Well in all probability you haven’t been waiting for this, but whatever. SLXS is not just not one of those sites that simply goes with whatever is in the media, without actually questioning it. I don’t just run on emotion, I run on common sense. If you just wanted this video, you would have gone to the other blog sites. But you want a real opinion, and that’s why you’re here. We’re better than them.
By now you would have all seen Lewis Pugh’s  speech at Kelvin Grove, asking for everyone to take a stand against the giant that is Shell. Here it is for those that haven’t seen it:

Now before we go anywhere with this article, in order to not waste my time, or yours, I’d like to ask you a few things:

• Do you trade your car in after 2 or 3 years, to avoid it losing too much value?

• Do you get a new cellphone as soon as a new model comes out, or get a new phone every 2 years when your contract comes up?

• Are you already placing your iPad on the backburner so you can get the iPad 2?

• Are you looking to get a more powerful car?

• Do you want to go overseas at the end of the year on holiday?

• Did you throw out all your PC stuff to ‘upgrade’ to Mac?

If you answered yes to any of these, welcome to a high energy and resource lifestyle. A lifestyle that inherently relies on an abundance of cheap, readily available fossil fuels. A lifestyle powered by such fuels is the reason that we have accomplished so much as a human race, with such little money. Yes, our lifestyle is expensive, but in human terms, to produce the same amount of energy that we do from fossil fuels…well it would be impossible. Consumers are so torn away from nature that all they think of is what product they’re getting next, because they have lost the joy of appreciating nature. They have lost the art of simplicity.
They can’t appreciate the rain lashing the ocean on a winters night. They can’t appreciate the dew that forms on a leaf in the early morning, and the sunlight that sparkles through it. They can’t tolerate silence, because they always need to be doing something, going somewhere, buying something…

“All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” — Blaise Pascal

They can’t live without everything we have, and feel lost without it. This is the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed to, one which is nearly impossible to match using renewable energy, because we just cannot supply it. Sure, we may be able to in years to come, but to bridge that gap, we are going to need to exploit the last of the planets natural reserves. Shell wouldn’t consider fracking in the Karoo if there was readily available oil and gas in other areas of the world. They’re coming to the Karoo, because they’re desperate for energy (And money)
Sure, we’ll say ‘Oh but we’ll be using electric cars in the future and that’s eco friendly’
I read an article on Dailymail.co.uk entitled ‘In search of lithium: The battle for the 3rd element’, and it completely dispels the current way of thinking, that says electric products will get us out of this energy mess. Read it HERE, and then think again.
Do I want them fracking in the Karoo? Of course I don’t. But it’s not up to me, I’m just one man. The choices we make every day, drive demand for a high energy planet, and Shell are merely there to serve our wants. Not our needs, our wants. No one needs an iPad, people want them. No one with an iPhone 3 needs an iPhone 4, they want one. No one needs to throw away their PC and get a Mac, they want to. No one needs to upgrade a 2 year old car, they want to. Want want want…

In all seriousness, South Africans NEED Shell to come fracking in the Karoo, because then we’ll see what it really takes to supply the world with energy. The war on terror in Iraq? We see kids arms blown off on our computers screens, and the next day we’ve forgotten it. This war is all about conquering land to secure an energy future. We need to taste our poisoned water, we need to see our people suffering, we need to see our land destroyed, to see the true nature of what our lifestyles cost. We see a polar bear drowning on Discovery Channel and we’re sad, and then we drive to the shops in our X5 to buy a Coke. We’ve lost the connection between our actions and their consequences.
I really, really, really don’t want to Shell fracking in the Karoo.

But most people really, really, really don’t want to suffer from disease. But they continue to drink and smoke and eat junk food. It’s only when the symptoms of disease show up, that they take action. And maybe Shell is just that, a disease, prompting us into action, prompting us to use less energy, to reduce our demand for new products. It’s not up to me, it’s up to all of us.

And do I see us reducing our demand for new products? To be honest, no. But we can always dream.

*Note: I’m not one of those people who thinks the world is going to end just yet, and I’m sure we’ll solve some of our problems someday. I just want people to be aware that it won’t be as simple as ‘buying an electric car’ Let’s just do some reading, and use some common sense.