Why am I in South Africa? Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy my holiday and bugger off back home at the same time. They think I am here by choice and I suppose I am, but I am not on vacation. After what I have seen, don’t reckon I would recommend it for a vacation anyway (unless the hunting matches up to what I have been told, so the jury is still out).
The irony of the rudeness that I’ve encountered so far is that I am actually trying to help South Africans because I’m consulting on a project to develop natural, clean energy in an arid remote place called the Karoo. At the same time we hope to create jobs for South Africans. That is if you people even want them, as I have seen folk lying sleeping on sidewalks, and even in the middle of a traffic circle. Understand that this is completely foreign to me, and I feel hesitant to even comment on this obvious laziness knowing that I will probably be lambasted again for stating the truth about your country.
Without sounding arrogant, Americans pride ourselves on forward thinking and innovation, often setting the trend which the rest of the world follows. From computers to the Internet, from space travel to medical science breakthroughs, we pretty much set the bar, and clean energy is no different. Do you know that if we keep going the way we are, we are going to need another four planets? And did you know that we only have one planet? We only have this one, and this why clean energy is vital. Our corporation has been pursuing ways in which to produce cleaner sources of natural energy and I’d suggest that we’re one of the leaders on this front, too. We’re natural pioneers, always have been.
When I got the call about this gig in South Africa, I was in two minds about it. On the one hand, I knew my skills in the oil and gas industry would be in demand, but on the other, I wasn’t sure if Africa was ready for this type of innovative thinking.
Contrary to myths from conservation groups, shale gas mining - if controlled by the same standards we use in the US - it is a highly efficient way of extracting a natural energy source in a very clean way, and the best part is that we can extract enough gas to take care of America’s energy needs for the next three years!
The fact that this will take place in a desert region is even better, as there will be no environmental concerns if it is done properly.
Working through the system of bureaucracy and red-tape has been the hardest part, but it seems that your decision makers have seen the light with regards to the obvious benefits like pumping some jobs into your economy and good, clean energy instead of that smog blanket I see out my hotel window every morning in Gauteng.
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