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Visual and Textual Storylines by Coalitions in a Policy Controversy673given the unique characteristics of the Karoo basin (Atkinson, 2018; De Wit, 2011; Tucker & van Tonder, 2015). In our study, we identified three NGOs that belong to this coalition, and this example focuses on one of them: the Treasure Karoo Action Group (TKAG), which aims ‘to ensure awareness, advocacy, accountability and fair decision-making around the issue of shale gas mining in South Africa’.23 The TKAG was the first sign of civil opposition to shale gas and succeeded in mobilizing publics shortly after it was launched (Ingle & Atkinson, 2015, p. 540).Another member of the agnotological coalition is a team of science councils who is working on a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for Shale Gas Development. This team consists of members of three science councils (one of them is the aforementioned CGS). The commission was launched in May 2015 by the Minister of Environmental Affairs, joined by other relevant authorities. The project aim was to deliver a scientific assessment of the Karoo region and to use the assessment as the evidence base from which to develop appropriate decision making.24The two discourse coalitions – environmental risk and agnotological – have different discursive storylines, one that focuses on the potential risks to communities and to the environment and another that focuses on the unknowns and claims that more research is needed. However, they communicate a shared visual storyline by using a photograph depicting a water pumping mill, also called a wind pump or steel flowers25 (see Figure 3.4(a), https://www.treasurethekaroo.co.za26, and http://seasgd.csir.co.za27). This mill symbolizes the identity of the Karoo, and it narrates how locals produce energy to pump up water in this dry area (Jorritsma, 2012; Marais, 2013).23 Source: https://www.treasurethekaroo.co.za/about, accessed 19 February 2020.24 Source: http://seasgd.csir.co.za/12-may-2015-project-launc, accessed 19 February 2020.25 See for example http://karoospace.co.za/windmills-windpumps-or-windpompe, accessed 12 February 2020.26 For an archived copy of the webpage visit https://web.archive.org/web/20190921084552/https:/www.treasurethekaroo.co.za.27 For an archived copy of the webpage visit https://web.archive.org/web/20200721221919/http://seasgd.csir.co.za.Efrat.indd 67 19-09-2023 09:47