Being Green: Recent Episodes
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PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this last edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to esteemed climate scientist, Prof Francois Engelbrecht, Director of Wits University’s Global Change Institute, about US President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders back-tracking on climate commitments, and the impact it might have for the rest of us.
Kenya’s Lake Naivasha is famous for its flamingos and hippos. But it is being invaded by water hyacinths which are threatening the livelihoods of local fishermen. The alien weed is a huge problem in South Africa as well, the most invasive plant species in our freshwater ecosystems. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Joseph Nguthiru, founder of the Kenyan start-up HyaPak Ecotech, which has developed a way to turn the invasive plant into a bioplastic. Website -https://hyapak.com/
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Guy Midgley, director of Stellenbosch University’s School for Climate Studies, about the role played by climate change in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Morgan Griffiths, senior manager for advocacy at the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), about recent conflicting reports on the quality of Cape Town’s coastal waters.
Towards the end of last year, scientists from the European Union said 2024 was set to be the world's hottest since records began. Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service also showed that extraordinarily high temperatures would persist into at least the first few months of 2025. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to UCT climate scientist, Dr Peter Johnston, about the year that was.
Christmas is done and dusted for another year. But what to do with all those leftovers? The amount of food thrown away by South African households soars over the festive season, ending up in landfills where it releases harmful methane gas, a major contributor to global warming. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to British celebrity chef Jameson Stocks, who has a very personal reason for hating food waste.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook together with World Wide Fund for Nature, South Africa’s Senior manager, Circular Economy, Lorren de Kock, offer some tips to make your Christmas celebrations more environmentally friendly.
Early morning swimming in the cold water of our tidal pools has become quite a craze here in Cape Town. And with so many of them along our coast, we are spoiled for choice. But these inter-tidal pools are also home to a diverse number of sea creatures. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to writer, photographer, and open water swimmer Serai Dowling about her book, “A Guide to the Tidal Pools of the Western Cape”.
It’s estimated that about 600 million people across Africa still lack access to electricity which is fundamental for economic development. GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry, believes off-grid solar energy could help provide electricity to over 40 per cent of them. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to its Executive Director, Sarah Malm.
Developing nations have blasted the last-minute finance deal reached at the United Nations COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan. They say the $300 billion in annual climate finance that rich countries have agreed to provide by 2035 is too little and too late. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Olivia Rumble, director of Climate Legal and an expert on climate finance.
There has been worrying news from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its latest Red List shows that birds make up a staggering 12 per cent of the world’s threatened species. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Birdlife South Africa’s Dr Kirsten Day about which birds are the most at risk.
Delegates from almost 200 nations are attending this year’s United Nations climate conference which is widely being described as the "climate finance COP". The main task for countries is to broker a deal that ensures up to trillions of dollars in financing for climate projects in poorer states around the world. Glynis Crook discusses the first week of COP29 with Professor Francois Engelbrecht, Director of Wits University’s Global Change Institute.
Climate activists have described Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential elections as a major blow to global climate action. The results were announced just days ahead of the crucial COP29 conference which gets underway in Azerbaijan on 11 November. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Llewellyn Leonard, a professor of environmental science at the University of South Africa, about the implications.
It is just a few days before the United States elections. With Democrat candidate Kamala Harris pretty much neck-and-neck with the Republican’s Donald Trump, the outcome could go either way. But what impact will it have on the global fight against climate change? Harris describes global warming an “existential threat” while Trump has dismissed it as a “hoax”. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to former US diplomat and Associate Editor of the Daily Maverick, Brooks Spector.
The World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF’s) latest Living Planet Index shows that the average size of monitored wildlife populations has declined by 73 per cent in the 50 years from 1970 to 2020. A decline in wildlife populations is like an early warning system for the loss of healthy ecosystems. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to WWF South Africa programme head, Dr Deon Nel, about possible solutions and the need to live in harmony with nature.
Cape Nature says the illegal trade in succulent plants is the most pervasive wildlife crime in the Western Cape, pushing many unique species to the brink of extinction. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Leon Muller, a conservation manager for Cape Nature in the West Coast area, about the problem.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to freelance botanist and fynbos specialist, Rupert Koopman, about the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and efforts to revive it.
