Yesterday, Sean Lennon wrote an op-ed for The New York Times discussing the dangers of “fracking” on the environment. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a technique of extracting natural gases from rock, and is controversial due to its potentially dangerous environmental side effects.  

In the piece, he explains that his parents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, bought a farm in Delaware County (in upstate New York) before he was born. One particular revelation about Lennon and Ono in the op-ed: “In the late ’70s, when Manhattanites like Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger were turning Montauk and East Hampton into an epicurean Shangri-La for the Studio 54 crowd, my parents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, were looking to become amateur dairy farmers. My first introduction to a cow was being taught how to milk it by hand. I’ll never forget the realization that fresh milk could be so much sweeter than what we bought in grocery stores.”

Lennon’s attention was drawn to fracking because, as he writes, he was asked to attend a town meeting where the issue was to be discussed. “Some gas companies at the meeting were trying very hard to sell us on a plan to tear through our wilderness and make room for a new pipeline: infrastructure for hydraulic fracturing.”   

He concludes that, in his opinion, “gas produced this way is not climate- friendly.” He closes the essay by announcing the following: “My mother and I have started a group called Artists Against Fracking.” The organization has just launched their website, and according to the website, artists who have signed on to the cause include Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joe Walsh, Jackson Browne, Lady Gaga and Todd Rundgren. 

Sean and Yoko appeared on CBS This Morning today to discuss the issue.  Watch the interview here.  

– Brian Ives, CBS Local