids went to school within sight of wellpads and flaring.” Jenny Lysk has a growing list of 800 citizens who have been affected by the methane infused water, all of which involve gross abominations to the skin and internal organs.

Alas, we are at a fork in the road — do we intentionally harm the environment and kill endangered species for the sake of keeping our daily habits?

It’s easy to follow the money, which is why Governor Brown steers away from anti fracking activists who protest at his events and argues that fracking isn’t the only issue related to climate change. (This “Climate Leader” accepted $500,000 from top oil company in CA: Occidental Petroleum in 2012 to help promote proposition 30.)

It’s becoming awfully suspicious that the environment has been put ton the back burner. It’s only a matter of time until Californians are affected by the fracked water.

Beware the “Ice Bucket Challenge”…its water might kill you.