Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon take on fracking

(CBS News) Yoko Ono and her son Sean Lennon are teaming up for a cause and spoke with "CBS This Morning" co-host, Gayle King on Wednesday to publicize their newest joint effort .

The pair is working with "Artists Against Fracking," an organization that is partnered with "New Yorkers Against Fracking" and aims to ban the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" in New York state. Fracking is touted by many in the energy industry as a way to create clean energy from the rocks near water sources. 

Fracking entails pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals thousands of feet underground into shale rock formations at high pressure, cracking the shale and releasing the natural gas and petroleum trapped within it. 

It can be difficult to tell just how much of an environmental risk is posed by fracking because the industry has developed so quickly that scientists have not had enough time to fully study its potential impact, CBSNews.com has reported.

The issue got personal for Lennon when he encountered possible fracking sites in upstate New York. "We have a property upstate that [my mother] and my father bought...I sort of grew up there. That county is where some gas companies came and proposed to drill. That really sort of made me feel compelled to do something. It's my water, my own land."

However, Lennon claims fracking in New York state will pollute the water supply in rural New York and Manhattan alike. "They're going to make it dirty water...it's inherently dirty because they have over 600 chemicals they inject into the ground."

Yoko Ono chimed in, with a warning for other New York mothers. "I want to tell the mothers...if you want your children to be healthy, go with us, don't be fooled," she told Gayle King, "of course it's not [clean water]."

New York City Mayor Bloomberg recently donated $6 million of his own money to fracking ventures in New York state, citing it as an important step toward energy independence. While Lennon conceded that Bloomberg has been instrumental in other environmental efforts in New York, he maintains that Bloomberg's move is in the wrong direction.

"I understand the middle path seems like the reasonable one at this point," Lennon said of Bloomberg's proposition, "He says he won't put it near reservoirs because it's too dangerous to Manhattan's water. That implies that people in rural populations are expendable...ultimately it's inherently dangerous technology."

Ono gushed about her son's passion, saying "I'm really proud of the fact that he's really doing this thing...it reminds me of, well my husband was very passionate about things too."

For his part, Lennon claims "I don't really want to be an activist but I felt like I had to. Water is fundamental to our lives."

For Ono and Lennon's full interview, click on the video in the player above.