Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” told of the death and destruction
that disrupted life in the small Basque town in 1937.
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| Pablo Picasso's iconic 'Guernica'. |
This massive piece of 20th century iconic art
told not only of the brutal tragedy of war, but warned of the violence energised
and prosecuted by what was then modern technology.
Everything, but nothing has changed.
Leap forward nearly a century and today’s technology is
unimaginably better, killing with precision in which the perpetrator is remote
from the grisly consequence of their behaviour, but the intent is still the
same.
Sitting through a recent day-long discussion about coal seam
gas (CSG) there appeared to be a bizarre and yet tenable connection to Guernica
CSG is, as is with the extraction of any fossil fuel, about
technology that when used inappropriately can bring difficulties, disruption,
and at the extreme, death.
Picasso’s Guernica is the product of technology and human
intent driven by a lust for power and the satiation of greed that has
overridden decency and a sense of care for our fellows.
Listening to the CSG advocates it was difficult to escape a
legacy of realities that equate with the terror of those Guernica people who were
going about their business on a regular market day when aerial-borne technology
left their lives in disarray.
The CSG technology is, however, at the other end of the
spectrum, being something from below rather than above.
Victorians presently enjoy a moratorium on CSG, but the
protagonists are ready to exploit our Victorian soils the moment the ban is
lifted, possibly after next year’s state election.
Advocates of CSG praise it with enthusiasm and with equal
conviction play down its disadvantages, of which they argue are few, contrary
to their opponents who rate in such a way that it is as disruptive to
communities as what happened in Guernica.
Depending on who is talking, CSG is either alarming or a
wonderful boon to humanity.
Just as it is with climate change, personal ideologies inhibit
peoples’ thinking, causing them to either rally behind this “new” gas or
irrevocably damn it.
Exploration for and exploitation of the gas appears
relatively safe and brings with it access to a fresh power source that allows
for the continuation of an energy-rich life style.
Others adhere to a contrary view, arguing the process risks
the purity of essential aquifers, rogue escaping gases damage our atmosphere
and it consumes alarming amounts of water.
Complex and convoluted laws seem to favour the “drillers” rather
than landowners and appear inadequate to administer a process that has
sufficient potential to unravel the integrity of whole communities.
Picasso’s Guernica was of another time, but the passion it
ignited is of the type needed today to balance this debate about an
unconventional gas.
