I had just finished my degree on Thursday, when Elma called me to ask if I would come to Hout Bay with her the next morning. When I heard we were going to a Green Fair, I was unsure what to expect.
Last week CopArt held a parallel event in Cape Town to the COP17 happening in Cancun, Mexico. During a series of events, called Climate Fluency Exchanges, complex climate change information was turned into accessible and practical ways of knowing. “CopArt is about embodying climate change. It is about making it personal and relevant,” Elizabeth Fletcher, one of the organizers said.
The 5th Green Awards culminated with a glittering, ‘green carpet’ event at the iconic Natural History Museum. BBC Radio 2 Radio Presenter Janey Lee Grace and designer Wayne Hemingway MBE hosted the ceremony and announced winners for all 16 categories and The China Environmental Protection Foundation won the 2010 Grand Prix.
The Right2Know campaign has submitted a letter to Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Protection of Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill), detailing concerns in the processing of this legislation. The letter urges members of the Committee to ensure that its final days of deliberation for 2010 are used to make vital amendments to the text of the Bill so that it meets the Right2Know 7 Point Freedom Test.
One of the lesser known impacts of radioactive emissions, such as from nuclear power stations, is genetic damage to the foetus. Plans to massively expand nuclear power in SA will expose more women and children to the horrors of birth defects and genetic mutations.
The builders departed and the gardening of the small courtyard began. I wanted to bring the garden into the house, so to speak. All shade plants, big and small ferns in our small space but most of all a small bird- bath / pond.
A frog researcher at Stellenbosch University (SU) is calling on nature lovers in the Western Cape to help her with research on the occurrence and distribution of the painted reed frog in the Province by reporting when they hear the call of this little frog in their region.
Right now, Atlantic bluefin tuna are being pushed to the brink of extinction by overfishing, yet many sushi restaurants continue to serve it.
Farmers and farm workers are encouraged to report mortalities of Cranes and show where they occur, so that they can be recorded and some proactive measures can be taken to prevent such incidents in the future (such as marking of power lines with flappers).
Pretoria is going green with the first high volume recycling programme launched this year by Greenwize Recycling in association with the Polystyrene Packaging Council (PSPC).
Sea Point now has its own recycling drop off facility too.
While you are enjoying a yoghurt snack from a plastic tub at home, there are a group of people embarking on an arduous cruise on our oceans to monitor how plasticly polluted it is.
The pressure on today€™s business world is not solely economic. Increasingly environmental issues are playing a role on the global stage.
Plastic bottle caps are the most collected items at beach clean-ups throughout the year, with increased food wrappers, plastic cutlery and drinking straws the other big monsters we need to fight.
The PET recycling company trading as PETCO, Coca-Cola South Africa, Coca-Cola Canners and Collect-a-Can sponsored Madikwe Game Reserve with a baling machine in order to facilitate the recycling of packaging material used in the reserve.
The fight to save the Mapungubwe region from the detrimental impact of coal mining has been strengthened this week, with the rights of future generations of South Africans to experience the region€™s cultural and natural splendour forming the basis of an expanded legal battle.
Wow - that was a serious fund-raising job, my hand has almost recovered from writing out all those ticket stubs over the last few months. Shyann and I have spent almost every sunny day since early July sitting at our local restaurant filling out your tickets, with a little help from some of the locals.
Dog owners collect their dog waste in a special biodegradable bag and throw it into the digester €“ an air-tight cylindrical container, where the dog feces are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. A byproduct from that process is methane, which can then be released through a valve and burnt as fuel. In this case it is being used to power an old-fashioned gas-burning lamppost in a park.
The South African government is in the process of deciding our electricity future for the next 20 years, and it€™s heading in the wrong direction.
Instead of ensuring just, sustainable energy to every person in South Africa, President Zuma and the Department of Energy are taking cues from the biggest polluters.
As part of its EcoVision plan, Philips South Africa is launching its range of energy efficient consumer lifestyle products that enable consumers to save energy. The strategy, which aims to generate 30% of Philips€™ revenue through environmentally friendly products by the year 2012, highlights the company€™scommitment to contributing towards a greener environment.
