SAFE Vision Statement

We came together as members of Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment (SAFE) to combat horizontal fracking, the latest and arguably the most environmentally destructive and health-threatening technology to devastate people’s resources, homes, and communities. We remain dedicated to the goal of banning the use of this technology in Illinois. Considering the harm caused to the global climate, the regional ecosystem, human health and safety, and our quality of life, we also work to help realize a broader vision in which fossil fuel extraction and combustion will become a thing of the past. SAFE is a champion of local people. It tells the truth about the environmental and human destruction from fossil fuel extraction and stands for people’s rights. SAFE challenges governments to protect the people. It does so at a time when human beings are increasingly divided and small communities destroyed in order to favor private profits over the needs of the people; when governments struggle to represent the people in the face of corporate influence; and when people are inundated with incessant propaganda telling them that horizontal fracking and other destructive technologies are actually beneficial. SAFE envisions a united people of Southern Illinois who work together to support each other and to protect this incredible, precious land. Our future and that of our children depend on it.

SAFE Mission Statement

Our mission is to ban fracking and other fossil fuel extraction in, and shipment of fossil fuels through, Southern Illinois, and to reduce and phase out our reliance on fossil fuels for energy, transportation and consumer products in Southern Illinois. As global citizens, we share in a collective responsibility to carry out this mission in order to minimize the harm created by human-caused climate change. As residents of Southern Illinois, we share in a collective responsibility to halt methods of resource extraction that threaten the quality of our water, air, soil and the health and safety of our people and other living beings. To fulfill our needs for energy, transportation, employment and habitation, this implies the need to produce and transition to renewable, non-polluting sources of energy.

In carrying out this mission, we resist longstanding efforts by moneyed, powerful interests to intimidate and separate residents and communities from each other, which is antithetical to the basic concepts of democracy. If we are to succeed in protecting both our resources and our communities, we must exercise and protect our human rights as recognized by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Illinois, to protect our water, air, soil and the health and safety of our people and other living beings, and find new means of prosperity.

In our efforts to fulfill our mission, we also strive to awaken a community spirit among the people of Southern Illinois and create a popular movement that educates people to their rights and mobilizes them to act in the protection of these rights.