In South Africa shale gas extraction is presented as a solution to an energy-hungry economy. In the Karoo desert, where shale gas was found, the local population has been presented with an optimistic picture for the future: new jobs being created in the extractive industries, economic development, energy independence. Director Jolynn Minnaar went to the United States to find out more about the technology that would make all this possible: fracking. She found undrinkable but flammable water, tremors and quakes, toxic chemicals seeping into the soil and into plant cultures, etc. A gradually building thriller that pulls the veil on facts that multinational corporations are working hard to conceal, Unearthed is one of the most complete collections of information on fracking and comes at a point in time when many communities, including in Romania, are faced with the challenges of this new technology.

The documentary has been "adopted" by the Romanian Academic Society.