I remember being at a ‘gas station’ in Pakistan and being fascinated by the air pump that was fueling up the cars marked ‘CNG’. My friends explained that PK uses natural gas to fuel their cars because it makes political sense to be domestically dependent on their abundant deposits. They also said it was more environmentally friendly (I believe because it releases less emissions) and cheaper. It sounded great and I couldn’t understand why this technology wasn’t being used in North America.
In England, I started to learn about PHD Group, a company who alters engines to be fueled by propane (or natural gas) instead of gasoline. When I started to inquire more, my friend was very firm in his preference for propane over natural gas because of the methods used (fracking) to acquire natural gas are dangerous. I somewhat understood, but things really didn’t click until I watched GasLand.
GasLand is a documentary everyone should watch. Yes, it’s one sided, but it shows a side of the story that is not often exposed (oh law suit hush money). The movie made my stomach turn and was heavy on my conscience (especially because I live in a city economically dependent on the energy industry).
It reminded me of a conversation I had with an 80 year old farming lady who lived in such a remote area, it took her 30 minutes to get to the nearest village of 500 people, 45 minutes to the nearest hospital and 100 minutes to the nearest city. She relies on driving and there is no option for public transportation. She was the first person to draw my attention to the shale deposits, and the first one to invest in companies who were aggressively trying to drill. In her world she needs fuel and she doesn’t take the time to think about what impact that fuel will have generations later. After all, technology will solve all of our problems… right?
I wonder what her response would be if her animals were getting sick. Are we playing God by extracting and becoming dependent on something that took thousands of years to create but hundreds of years to squander?