Vergenoegd Löw is one of the oldest farms in the Cape and makes award-winning wines, but it is also a beacon of sustainable agriculture and eco-friendly practices. And it just happens to have a very cute flock of ducks running about the vineyards. They act as chief “pest control officers”, making sure the farm is free of snails, slugs, and other damaging insects. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the farm’s managing director, Corius Visser.
Conservationists are questioning Namibia’s plan to cull over 700 wild animals, including hippos, impalas, wildebeest, zebras, and 83 elephants. The environment ministry says the plan is to distribute the meat to people struggling to feed their families amid one of the country’s worst droughts in recent history. But critics suggest the cull is largely a political decision - coming ahead of the November elections - and that the logic behind it is flawed. Glynis Crook discusses the plan with wildlife investigative journalist and academic, Adam Cruise, in this week’s edition of Being Green.
Spring officially arrives this weekend and for many, this time of the year means a reaction to the increased pollen in the air. Some bad news from researchers and doctors is that climate change is not only worsening the symptoms of seasonal allergies, but also making them last longer. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to allergist, Dr Adrian Morris. You can find more on his website: www.allergyclinic.co.za
While we spent the past few months shivering in our boots here in Cape Town, the northern hemisphere was experiencing its hottest summer since records began, increasing the likelihood that 2024 will be the Earth’s warmest year yet. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Prof Guy Midgley, Director of Stellenbosch University’s School for Climate Studies, about the Copernicus Climate Change Service report.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Tracey Gilmore, CEO of Taking Care of Business. This non-profit social enterprise runs three 2-year programmes training budding entrepreneurs to resell, repair, and remake retail waste items, most of which would otherwise have been sent to landfill. To find out more, or if you want to donate items, go to: www.tcb.org.za or call the Cape Town number: 021-531 2134
Sunday will see the start of the annual National Arbor Week, a time to celebrate trees. Over the seven-day period, people are encouraged to take part in "greening" events to make our communities healthier and more beautiful. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Clare Burgess, chair of Treekeepers Cape Town, about preserving our urban forests and its guided heritage tree walk in Newlands next Friday. To find out more, visit: https://treekeeperscapetown.org.za. Treekeepers
As the Cape Leopard Trust marks its 20th year of working to ensure the survival of this apex predator, Glynis Crook speaks to its CEO, Helen Turnbull, about these highly elusive and resilient animals that survive in the fynbos biome of the Cape Fold Mountains. Find out more at: www.capeleopard.org.za.
Countries around the world marked World Elephant Day on Monday, which aims to bring attention to the plight of the animals in Africa and Asia. On both continents, they are facing increasing threats, including an escalation in poaching, habitat loss, and human-elephant conflict. The Worldwide Fund for Nature says there are only about 415,000 African elephants left in the wild in Africa. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to conservationist, Sean Hensman, who is manager of Adventures with Elephants
South Africa’s Marion Island is being overrun by more than a million house mice. And as the growing population runs out of their normal food, they’re increasingly turning to the island’s seabirds as an alternative source of nourishment. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Anton Wolfaardt of Mouse-Free Marion about its project to rid the island of the rodents.
Scientists and officials gathered in Cape Town last week to discuss what they know about the rabies outbreak in Cape Fur Seals and what to do about it. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to one of the delegates, Dr Tess Gridley, co-director of Sea Search, which is a collective of marine mammal scientists, who told her that selective vaccination of seals got underway on Thursday. The City of Cape Town has warned people to steer clear from any seal behaving unusually or aggressively and to report such cases to the authorities on:
As the Olympic Games get underway in Paris on 26 July, the Worldwide Fund for Nature has launched a video campaign asking people to focus on the world records we don’t want to break. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to James Reeler, Senior Manager: Climate Action at the WWF South Africa about what it hopes the campaign will achieve.
Trees and plants make life better in a city, including improving air quality, providing homes to birds and insects, and cooling our streets. A recent heat-mapping campaign as part of the World Bank’s City Resilience Programme and the National Treasury’s Cities Support Programme found large temperature differences in parts of the city with densely-packed buildings and no trees, compared to leafier areas. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to atmospheric scientist Professor Roelof Burger about why this is and what needs to be done to improve the situation.
