“ . . the accelerated and unprecedented aggression against Mother Earth, namely the environment, especially since the second half of the twentieth century.” Forum for a New World Governance [HERE]
 
“Tennessee  Official Says Complaining About Water Quality Could Be Considered 'Act of Terrorism.’ ”  [HERE]
 
"Fracking is exempt from federal regulations to protect water quality , . .” [HERE]

Shale gas is from God – minister, 18 May 2012
The shale gas under the Karoo is a blessing from God, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has said. Speaking at the end of debate on her department’s budget vote in the National Assembly yesterday, Peters said it was Ascension Day, “when Jesus ascended to heaven to sit next to God”.
“It would be wrong for us to not use the resources that God left us with. This is a blessing that God gives us, and we need to exploit for the benefit of the people.”
The people of the Karoo were “going hungry”, she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Peters told a media briefing at Parliament that if economical quantities of shale gas were proven to exist under the Karoo, “let us extract it”. She said it had to be extracted safely.
Cabinet is expected to receive a report on shale gas exploration in the Karoo by the end of July.
Peters told journalists on Wednesday: “It is my wish and prayer on a daily basis that when the report is tabled … it will say to us the gas is there, and you can extract it safely for the benefit of the people of South Africa.”
http://www.citypress.co.za/business/shale-gas-is-from-god-minister-20120518/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipuo_Peters

Lynn White:
 
“Christianity, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia's religions (except, perhaps, Zorastrianism), not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. At the level of the common people this worked out in an interesting way. In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius loci, its guardian spirit. These spirits were accessible to men, but were very unlike men; centaurs, fauns, and mermaids show their ambivalence. Before one cut a tree, mined a mountain, or dammed a brook, it was important to placate the spirit in charge of that particular situation, and to keep it placated. By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the  feelings of natural objects.”
 
Lynn White, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis," in The Ecocriticism Reader, ed. Cheryl Glotfelty and Harold Fromm (Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996), 14. 
http://www.uvm.edu/~gflomenh/ENV-NGO-PA395/articles/Lynn-White.pdf

Nathan Honey + Brendon Smithers = The Interpreter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
chase SHELL OIL out of the Karoo!
 
I haven’t caught up the latest news about whether or not this extraordinary sculpture, Subterrafuge – magical cones rising up to 30m from the desert floor – will be allowed to stand for the next year, but I sincerely hope it does: it is a potent protest against fracking the Karoo, conceived and constructed by artist Nathan Honey and his amazing crew.
 
In Nathan’s own words, “The times we live in make it hard to observe something of beauty without bringing to mind its potential defacement or destruction. The vast Karoo in South Africa is no exception… But the land itself has survived, holding within it all the potential to resurrect and to nourish…
 
“In 2014 it is impossible for me to think of the Karoo without shuddering at the thought of the new threat on the horizon.
 
“No matter how many sugar-coated lies the supporters of fracking tell the public in order to achieve their goal, the subterranean exploitation they plan will expel, extract and contaminate all remaining life force and potential that the Karoo holds in it, and the land, the landscape and the awe inspiring desolation it holds will be gone forever.
 
“Subterrafuge, the sculpture, is an attempted comment and an attempt to raise awareness and resistance, not only to the fracking of the Karoo, but to all selfish profit-driven destruction of the last few areas of natural wonder still left on the planet.”
 
Nathan and the crew – and all the other incredible artists like Brendon Smithers and the crew of The Interpreter – I think I speak on behalf of all Burners when I thank you for gifting us so many moments of wonder and awe. For a few days in the desert, we fled the ordinary and lived the extraordinary.
May the spirit of gifting and playfulness that is the Burn endure.
tonyweaver@iafrica.com
http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/man-friday-tony-weaver-column-1.1689275#.U3yJ3tKSy4g