Managing Marcellus: An Evening of Deliberative Theater and Democracy
While the Marcellus shale is recognized as one of the greatest economic opportunities for Pennsylvania, the drilling and processing of natural gas poses significant challenges and threats to local infrastructure, the environment, and public safety.
What is the best role for communities to play in safeguarding local assets and protecting the environment? Is anyone doing it right? Managing Marcellus is a unique opportunity to explore the critical concerns of the Marcellus Shale and the various ways in which local leaders have sought to support the development of the industry with these concerns in mind.
You can register for the event taking place on Wednesday, July 27th at WQED studios from 5:00 to 8:15 p.m. The event is highly participatory and includes a reception, pre-reading and pre and post surveys, moderated small group deliberation, Q&A panel discussion and a special Deliberative Theater performance conveying the controversy and viewpoints of Shale drilling. Seating is limited and participants will be chosen by random, not first to sign up. Please note, however, that WQED will televise the event in the fall and issue a DVD about it while Pop City will provide event coverage in future issues.
At this event, participants will have the opportunity to delve deeply into a highly controversial issue with a focus on listening to all views and reaching a conclusion after deliberation. Read more about deliberative democracy here.
Partner organizations: POP City Media, WQED-TV, Unseam'd Shakespeare, the Program for Deliberative Democracy at Carnegie Mellon, and CORO.
Photograph courtesy previous Deliberative Democracy event