An urban greening trend that is gaining momentum around the world for its environmental benefits is something called a Miyawaki pocket forest. The concept was developed in the 1970s by Japanese botanist, Dr Akira Miyawaki. Now Aghmad Gamieldien, founder of Mzanzi Organics, has created five of them in Cape Town. He joins Glynis Crook on this week’s edition of Being Green.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Prof Peter Ryan, emeritus professor at UCT’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, who co-authored a study which found that colourful plastics degrade to form microplastics faster than those with plain colours.
Electronic waste is the fastest-growing solid waste stream in the world. In 2022, a record 62 million tonnes were produced globally, up 82% from 2010. But less than one quarter of the year’s e-waste mass was documented as having been properly collected and recycled. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Keith Anderson, CEO of the e-Waste Association of South Africa (e-WASA) about the growing problem. UNITAR · EWASA
In this week’s Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Pavs Pillay, behaviour change lead and WWF-SASSI manager, about the initiative’s new report, “The hidden costs of your seafood”, which focuses on the crucial role played by retailers and suppliers of seafood in ensuring responsible and sustainable fishing practices are implemented.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook continues her discussion with Wild Survivors founder, Francesca Mahoney, about elephants in Tanzania, and how their fear of bees is being harnessed to protect farms and help communities along the animal’s migratory corridors. To find out more, go to: www.wildsurvivors.org
In this week’s Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Francesca Mahoney, founder of Wild Survivors, an organisation that works to create a sustainable solution to the conflict between elephants and humans along the animal’s migratory corridors in northern Tanzania. To find out more, go to: www.wildsurvivors.org
A study published recently by the British Antarctic Survey raised concerns about the record low levels of sea ice around Antarctica. Scientists found that in 2023 – compared to an average winter – the maximum extent of the Antarctic Sea covered by ice, shrank by over two million square kilometres. It found that these historically low levels were a one-in-2,000-year event without climate change but are four times more likely to occur under its effects. In this week’s Being Green, Professor Marchello Vichi, Director of the Marine and Antarctic Research Centre for Innovation and Sustainability (MARIS), speaks to Glynis Crook about the shocking decline.
Plastic waste is poorly managed along coastal zones in West Africa, and Tanzania is no exception. But as the public becomes more aware of the problem, there are an increasing number of initiatives to deal with the problem, and opportunities to recycle. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Alexis Cronin, co-founder of Dunia, a sustainable design company based in Arusha, that makes high-end furniture from plastic waste.
The powerful El Nino weather phenomenon, a big contributor to last year’s record-breaking global temperatures, has faded. Its opposite, La Nina, is expected to emerge in the next few months. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook asks Dr Christopher Jack, deputy director of UCT’s Climate System Analysis Group, what impact it is likely to have.
Wood vinegar, a by-product of charcoal production, has been used in agriculture for over two thousand years, both as a growth booster for plants and a natural pesticide. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Ralf Dedig, the owner of Namibian company, Makarra Wood Vinegar, about the benefits of the product.
Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant on earth, and products made from this grass are highly eco-friendly. Among its many benefits to the environment is the fact that it absorbs twice as much carbon dioxide as trees and generates an impressive amount of oxygen. Glynis Crook caught up with Go Bamboo, a company that imports bamboo toilet paper, kitchen towels, and facial tissues at the recent Organic and Natural Products expo. She spoke to co-founder Nashrad Dass about their products.
