Dear Zen friend

1) September sesshin: from 09/07 to 09/11

October sesshin: from 10/12 to 10/16
2) “Alan Watts – in the Academy” compiled by Peter Columbus and Donadrian Rice, published by Suny Press won the Gold medal of the year in the category of academic publication.
3) New novel, “T.T.Mann, Ace Detective” by Gerald MacFarland was published in August from Levellers Press.
4) It has been hot and humid at valley zendo. There were many rainy days in July and August here. Flooding disaster in Japan happened near my home town. Hottest temperatures there were record breaking. Something unusual must be going on.

I was not an advocate on global warning nor climate change. But finally become worried about extraordinary weather.

I have watched DVDs from library about environmental matters. Among them a movie showed fracking shale gas. Fracking is done deep under the earth. Logically released gas would go up any place, leak into air. The movie says leakage is not only logical but real. Natural gases are found in many places around the fracking field.

How much gas has been leaked? Corporate agencies and research firms do not inform of data. Fire at faucet or on a pond did not open their minds. We even do not know if they have gathered data.

When global warming was talked about, carbon dioxide was hated as major factor. How about natural gas? Isn’t it helping the warming?

America is No.1 on oil and gas production thanks to fracking technology. Mass production always changes environments in a big way. Has fracking not brought free natural gas into air in a big way? The fact should be checked.

Regards.
Eishin Ikeda
Valley Zendo