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The Fossil Fuel Gamble in Patagonia
How my home country, Argentina, is betting our future on the illusion of prosperity from foreign fracking
In Argentina, we have a saying that goes: “The best deal you could ever make? Buy an Argentine for what they’re worth and sell them for what they think they’re worth.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek reflection of the disparity between our self-perception and our actual value. We tend to have the highest opinion of ourselves, usually overestimating our worth or capabilities. We are certainly a nation with a surplus in overconfidence. And we know it.
Reality speaks of a nation of extremes where life swings from to with a . Argentina thrives in the art of — literal and metaphorical.
, the located in the province of Neuquén in Northern Patagonia, epitomizes this Argentine duality of a country forever teetering between order and chaos. Since 2011, the quiet town of some 1,500 inhabitants, mostly farmers and ranchers, has been the epicenter of the nation’s energy extractions. Because Añelo is home to (meaning ), the second-largest shale gas reserves in the world and the fourth-largest unconventional oil reserves, deemed the…