Two bird conservation organisations, BirdLife South Africa and Sanccob, are taking the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment to court over what they see as a flawed plan to protect the endangered African Penguin. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook asks Sanccob’s head of conservation, Nicky Stander, what motivated them to do this.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Nileta Knoetzen, co-founder of Malmesbury-based company, Growing Paper, which not only hand-manufactures paper from paper waste, but also infuses it with seeds so you can “plant” it after use.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to World Travel Market Africa sales manager, Penny Fraser, and marketing manager, Olivia Gradridge, about how seriously the tourism industry is taking the negative impact it makes on the environment.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Heather Wares of the Two Oceans Aquarium about the incredible work done by its foundation in the field of ocean research and conservation and the beach clean-up it is holding at Surfers’ Corner, Muizenburg, on Saturday morning. Time: 9h-12h. Bring along gloves and a bucket to collect the trash.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Honest Chocolate co-owner, Anthony Gird, about their efforts to make their products sustainable and environmentally friendly and how climate change is impacting cocoa bean production. To find out more about their chocolate and workshops, visit their website: honestchocolate.co.za
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Greenpop’s Zoe Gauld-Angelucci about the organisation’s incredible urban greening and forest restoration projects and the Reforest Fest is it holding in the Overberg on the Easter weekend.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Victor Sterling, co-owner of Delheim Wine Estate, about the importance of soil quality and the farm’s practice of planting cover crops between the vine rows.
Reminder to not waste water as dam levels drop below two-thirds
About a week ago, the Western Cape Department of Water and Sanitation reminded residents of the need to be cautious about the amount of water they use. This as dam levels in the region collectively stood at 65.8 per cent. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to climate scientist, Dr Peter Johnston, who says that usage has increased dramatically in the years since Day Zero.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Shani Judes, director of the Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival which takes place from 1-14 March. It features a host of events focusing on ocean conservation, including a beach clean-up, documentaries, and a charity auction of surfboards painted by South African artists. Find out more on www.wavescape.co.za
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Christiaan Gildenhuys, a postgraduate student in Stellenbosch University’s Department of Botany and Zoology, who has co-written a paper about the 400-year-old history of oaks in the Cape, and why they are now becoming a problem.
A major United Nations report on the world’s migratory species, published earlier this week, has found that nearly half of them are in decline and are increasingly in danger of being wiped out. Of the over 1,189 species assessed, researchers found that more than one in five of the already threatened species now face extinction. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Colmán Ó Críodáin, Head of Policy, Wildlife Practice at WWF International, who is at the conference in Uzbekistan.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Wentzel Coetzer, a conservationist and member of the Greater Kabeljous Partnership, that has launched a campaign to preserve two key sites in the area of Jeffrey’s Bay that are home to several endangered animal and plant species.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Nora Thiel, co-owner of Delheim Wine Estate, about conservation efforts at the farm. It is not only a WWF-South Africa Conservation Champion but was also recently named the 2024 Conservation Pioneer for the Cape Winelands region, in the Great Wine Capitals’ “Best of Wine Tourism” awards.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Hugh Tyrrell, director of Green Edge and a specialist waste management and recycling consultant, about problems with waste collection in townships that seem to have come to a head this week with reports that the mayor tabled a motion to place the executive director of urban waste management on suspension.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Gaathier Mahed, a senior lecturer in geosciences at Nelson Mandela University, about an ancient system of drawing water from aquifers called a qanat. Not only is this ingenious method of water supply recognised by UNESCO as an outstanding example of traditional technology, but it is also an environmentally-friendly option.
Scientists at Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service on Tuesday confirmed that the world is dangerously close to a global warming limit as 2023 goes down as the hottest on record by a substantial margin. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Willem Landman, a professor in Meteorology at the University of Pretoria, about the report.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 9.30. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
We’ve been hearing a lot this month about climate change and the impact the rise in global temperatures is having on so many aspects of our lives. One of these is the likelihood that the size, frequency, and severity of wildfires will increase in the years to come. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook, speaks to Working on Fire managing director, Trevor Abrahams, about the impact of global warming on the “fire season” in the Western Cape.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but it does tend to be excessive in terms of all the delicious meals we eat. And we shouldn’t forget that the world’s food system is a huge contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. So, how can we keep the environment in mind when preparing all those special celebratory meals. To give us some ideas, Glynis Crook is joined on Being Green this week by Dr Christian Reynolds, a Reader in Food Policy at City, University of London, and an expert on food loss and waste.
There was a standing ovation on Wednesday morning when a landmark deal was agreed on at the end of the United Nations climate summit in Dubai. While it doesn't specifically mention the "phasing-out" of fossil fuels, it does call for parties to contribute to efforts to "transition away" from the use of fossil fuels in energy systems in a way that will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But while the COP28 deal is being hailed as an historic step in the right direction, many analysts believe it may not be fast enough to avoid the worst climate change impacts. In this week’s Being Green, Glynis Crook looks at the agreement with Professor Francois Engelbrecht, Director of Wits University’s Global Change Institute.
