By Rick Newman

If a hot dog can be made out of turkey and a burger pounded out of beans, then it should be no surprise that another all-American treat is vulnerable to trendier, more virtuous food.

Traditional ice cream sales have been slowly declining and seem poised to hit their lowest levels this year since the mid 1990s. Production of regular ice cream peaked in 2002 at about 14 quarts per person each year, according to government figures. That has fallen to 11.6 quarts per person, a 13% drop. Seven of the 10 biggest ice cream chains had fewer stores in 2012 than they had in 2011, according to research firm Technomic. Cold Stone Creamery has shuttered more than 100 stores since 2009. At Baskin-Robbins, revenue and store count have fallen every year since 2008.

Health concerns are one obvious reason why Americans are consuming less full-fat ice cream. But the ice cream man has also fallen behind on innovation, or at least on gimmicky offerings that keep customers lining up at the

Some view fracking as a miracle technology that has reduced U.S. dependence on foreign oil and will transform the country from an oil importer to a net exporter. Others see it as a deal with the devil that will pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe.

Fracking is the hydraulic fracturing of shale rock layers buried deep inside the earth. Water and other liquids are drilled into the ground vertically and horizontally to create cracks in the rock, which then release natural gas and oil into wells built for their collection.

While the technology produces more natural gas, which is less polluting than coal and oil, it also releases methane into the air, which is more polluting than the carbon dioxide released from the burning of coal and oil, and it uses toxic chemicals in the process as well as massive amounts of water. There have even been reports of small earthquakes at some fracking sites, which environmentalists attribute to the technology.

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