Owl boxes are being used in various settings from townships to farms. Humans benefit through rodent control, and owls get safe sanctuary and a good food source ' a true win-win arrangement. I lived on a farm once and developed an affinity for owls through that time. So when I heard about owl boxes recently I was drawn to find out more.
Four legs or two, is there really a difference? Do our four legged companions have different nutritional needs? All beings rely on nutrition for their well-being, health and longevity.
This large territorial male leopard, of 41kg, was killed on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth recently. It was caught around the neck in a cable snare and died of suffocation.
One outstanding example of a school dedicated to environmental awareness and action is the Imhoff Waldorf School in Kommetjie. It all began in 1997 when a small, passionate group of parents seeking education with an environmental emphasis for their children encountered the principles of Waldorf education.
'It is better to solve a problem at the beginning.' What a simple and lovely way of thinking that we could apply to solving the numerous environmental, social and economic problems we face today.
Business innovation often increases during times of recession. Currently, many companies are moving to improve their operational efficiency and decrease their impact during the economic downturn. In addition to benefiting the environment, these shifts are likely to stand them in good stead when the economy improves.
`Conserving our planet`s resources and investing in a cleaner world` is not just advertising jargon posted for public sentiment, but a pay-off line that has hard evidence in the way that Peninsula Beverages, the Bottler of the products of The Coca-Cola Company in the Western Cape, runs their business. According to PenBev`s Manufacturing Director Greg Morse, the company has undergone significant changes in many areas of production and distribution.
In 1992, Severn Suzuki, then aged 12, addressed the United Nations Summit in Rio de Jenero and appealed emotively to the adult generation to stop messing up the plant, as she, representing the children her age, was seeing signs that the environment was deteriorating.
A large number of South African companies are not implementing sustainable strategies as a key performance indicator.
Biomethane is the new energy resource that no-one can seem to find fault with, even the harshest of critics. The idea is that all organic waste (food, human and animal) can be broken down in special plants by means of anaerobic digestion resulting in a gas that can be used as fuel for transport. This can then be processed further with the use of microbes to make electricity.
People have various motivations for their actions. Ultimately though, the main incentive revolves around the expected benefit.
The same reasoning holds true for EE. The main motivation for being Energy Smart can be encapsulated in one word: Sustainability - of the business, its market, labour source and environment. An integrated and balanced approach in general seems to support sustainability. The Triple Bottom-line (Planet, People and Profit) is now an accepted measure to evaluate sustainable business performance. It would, therefore, make sense to apply it in defining energy efficiency goals and measuring outcomes.
'Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy,' a famous rabbi once said. It was one of those days, sky-blue and bounding with life, when I drove out to Stellenbosch to visit the Organic Farmers' Market. The first thing I smelled was vanilla pods; the first thing I tasted was freshly juiced carrot and ginger. How much of life lies in the details, in getting off the train track and opening up to what is before us.
My name is Gaia. I have a kiss as gentle as butterfly eyelashes and a bite as deep as the jaws of a lioness in the soft neck of a young impala. When you feel your feet each time they touch the earth, and you walk across plains and mountains until sweat pours down your limbs, making small rivers run through the dust on your body, and your eye takes in the millions of singing blades of grass, and your fingers stroke them gently, changing the way that the light paints each soft blade, then you are tracing the surface of my body, touching lightly the patterns of my hair.'
So starts the foreword by Sally Andrew in her book The Fire Dogs of Climate Change ' An Inspirational Call to Action.
A midleading British study had overlooked the last 40 years of field trials and research which prove the superiority of organics and confused many consumers. It had claimed there is little benefit to eating organic food and was also aired locally in the media, but it was criticised for being methodologically flawed...
Sprouts are the only living food ' they are still growing when we eat them. This is an incredible thought because it means that the life force is transmitted to our bodies, with astounding benefits. I recently went to a Transition SA talk on sprouting by Joseph Fiegelson...
I first heard about Vredenhof from someone who'd had a heart attack and who was nourished back to health on their vegetables. His story inspired me to go and visit.
Guerrilla gardening is the art of altruistic horticultural intervention - gardening for the greater good, if you will. It can take place anywhere, but let's be honest ' there's less reason for well-meaning gardeners unknown to be plugging seedlings into roadsides in the gamadoelas than there is in the inner city, where a little foliage goes a long way to brightening up otherwise dreary streets.
Children eating organic fruits and vegetables had concentration of esticide metabolites six times lower, than children eating conventaional produce, a University of Washington study found when they analyzed pesticide breakdown products (metabolites) in pre-school aged children. The study compared metabolite concentrations of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides (a class of insecticides that disrupt the nervous system) in the urine of 39 urban and suburban children aged 2 to 4 years. The researchers` findings point to a relatively simple way for parents to reduce their children`s chemical loads--serve organic produce.
There is an increased risk in certain cancers just from having 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks a week. This was found by Sue Nelson, a BBC Radio reporter, went behind the headlines to find out how alcohol really affects our health based on the Million Women Study. She found there was an increased risk in certain cancers just from having 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks a week. Age, gender and genetic makeup influence our risk, but nobody really knows their personal risk.
An old patient has been coming to see me with Multiple Sclerosis. She has been ill for more than 10 years, but we have managed to slow the process and it has been relatively stable for some time. During a routine MRI of her spine a mass was noted in her lungs and a diagnosis was made of lung cancer. Perhaps because she already had an incurable disease she felt immune to any other serious disease. Despite my plea to stop smoking, she never did. In my story the susceptibility to becoming a smoking addict is a gift of God, but the lesson and gift is only available after the addiction kicks in and one finds the willpower to give up the smoking. It is in giving up that the gifts are recognized. Like all things in life, our real lessons learnt are when the conditions are most difficult. Giving up smoking is one of the most serious addictions and lessons on our journey. It is a serious problem on many levels.
