Sheltered from the fierce heat of the Namboomspruit sun, 16 Mokopane community members gathered for an Earth Forum in the cool shadows of an oasis of tall palm trees.

On its travels through South Africa the Climate Train has been creating unique spaces for community members - notables and ordinary people alike- to engage in meaningful discussions around climate change and the lively Pretoria was certainly no exception.

Earlier this week a report entitled Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa was launched by the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria.

“COP17 comes and it goes and then we are still left with this climate change”.

Transport authorities are confident that there will be no unnecessary traffic delays or problems during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP 17) in Durban from 28 November to 12 December 2011.

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.

Global greenhouse gas emissions are rising to dangerous levels, and if a global deal to reduce emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius is not reached soon, Africa will face droughts, submerged cities and coastlines, famines, species extinctions, and many climate refugees.

The South African Catholic Bishop’s Conference (SACBC), in association with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) kick started the SACBC Justice and Peace cycling tour on Wednesday, 9 November.

Today we figured out  from first hand experience why Kimberley is known as the city of diamonds.  We might not have found a hidden bag of jewels, but what we did find was something far more valuable.

'Many hands make light work'. This idiom was particularly true for the Climate Train on Monday, 7 November, when the entire team came together for a collaborative AMbush (guerrilla gardening) on the corner of Market and George Street, Krugersdorp.

'Apartheid seemed an overwhelming challenge that could not be defeated but we mobilised and defeated it. We need the same passion and determination to defeat climate change.€

'She is the frame of the unexpected. A young girl with no rank and no title, just two small hands that carry her entire community. There are no facilities here; there are no green bins that line the streets, just her understanding.'

For the past week we've been doing a lot of climate talk, tree planting and painting with the aim to raise awareness about climate change. We've travelled through four cities and worked with over 3000 children and adults, but when we arrived in Klerksdorp on Friday, we were taught a couple new moves.

Corals are vanishing at an alarming rate, and scientists warn that coral reefs are poised to become the first mass ecosystem extinction. Coral loss also spells trouble for the wide array of marine animals and coastal communities that depend on coral reefs.

Globally governments influence energy and climate change policy by either taxing the excessive use of energy, or granting tax rebates on reduced energy demand.

In the red: We've already eaten into - and substantially so - our future carbon budget, explained Prof Harald Winkler of UCT's Energy Research Centre in his inaugural lecture, 'Climate Change Mitigation in the Context of Development'.

Climate change will be the focus on Wednesday, 14 September, when Al Gore follows up his award-winning film 'An Inconvenient Truth€ with the Climate Reality Project, a 24-hour campaign aimed at revealing the complete truth of the climate crisis.

As concerns about the economic impact of climate change grows, more and more businesses and individuals are getting the environmental message at last! Every action in our lives can stand scrutiny from an environmental perspective.

Business in Cape Town is encouraged to engage with the issues of climate change and sustainability as South Africa prepares to host COP17 in November in Durban.

Accounting bodies around the world agree that a single set of global reporting standards on climate change is needed.