by 2005. Proponents propose transporting water from areas with a surplus in the immediate area, avoiding the depletion of local supplies. Other strategies could involve piping in seawater after it has been purified or taking water from the Orange River, although these strategies have limitations. Transportation burdens existing infrastructure, and purification of seawater is costly. Skeptics of the alleged sustainability of hydraulic fracturing have also voiced concerns. While natural gas may burn cleaner than energy sources such as coal, there is still a danger for the extraction process to release methane into the atmosphere, which is more potent than carbon dioxide. Opponents also contend that there is not enough infrastructure for natural gas extraction in South Africa to replace coal, meaning that natural gas will be exported and coal will remain the source of energy of choice domestically. Proponents are more optimistic that hydraulic fracturing will act as a bridge towards the development of other sources of renewable energy, decreasing the need for coal and oil consumption. Opponents counter that while this strategy would decrease natural gas prices and therefore carbon dioxide emissions, the lowered prices of natural gas would deter further investment into the renewable energy sector. Further environmental concerns voiced by opponents to fracking include the potential impacts of truck congestion on and damage local road systems at great financial costs to municipalities, which could also exacerbate soil erosion on dirt roads in an already sensitive environment. Fracking could also threaten regional food security by destabilizing meat and crop production that occurs in the Karoo, which feeds some of the poorest people of South Africa. Lastly, because 40% of the plants found in the Karoo are unique to the regions, there are concerns that fracking could threaten the biodiversity of the region. Cultural concerns Because life in the Karoo is intimately connected with the region’s groundwater supply, many opponents of fracking are concerned with the destruction of cultural traditions if fracking were to be introduced to the region. Dr. Marie Jorritsma, an ethnomusicologist at the University of Witwatersrand, argues that there is a deep connection between the people in the Karoo and the environment itself, which is expressed through music (especially in church congregations). Focusing on the town of Kroonvale, Jorritsma contends that fracking could disrupt local water supplies, destabilizing local economic practices and forcing the abandonment of significant cultural practices. While gradual changes are tolerable by local