Amber Heard, Mark Ruffalo support worldwide fracking ban

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Aquaman actress Amber Heard and Avengers: Endgame actor Mark Ruffalo are showing their support for a worldwide fracking ban.

Advocacy group Food & Water Europe said in a press release Thursday that Heard, Ruffalo and actress Emma Thompson have added their voices to a number of activists and nearly 500 grass-roots groups calling on the United Nations to endorse a ban ahead of its climate change summit on Monday in New York.

Heard and Ruffalo signed an open letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stating that fracking, or the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into rock to extract oil or gas, "torpedoes" efforts to combat climate change and "violates basic human rights."

"Every well and every pipeline adds more methane and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and pushes us closer to the edge of the climate cliff. The science demands, and our children demand, a global ban on fracking," Heard said.

"The climate emergency is a casting call for heroes, and we need everyone to show up. Step one is to stand up and say, loudly and clearly, that there is no place for fracking on a climate-destabilized planet," Ruffalo said.

The letter follows news that scientists, students and activists have organized a global strike to support action on climate change. Millions of people plan to walk out of their homes, workplaces and classrooms Friday.

Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg, 16, who held a three-week strike in August 2018 to demand climate action by Swedish parliament, is an inspiration behind the new strike. The youth climate movement puts ethics at the center of the debate on climate change and its impact on our world.