Some 120 governments have now signed a pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030, essential to delivering the scale of emissions reductions needed globally to combat climate change. South Africa is not one of them, despite our abundant renewable energy sources. International NPO, The Climate Group, has released a report outlining the economic potential of investment in renewables, and barriers to this, in eight G20 countries, including South Africa. Glynis Crook speaks to the organisation’s director of energy, Sam Kimmins, in this week’s edition of Being Green.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Olivia Rumble of Climate Legal about what African countries are hoping for from this year’s
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Willem van der Westhuizen, one of the founders of the community-led project, ZeroToLandfill, which collects recycling and organic waste in the Little Mowbray-Rosebank area of the city.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Stellenbosch University marine biologist, Dr Sara Andreotti, who together with a group of scientists and environmentalists has developed an eco-friendly shark barrier which is being used for the first time on a private island in the Bahamas.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook visits the Arnold Street dog park where she meets with retired music teacher, Liz Sole, and artist Kallie Doran, two of a group of Observatory residents who have got together to revive the space for the pleasure of both humans and their furry friends.
Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in existence, but it is also one of the worst climate change offenders, contributing at least 8% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. But, for the moment, we can’t live without it. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to UCT Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, Mark Alexander, about a paper he co-authored looking at steps that can be taken to reduce its negative impact.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to moss artist, Gert van Tonder, who has created a spectacular garden at Tokara wine estate, about the role this seemingly unimportant plant plays in protecting the environment. The garden is open to the public for 4 days during the annual Stellenbosch Garden Town week.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian for the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) about the critical endangered African Penguin and the fight for their survival.
Penguin adoptions assist with fundraising. It cost R600 to adopt and name a penguin. Find out more at adopt.sanccob.co.za SANCCOB
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Samantha Ralston-Paton of BirdLife South Africa about the dangers that wind turbines pose to birds and a new potential solution that is being tested in the Western Cape.
Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, is back on Being Green with Glynis Crook, this week talking about some of the other renewable energy projects and plans for the city.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis about the City of Cape Town’s green energy plan.
Following the dramatic sea surges experienced across the Western and Eastern Cape last weekend. Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Marcello Vichi, head of UCT’s Department of Oceanography, to find out how much climate change is to blame.
As we mark a slew of national and international clean-up days, in this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook asks WWF South Africa’s circular economy portfolio senior manager, Lorren de Kock, if we are facing a ‘waste crisis’.
In the declaration at the end of the inaugural African Climate Summit in Kenya this week, African leaders proposed new global taxes and reforms to international financial institutions to help the continent fund actions that will help it adapt to increasingly extreme weather. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook gets reaction to the gathering from Dr Nicholas Simpson of the African Climate Mobility Initiative
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook talks to Vergelegen’s senior horticulturist, Richard Arm, about the importance of Arbor Week and a wonderful opportunity to buy indigenous trees at the wine estate over the next seven days.
- In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook talks to Prof Francois Engelbrecht, a
climate scientist at Wits University’s Global Change Institute about a new study which
suggests that the extreme weather and weather-related events experienced in the northern
hemisphere this summer will increase in frequency and severity unless the world stops
burning fossil fuels.
Although it still feels like we are very much in the depths of winter, spring is not too far off. And as the flowers begin to bloom, so bees begin to emerge from their hives in search of pollen and nectar. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Mike Allsop, a senior researcher at the Agricultural Research Council’s Plant Protection Research Institute, about the importance of the honeybee.
A new initiative called Cash 4 Trash has begun installing Reverse Vending Machines at shopping centres in Gauteng, which people can use to deposit their plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and glass bottles in return for digital cash. In this week’s of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Mary-Ann Mandishona, the entrepreneur behind the recycling drive.
Most people think that wine is just fermented grape juice. But in fact the fining agents traditionally used in winemaking typically contain animal products. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Norah Hudson, international sales and marketing executive at Longridge Wine Estates, to find out more.
