US film-maker and activist hails power of protest at screenings of his new film on impact of fracking, Gasland II

The anti-fracking movement could potentially stop drilling in the UK, according to a film director and activist who cited protests in the US that have brought fracking developments to a standstill.

American film-maker Josh Fox told the Guardian that anti-fracking campaigns in the UK could turn the tide on developments, but said it was incumbent on protesters to also campaign for renewable alternatives.

Fox was in the UK to attend a series of screenings of his new film, Gasland II. The film is a follow-up to his Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary Gasland, which shows the environmental impact of the controversial process, concentrating on how communities living near developments are affected.

Fracking has been linked to air and water pollution, radioactive waste, despoiled land and methane emissions, although this has been disputed by some scientists and the fracking industry.

The new film, Gasland II, aims to show how the energy companies have "contaminated" government in the US - with oil and gas companies spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress for support on drilling projects.

"My message to the UK is the same as everywhere else: ban fracking," Fox said. "What's happening in the UK is similar to what's happening all over the world. We are living in an era of unprecedented corporate dominance."

Fox said the far-reaching influence of oil and gas companies on national governments is evidence of a serious crisis of democracy. "These companies are getting background deals from the government," he added.

"Oil and gas people companies are just talking about their balance sheets – they are on a different planet. They are not interested in the human rights they are abusing."

But he said protesting and public pressure is still an effective way of stemming the tide of fracking developments worldwide.

"We can never shy away from a challenge," said Fox. "We have seen action is very effective at this time in Europe. It's what has happened wherever fracking has been proposed."

He said fracking could be the "catalyst for the end of the fossil fuel era" and mentioned cases in the US where grassroots campaigns have led to fracking bans, such as in Dryden in New York state and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

But he said activists also need to take responsibility for suggesting alternatives, adding that authorities and energy companies would turn to other "toxic" energy sources if fracking plans were averted.

"Citizens have to be as rigorously involved in developing solutions as they have been in their opposition to fracking," said Fox. "We need to propose alternatives which are not destructive to the environment – the looming spectre of climate change tells us that."

"The previous paradigm of oil, coal and gas is gone. That means we are going to experience a paradigm shift in energy. Do we want that to be unconventional oil, coal and gas sources that have extremely toxic consequences? Or do we want what's sensible, and shift to renewable energy?"

Fox has travelled to more than 45 cities around the world for screenings of Gasland II. Last week, he attended a screening in East Grinstead organised by the No Fracking in Balcombe Society (No FiBS) and Frack Free Sussex.

Members of both groups have strongly opposed exploratory oil drilling by energy firm Cuadrilla in Balcombe, Sussex.