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African Phoenix Rising
June 12, 2019 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dr Yvette Abrahams is an organic farmer, activist and owner of Khoelife products. She is a mentor and advisor to Project 90 and an advocate for a Just Energy Transition.
On 12 June, she will be presenting her research paper African Phoenix Rising: Exploring alternative energy technologies in South Africa, which lays out the fact that energy production at local government level is not a problem from a technical point of view but rather a problem of power. As such the problem resolves itself into one of generating sufficient political will, and the remaining discussion will then focus on techniques for the mobilization of people to generate such political will.
Join us in discussing issues of energy justice and be part of the solution towards a Just Energy Transition.
An excerpt from Dr. Abrahams’ research paper:
“At the outset it should be explained that this research throughout considers the food/water/energy nexus as linked and partly interchangeable entities.
To grasp this concept we can use food as embodied energy an entry point into the discussion. Plants are, after all, the best solar power collectors ever invented, with the efficiency of photosynthesis exceeding that of photovoltaics by an order of magnitude.
This point becomes even more obvious when considering the concept of industrial farming, because under such a system food is indeed incorporated fossil fuel energy, using land and water to enable the incorporation”.
“A lot of ignorance is going around about Cape Town’s water crisis. I find this strange since this crisis should have been foreseen. I wrote on this since 2009, personally workshopped every province in this country in 2011, and in fact not only hosted my own climate change workshop in CCT (for the CGE) but in 2012 went to the City of Cape Town Women’s Day event to talk to them about it. In that year I went to two subsequent meetings with the CCT Energy and Climate Change Office, and why a city has such an office if they don’t know that climate change is happening is just inexplicable. They should have seen it coming. Those of you who follow my blog know that I can’t be shut up about these things. Well, better late than never. Maybe they will listen now. I will keep it short since shallow bowls fill quickly.” - Yvette Abrahams
