How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities

Last week I published an essay in SAPIENS titled "How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities." It draws on material from my book and describes how frac sand mining has upended some people's lives in Dovre, Wisconsin.

Their stories highlight the deep emotional distress that occurs when connections to place and community are suddenly ruptured.

The essay is accompanied by a photo slideshow. You can find it here:

Thomas W. Pearson, "How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities," SAPIENS, May 4, 2018.

https://www.sapiens.org/culture/fracking-rural-wisconsin/

Spring '18 Book Discussions & Presentations

Now that When the Hills Are Gone is officially making its way out into the world, I'm honored to have the opportunity to give a few presentations and participate in some discussions about the book. Here's a list of some of the events lined up between now and early April.

Events

February 22 - Book presentation and discussion @ University of Wisconsin-Stout, Jarvis Hall Science Wing room 112, starting at 7pm, sponsored by the Honors College. Event is free and open to the public.

February 28 - Presentation, "Wisconsin's Sand Mining Wars: Confronting Corporate Power Along the Fracking Commodity Chain," Department of Sociology and Anthropology, West Virginia University, 12:00pm, Mountainlair.

March 5 - Book presentation and discussion @ Chippewa Falls Public Library, 105 West Central Street, starting at 7pm. Event is free and open to the public.

March 22 - Presentation at the Wisconsin County Code Administrators Spring Conference, Stoney Creek Inn, Mosinee, WI, starting at 12:30pm.

April 6 - Participant on round table discussion, "Extraction: Narratives and Action," Society for Applied Anthropology annual conference, Philadelphia, 3:30-5:20pm.

April 13 - Invited to deliver the 2018 Doris P. Slesinger Lecture, Department of Community & Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Details TBA.

Interviews and book publicity

The November 2017 publication of When the Hills Are Gone garnered some media attention locally and beyond, and I've had the pleasure of giving a few interviews about the book.

Prior to the book's publication, I was interviewed by Erik Ness for the story "Communities Take the Lead in Battling Frac Sand Mines," which was published in The Progressive (May 23, 2017).

Also before publication, I spoke about my research and book in an interview with Culture and Agriculture (June 18, 2017), which sponsors the academic journal that published my first article about frac sand mining.

Not long after the book came out, I spent an hour talking with Jerry Poling from UW-Stout's University Communications. He wrote an excellent article titled "Frac-tured hills: Professor's book goes inside the fight against Wisconsin sand mines." It was carried by several local and west-central Wisconsin newspapers, including the CVPost.org (Nov. 22, 2017), the Dunn County News (Chippewa Herald) (Nov. 25-26, 2017), the Chetek Alert (Nov. 29, 2017), the Leader-Telegram (Dec. 3, 2017), the Spooner Advocate (Dec. 6, 2017), and possibly others.

In addition to local newspapers, I had my one minute of fame on the evening television news. I was interviewed by Emma Wheeler for News 18 WQOW Eau Claire, and a brief segment aired on December 7, 2017 (unfortunately, the video is no longer posted).

Beyond western Wisconsin, I was invited to be a guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's The Morning Show (Dec. 11, 2017), and spent the 8am hour discussing frac sand mining with host Kate Archer Kent and callers.

Lastly (so far?), I was interviewed by Jason Zasky for a feature in the online publication Failure Magazine (Jan 19, 2018).