Ithaca College

The Sustainability Café on Monday, March 19th will feature author Seamus McGraw, speaking about the themes in his book, “The End of Country” , which puts a very human face to the impact of natural gas drilling on rural communities. The Café will be held in Center for Natural Sciences Room 112 at 4:00PM.

Seamus McGraw is the author of “The End of Country”, about the impacts of natural gas extraction. McGraw is a full-time writer who has been published in The New York Times, Playboy, Reader’s Digest, Penthouse,  Radar, Spin, and The Forward. He received the Freedom of Information Award from the Associated Press Managing Editors, as well as honors from the Casey Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists.  McGraw grew up pitching hay and spreading manure on the same fields the gas companies are now prospecting. He still lives in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.

From Amazon: “The End of Country” is the compelling story about the epic battle for control of one of the richest natural gas deposits the world has ever known: the Marcellus Shale, worth more than one trillion dollars. In a remote northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, an intense conflict begins, pitting the forces of corporate America against a community of stoic, low-income homesteaders, determined to acquire their fair share of the windfall—but not at the cost of their values or their way of life. Though the natural gas is extracted through a controversial process known as hydrofracking, many couldn’t resist the offer to lease their land in exchange for the promise of untold riches.

For years, this part of the world was invisible to all but the farmers, urban transplants, and small landholders who called it home. But journalist Seamus McGraw, a native of the region whose own mother was one of the first to receive a leasing offer, opens a window on a stiff-necked group of Pennsylvanians as they try, with little guidance or protection from the state or anyone else, to balance the promise and the peril of this discovery. Along the way, McGraw introduces us to a host of colorful characters, from a gas company land agent with a Green Beret to a wizened quarryman with an old coonhound, a .22 rifle, and an unerring sense of right and wrong who leads a personal crusade to police the gas company’s operations.

The cutthroat dash by petrodollar billionaires to secure drilling leases will make some poor residents rich, and put the entire community at risk of having its land tainted by toxic chemicals and its water supply contaminated by gas. Above all, it will test the character of everyone in the community as they fight against “the end of country.”

Rich with a sense of place and populated by unforgettable personalities, “The End of Country” is a tale of greed, hubris, and envy, but also of hope and family—and the land that binds them all together.

This event is free and open to the public.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Marian Brown at 607-274-3787 or mbrown@ithaca.edu. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

"Teachable edibles” – local, organic and/or seasonal snacks – for the Spring 2012 Sustainability Café series are being sponsored by Ithaca College Dining Services whose motto is “Sustainability – Healthy – Fresh.” Please bring your reusable mug and fill up at the nearest drinking fountain or provide your own beverage of choice.

Drink in a new way to think in the Sustainability Café.