Hydraulic Fracturing the Biodiversity, Sustainably
Colombia, the legendary land of biodiversity. Some call it the last pristine corner of wilderness; today, it is locked in an existential debate over whether to protect this paradise or destroy it sustainably. But let us dismantle this magnificent greenwashing machine of corporate sustainability. Perhaps there is some esoteric wisdom hidden within its gears that we, the ignorant plebs, don't know or simply choose to ignore because watching a football match is infinitely more critical than the water we drink and the food we eat.
Like in grade school, we must define our terms first. What on earth is hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking? Imagine you want to extract all the hydrocarbon goodies buried deep within the soil, like shale gas or tight oil, but to do so, you must violently shatter the geological formations protecting the very cradle of our existence. To put it in visceral terms: imagine wanting to extract blood from your own body, so you ram a heavy industrial needle through your skin to puncture the vein containing your vital fluid. One might foolishly think, “That shouldn’t be a problem; we just drill, drop some steel casings, and suck the lifeblood out of our Earth.” No, it is not that simple. We need to use some proppants and thickening agents. Hold up, we change into popular English.
Proppants are solid materials, like fine quartz sand, mixed into a high-pressure toxic cocktail to help the driller keep the newly cracked fissures open, ensuring the extraction remains “sustainable,” or ideally, eternal. To pull this off, however, the operator must inject hazardous thickening agents: chemical soups designed to slick the water and increase viscosity. Yet, there is a minor catch: pumping this chemical sludge requires massive, carbon-belching diesel pumps (none of which are running on solar panels or wind turbines anytime soon).
Ultimately, the net conservation value of natural habitats drops to absolute zero. We fracture the habitat; by the very definition of industrial activity, the violent modification of the landscape is imperative. Nonetheless, if our political elites can somehow invent a method of high-pressure hydraulic fracking that doesn’t fracture the environment, by all means, let them show us the magic trick.
The impact of this activity is measured in the number of natural catastrophes provoked by the fracturing of the soil. Earthquakes, soil erosion, water poisoning, hence crop poisoning, flora and fauna extinction, air pollution due to methane leaks, etc. Nothing to be alarmed about. We’ve developed an expertise in destroying, not conserving. The conservation part is more ideological, like discrimination, inequality, military force, and so forth.
Consequently, knowing all this, we must question the Colombian presidential candidates, Abelardo De La Espriella and José Manuel Restrepo, who are currently peddling this mythical “sustainable fracking.” Do they honestly believe that just because the nation holds a mega-diverse crown, sustainable hydraulic fracturing can be practiced indefinitely to fulfill the needs of the masses, or is it merely designed to line the pockets of the top 10% and drilling corporations?
One of the brilliant minds endorsing this existential charade is Sandra Bessudo, a prominent Colombian-French “environmentalist” who unconditionally champions this magical concept of eco-friendly extraction. We saw her standing right beside the vice-presidential candidate and a cynical academic fellow, José Manuel Restrepo. There they were, intellectual giants talking about high-impact fossil fuel extraction right in the middle of the fragile, beloved páramos and high-altitude grasslands located at the summits of the ancient Andes Mountains. The unspoken word of these highly respected literati was blindingly clear: “All this pristine biodiversity, and our pockets so empty, let’s sell it all, fracture every rock, and brand it the sustainable fracturing of biodiversity.”
As a species, we’re already staring down the barrel of our own existential end; there’s no real sustainable goal left. But if there is one thing we excel at, it’s recognizing when the greenwashing machine is operating at full steam, preparing to pave over the very last corner of wilderness.
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