Seedling trays made from expanded and high impact polystyrene are being collected at certain nurseries around the country for recycling. According to the Polystyrene Packaging Council’s Adri Spangenberg, this initiative has officially taken off at the beginning of 2016, after the South African Nurseries’ Association (SANA) gave its support to the Council’s recycling efforts … [Read more...]
Vertroetel jou plantjies nou
Die reën wat weerhaan verlede week sien kom, is maar swakkerig in die suide en suidwestelike gebiede van die land. Mens kan maar net hoop die bietjie bietjie wat aan die Natalse kus kan uitsak, verhang die krieketbordjies daar. Die huidige toestand in die bolug is na mening, tipies van die onstabiliteit wat met die vermeende klimaatsverandering gepaard gaan. Dit bevestig … [Read more...]
Banting diet for dogs
The true judge as to whether a diet is “perfect” for both dog and human is based on whether they are able to provide the correct pH balances, with a leaning towards alkalinity. Thus, when one looks at popular human diets, this important formula is always fulfilled. The Banting Diet, promoted by our own legendary Professor Tim Noakes, fulfills these requirements. Often his … [Read more...]
The story of Grizz on happy food
When your best friend goes down you can end up with your hands in your hair for natural solutions, or any solutions which actually work. I adopted a rescue puppy some three years ago from a pretty dire situation. Grizzly is very close to a thoroughbred German Shepherd, so I’m not sure how he became a victim of one of the scourges of our society. Grateful to be alive, my … [Read more...]
Hemp house coming for Khayelitsha soup kitchen
The Yiza Ekhaya Soup Kitchen feeds, cares for and offers a safe place for around 200 - 250 children in the local community. Recently, some of the children have started sleeping there as their home situations are unsafe. Up until now, it has operated from founder, Mickey Linda’s RDP house. Mickey and the children need a safer building. Tony Budden from Hemporium, Wolf Oliver, … [Read more...]
HOW TO SERIES PART 1: How to go off the grid with solar
Today starts our new HOW TO SERIES – on demand by you our readers. How do we take our environmental footprints into our own hands and radically reduce our negative impact on the planet we hope to leave behind to our children in a liveable state? How do we adapt to the realities of the environmental crisis and live with reverence and joy? Every second week we will publish the … [Read more...]
Come help build sustainable housing
Active citizens from across the world are called to come together by Habitat for Humanity for the Desmond Tutu International Build Week from 2-6 March at Pelican Park. In partnership with Power Construction, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government Habitat for Humanity is responding and putting into action the request in the words of their patron Archbishop … [Read more...]
Beyond the rubble, through the cracks
For years I have been passing by an old, roofless house on my route to work. Despite my hurried scramble to the office, I would always look out for her. Sad, abandoned and enigmatic, she has intrigued me. The romantic in me has, for years, been drawn to the poignant, abandoned beauty of this stoic, red brick structure with pink tibouchina bursting through the front veranda. … [Read more...]
New waste roadmap for Green Economy
“Leaders, visionaries, activists and people are led by intuition and fed by imagination as they redraw the maps and rewrite the rules.” (Adapted from the PETCO 10 year Anniversary Review.) Ten years have passed since PETCO was founded to look after the recycling of PET plastic in South Africa. PETCO is also the Green Times’ most longstanding and loyal partner, who grasped … [Read more...]
Retirement and independent living
So many people wonder how they can get out of the ratrace and start doing the things they love. As a believer in doing the work that you love for a living, I find this sad in itself. Obviously it often requires huge financial compromise, and utter resourcefulness. Here is a creative look at retirement and reducing your environmental footprint by David Lipschitz: How to … [Read more...]
Selling your property and the Invasive Species Regulations
Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) are widely considered as a major threat to biodiversity, human livehoods and economic development. IAPs cost South Africa tens of billions of rand annually in lost agricultural productivity and resources spent on management. On 1 August 2014, the Minister of Environmental Affairs published the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations (“the … [Read more...]
Poo issues in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village
Ecoli in the Sir Lowrys Pass river and hence the ocean at Gordons Bay is an issue that activists from the Helderberg are now fed-up with. Squatter camps in the village are suffering from a shortage of proper sanitation and sufficient waste disposal, so the river is used to dump unwanted things into. The City of Cape Town responded with the folllowing statement by the Mayoral … [Read more...]
Natural Building part 3: Plaster & mortar mixes
Plasters and mortars are by far the process that I get asked about the most, and for good reason as plasters are what protect the building from the elements and give them their beautiful finish. Understanding how the material is going to behave right the way through the process, plasters and mortars should be planned for from the beginning. Plasters that are not planned are … [Read more...]
