KWAME

George Mitchell and Floyd McKissick – New City Builders

One of the books I recently finished reading was The New Map by Daniel Yergin. He does a fantastic job providing the historical context for where we are in the development of various renewable energy sources, where we are geopolitically in the competition for energy dominance, and what we face in navigating a global energy transition.

Yergin starts the book with George Mitchell, who figured out how to use slick-water fracking to get natural gas out of shale rock. He opened the door for shale natural gas then oil production, eventually changing the power dynamics for the global oil and gas industry. Mitchell also developed The Woodlands, a city in Texas, through the Nixon administration’s new cities initiative. he had grown increasingly passionate about the environment and saw natural gas as a better way than coal, and The Woodlands was part of his vision for charting a new path.

Another person who participated in that New Cities initiative was Floyd McKissick. He was a prominent civil rights leader and lawyer who set out to develop Soul City in efforts to create a model for black folks to build economic power. It’s a real treat when dots connect across books. Thomas Healy’s book on the Soul City story does a fantastic job outlining McKissick’s story.

Mitchell completed development of The Woodlands but had to sell it off as his exploration business was stretched thin trying to figure out the slick water fracking innovation. McKissick lost Soul City to HUD as he faced hurdle after hurdle – HUD slow walking the city’s funding and dictating what was allowed to be done with the money, a GAO investigation triggered by North Carolina senator Jesse Helms, corporations timid about setting up shop in a city with it’s name, and more.

Geopolitics – Africa as Piece not Player

Starting Yergin’s book the week that Xi Jinping visited Vladimir Putin was quite gripping. Those two have been cultivating their relationship for a long time now. I think I knew that at a high level, but to see the timeline overlayed with the ways in which they have both had tension with the US due to their respective visions for their place in the world is fascination. They are both playing a long game. Xi said, “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years. And we’re driving this change together.” Putin agreed with him. Apparently, “changes unseen in a century” is one of Xi’s mantras for the changes in the international system that he and the Chinese Community Party believe are taking place.

One of the things that is bothersome in the book is that Africa’s role is not one of an engaged player. It’s a piece in the game. The book covers the Arab Spring’s start in Tunisia and spread through North Africa, the resulting civil war in Libya and impact on oil prices. Kenya and Tunisia come up due to Osama bin Laden launching his war in those countries. The most prominent representation Africa gets in the book is through the management of OPEC, which was led by the late Nigerian oil executive Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo from 2016-2022.

How can African countries be more of a player, particularly as we go through this energy transition? African leaders like Nigerian VP Yemi Osinbajo have been vocal about the two-faced nature of the energy transition conversation, but we haven’t really seen Africa be able to set the terms of what this transition looks like. Do African countries have the right political systems to ensure that they become global players? Dambisa Moyo’s book comes to mind on how democracy is failing to deliver economic growth – and what to do about that. I’ll move it up my reading list.