Dialogue and Disagreement

One of the hot topics at the moment in South Africa is the energy crisis we are facing. Last year, I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by SAWomEng and the focus was on whether we should resort to hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’ as it commonly referred to) as a means to solve our energy crisis.

For those who do not know, South Africa relies mainly on coal for its energy needs. However, coal is a non-renewable resource and our reserves are depleting at an alarming rate, and so we have to explore other energy sources. In the Karoo, there is a large region with a substantial reserve of shale gas, which is a potential energy source, and this resource has to be extracted by the process of fracking.

Simply put, shafts are dug into the earth and a mixture of water, sand and chemicals are horizontally pumped at a high pressure, thereby fracturing the rocks to release the gas.

I had heard the term ‘fracking’ before, but did not know what it was, what it was used for and its consequences. As a non-science person, it was extremely educational for me to learn about it and to watch people debate about the pros and cons of us exploring this option.

I also had the privilege of meeting some really interesting people – one in particular, Johnathan Deal, an environmental crusader of sorts who heads up Treasure the Karoo Action Group. TKAG is committed to ensuring that the shale-rich area of the Karoo is protected against fracking and also for South Africa to more aggressively explore renewable energy sources.

I spent a few minutes chatting to him and discovered that he is completely off the Eskom grid, and relies entirely on solar power.

As impressive as I find that, the thing that stuck with me was his comment on how wasteful we have become with regards to energy usage. Is it necessary to switch every light on in your home? Do you have switch the kettle, stove, oven and microwave on at the same time? And I thought to myself – this man has a point. We are frantically looking for alternative sources of energy but no one has attempted to answer this question: What are we doing to become more energy efficient?

The debate between the pro and anti-fracking communities are heating up – and in some cases, people have resorted to some disgusting tactics (here I refer to mud-slinging on Twitter and slanderous blog posts) which brings me to my point:

We are all different, and have different views and opinions. We’re not going to all agree on things. And it’s okay to dialogue and to have disagreements.

It is NOT okay to degrade or personally attack people in the name of your cause. It is NOT okay to equate someone to a dictator because he/she actively promotes his/her opinion (which contradicts yours).

Bad behaviour is NEVER OKAY.