Trust the Guardian to be at the forefront of this, but clearly a whole slab of society has also been convinced that it is doing good by keeping the poorest continent on Earth as free of fossil fuel development as possible, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence that it would be the fastest way to continue to pull millions of people out of poverty.

See here and here.

And no, bullshit ‘leapfrogging’ arguments involving moving straight into renewables have no foundation, as anyone viewing the current first world energy crisis can surely admit.

“Here’s a windmill and solar panel or two billion to completely industrialise your society” just isn’t the argument many make it out to be, especially when they have the nerve to mention land clearing as a side effect of fossil fuel extraction, as in the Guardian article we reference below – many multiples more of land are required for renewables; it’s not even controversial!

Or is the idea that Africa should just remain with a subsistence level of energy forever?! Possibly not as crazy as it sounds, knowing today’s elite…

Just pure dishonesty bordering on plain evil.

And, it is just clear hypocrisy to complain and/or preach about African land usage after 180 years of doing whatever was required to, rightfully so, deliver cheap energy to billions and in doing so enable the miraculous rise in life expectancy and living standards, and the accompanying wealth that most Westerners now enjoy.

This article does all this and more! Ballsy propaganda blended with immoral Malthusian arguments, with a dash of racist undertone.

And don’t even mention the stark bigotry of low expectations and ambitions for African populations.

Just astounding arrogance.

ARTICLE:

How the dash for African oil and gas could wipe out Congo basin tropical forests

KEY QUOTES:

Almost 10% of the African continent is already covered by oil and gas production fields, but this could expand to almost 38% if proposals for new projects get the go-ahead – unleashing a huge carbon bomb into the atmosphere that would severely undermine global climate action

Fossil fuel extraction, deforestation and human rights violations often go hand in hand, and in Africa 30% of oil and gas fields overlap with forests that sustain tens of millions of people, and store water and capture carbon that helps neutralise human-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Last month, John Kerry, the US climate envoy, asked the DRC to reduce the amount of land at auction, to which the Congolese environment minister, Ève Bazaiba, responded: “As much as we need oxygen, we also need bread.”

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