{"id":171,"date":"2016-02-21T13:53:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T13:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/?p=171"},"modified":"2016-02-21T13:53:19","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T13:53:19","slug":"anti-fracking-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/2016\/02\/21\/anti-fracking-angels\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Fracking Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pandora Long writes about the 50\/50 filming day in the Midlands in February 2016<\/p>\n

Kholosa was winging my questions as we drove a rather windy route (due to missing a couple of strategic turnoffs) up to Malvina\u2019s beautiful midlands farm, nestled at the foot of Inhlosane. From time to time Penz and I reminisced over familiar landmarks\u00a0from our Riverwalk journey down the uMngeni in 2012.<\/p>\n

Kholosa reads from the World Energy Report the latest figures projected for SA methane gas extraction.\u00a0 It\u2019s set to make up four percent of SA\u2019s future energy.\u00a0 Just four percent?\u00a0 Rhino Oil and Gas are applying to wreck the entire KZN Midlands to produce just 4 percent of SA\u2019s energy requirements?\u00a0 Ludicrous.<\/p>\n

\"inhlosane\"<\/p>\n

Ryan had set up his camera when we arrived and Malvina greeted a double load of arrivals. As synchronicity would have it, Mike Farley, (aka retired uMngeni riverwalker) and Gareth Boothway arrived at the farm right behind us. Warm greetings over, it was time to get down to the shoot.<\/p>\n

Jacqui and Julie had set out the basic questions required to complete the story line for the Frack Free KZN 50\/50 story of the Fracking Angels. In a space of just sixteen weeks we\u2019d moved from an ad hoc group of mainly women, gently gathering up the midlands to help raise awareness, to banner wield, toyi toy, and rapid fire sharp questions at previous professional hunter, Phillip Steyn (COO) and\u00a0honours geology student, Travis Smithard of Rhino Oil and Gas, and\u00a0 SLR consultant, Matthew Hemming.\u00a0 Add apathetic and you have the list of negative psychological responses that removes feelings of guilt after simultaneous feelings of pain, anger, sadness and helplessness get too overwhelming for one.\u00a0 I really do feel empathy but it\u2019s no excuse for misleading, obfuscating snollygaster tactics so Viva! Viva! to our Midlands \u2018Fractevista\u2019s\u2019 who in no uncertain terms let Rhino Oil\u00a0& Gas and their consultants SLR know that exploration for methane shale gas in KZN gets a resounding NO!<\/p>\n

\"Fracking<\/p>\n

So how did this all come about? A small newspaper advert that raged like wildfire through KZN alerting landowners, farmers, residents, environmentalists to the threat of exploration and fracking in KZN.\u00a0 The 50 50 story followed this break, tracing some very human stories that show concern for the future health of our beautiful province.<\/p>\n

Some shots of a strategy meeting, swopping research info about Rhino Oil and Gas and the hell they were proposing to wreak on KZN. How many litres does it take to frack a well?\u00a0 I rattle off a research study listing seven types of shale rock and the corresponding amounts of water that each fracking well required.\u00a0 I got to the last one Horn River Shale, British Columbia\u2026.15.8 million gallons.\u00a0 That\u2019s a huge amount of water.\u00a0 Converted that makes 59.809 million litres of Berg water.\u00a0 How much is that exactly?\u00a0 A whole stream for a whole year?\u00a0 Seven times seven times seven years of no rain of Malvina\u2019s farm?<\/p>\n

\"view<\/p>\n

Now the shooting begins in earnest and Ryan is in top form directing the shoot. We are not good. He makes us do it again, and again\u2026 quite hard this walking the length of the lawn without talking at the same time!\u00a0\u00a0 That under the belt, we take a drive to the Furth river a little way from the main house.\u00a0 Kholosa does her citizen science thing with an ice cream tub and puts her heart into an interview.\u00a0 \u201cAs women, we must unite to fight fracking she says\u201d\u00a0 \u201cProtecting the land is close to our hearts, we must fight peacefully to protect it\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\"50<\/p>\n

Malvina sets off for a grazing group of distant Ngunis. Amongst them are two beautiful Shires.\u00a0 She feeds them carrots. The snuggle into towards her.\u00a0 A Mommy Nguni and her calf move up. The wind shifts.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a moving experience. I\u2019m glad they can all graze safely.\u00a0 What of our dairy herds, our beef herds if fracking means we cannot guarantee uncontaminated grazing, unpolluted rivers?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s my turn and we move to a beautiful shale rock waterfall.\u00a0\u00a0 I digress from my questions quite a bit and start again quite a few times probably off topic.\u00a0 I wish I\u2019d said this and not that. Ryan takes it in his stride.\u00a0 I show him how the shale rock is fissured and talk about how fracking will push these fissures open further, six km and more under the ground.\u00a0 It\u2019s like artificially weathering rock, and I point at a substantial crack reaching up into the rock and\u00a0 wonder how much gas would start an upward journey through fissure after fissure to find its way into the aquifer and into surface water and beyond.\u00a0 Have you seen water on fire? It happens you know, in areas where they frack.<\/p>\n

\"r<\/p>\n

We move into the house for some shots of the webpage Frack Free KZN. Malvina is talking, then its Kholosa\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n

\"50<\/p>\n

Now Evert is taking us on a really wild journey in the 4 x 4 up to the waterfall.\u00a0 Ryan follows a little more cautiously behind.\u00a0 The men hive off at a fast past and the angels take a more leisurely pace down the steep slope to the edge of the falls.\u00a0 In a little while, a square white drone about the size of a stack of four large pizza boxes, hovers over the falls and then shoots gracefully up and down between its steeply incised banks.\u00a0 I joke with Malvina \u2013 \u201cno more riverwalking, I say.\u00a0 We can just send our drone down a 200 reach at a time to check it out\u201d I say. \u00a0A large enough one could just helicopter us down! \u00a0The men are on their way back.<\/p>\n

\"50<\/p>\n

I take a couple of photos.\u00a0 The light peeps out from behind billowing cloud to bathe Inhlosane\u00a0 in a soft light as she adjusts and readjusts her milky shawl around her head.\u00a0 I think of Nkosazana Nkubluwane.<\/p>\n

Shoot over. Ryans off to Himeville to do a Falcon story. We laugh.\u00a0 We had serious fun.\u00a0 We talk about bringing young people up into areas like this to learn about rivers, about fracking and what that will mean for the future of our children, our water resources and our landbase.\u00a0 We are stilled for a moment, then we are filled with ideas.\u00a0 Penz is going to find help to write a Frack Free song \u201cGet the hell out of Kwazulu-Natal\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s got a nice ring to it.\u00a0 Kholosa is going to write a story that unite women against fracking\u2026<\/p>\n

\"penz<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to ask Penny if we can invite the Frack Free angels to stand with us on the Escarpment at the top of the Tugela Falls and then find ways to fly then all over KZN to raise awareness, as the Riverwalk team descend down the foothills along the Tugela towards Colenso.\u00a0 With the spectre of a newly approved coal power station the symbol of a Rubicon for KZN a new future for SA.\u00a0 A future where everyone stands silent and firm for renewable energy, renewable rivers and renewable livelihoods for the children of our land.<\/p>\n

\"midlands<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pandora Long writes about the 50\/50 filming day in the Midlands in February 2016 Kholosa was winging my questions as we drove a rather windy route (due to missing a couple of strategic turnoffs) up to Malvina\u2019s beautiful midlands farm,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,20,19,8,18,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frackfreesa.org.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}