If you take a stroll along the increasingly trendy Harrington Street in the CBD, you will come across a 12-storey building that is making waves across the world. Almost completed, the Hemp Hotel has been named the world's tallest building to be constructed from hemp blocks and hempcrete. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Boshoff Muller, the director of Afrimat Hemp that produced the bricks for the hotel, about why this makes the building more carbon negative.
There’s increasing evidence that switching to a plant-based diet can have a significant positive impact on both our health and the environment.
Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Nanine Wyma of the Physicians Association for Nutrition, South Africa, who says that transforming the world’s food system is essential to mitigate climate change.
The Clanwilliam cedar, that gave the Cedarberg its name, was once found in large groves across the region. But since 2013, this majestic and ancient tree has been listed as critically endangered. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Jacklyn Farmer, an off-reserve conservation services officer at CapeNature, about programmes to increase its numbers in the area.
The cholera outbreak at Hammanskraal in northern Gauteng has yet again put the spotlight on water in South Africa. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Anja du Plessis, Associate Professor and Research Specialist in Water Resource Management at the University of South Africa, about the state of our water resource management.
UN Treaty to protect marine life
United Nations member states last week adopted the first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the ocean outside of national boundaries. The so-called “High Seas Treaty” was approved after more than 15 years of discussions. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Bernadette Snow, Deputy Director of One Ocean Hub at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, about the significance of the agreement.
The cholera outbreak at Hammanskraal in northern Gauteng has yet again put the spotlight on water in South Africa. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Anja du Plessis, Associate Professor and Research Specialist in Water Resource Management at the University of South Africa, about the state of our water resource management.
It’s World Turtle Day on 16 June. In this edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Talitha Noble, Conservation Manager at the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s Turtle Conservation Centre, about the extraordinary sea turtles and their contribution to ocean ecosystems.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook talks to Lauren van Nijkerk, Director of Campaigns & Communications at the environmental NGO, Wildtrust, about its new campaign focusing on marine protection, and particularly sharks and rays, as well as highlighting the substantial benefits of establishing new sanctuary areas for them
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, speaks to the City of Cape Town’s Deputy Mayor and Mayco Member for Spatial Planning and Environment Eddie Andrews to get an update on the infestation by the tree-killing beetle, the polyphagous shot hole borer. He said it’s important that you do not cut down an infected tree yourself, as special care needs to be taken throughout the removal process. Instead, you should report a sighting by going to: www.capetown.gov.za/InvasiveSpecies, or by calling the Invasive Species Unit on 021 444 2357, or by emailing: invasive.species@capetown.gov.za
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, speaks to Cape Nature’s Marketing and Promotions Manager, Loren Pavitt, about the whopping 43 per cent increase in the number of visitors to the province’s reserves in the last financial year, and what this means for its conservation efforts
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, speaks to Dr Gabriella Leighton, co-ordinator of UCT’s Urban Caracal project, and co-author of a new study which has found that those wild cats that live on the urban edge of Cape Town have metal pollutants in their blood, a huge red flag for the environment on the peninsula.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, speaks to Dr Gabriella Leighton, co-ordinator of UCT’s Urban Caracal project, and co-author of a new study which has found that those wild cats that live on the urban edge of Cape Town have metal pollutants in their blood, a huge red flag for the environment on the peninsula.
He may be fighting a different type of offence, but Nigeria’s Spider-Man is as much a superhero as the Marvel Comics crime buster. His name is Jonathan Olanlokun, an environmental activist who dresses up in full Spider-Man kit to help clean up the streets of his hometown of Osogbo, armed with no superpower except his determination to make a difference in his community. He speaks to Glynis Crook in this week’s edition of Being Green
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook talks to Dr Tony Rebelo, a scientist at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, about the City Nature Challenge which is taking place this weekend (28 April – 1 May) in some 500 cities around the world. It aims to motivate people to find and document wildlife in their towns, regions, and neighbourhoods. The iNaturalist app is available for free on your phone’s Appstore, or you can upload photos from your digital camera to the iNaturalist website (www.inaturalist.org).
In this week’s edition of Being Green, and as we mark international Earth Day on Saturday, Glynis Crook speaks to Pavitray “Pavs” Pillay, the World Wide Fund for Nature-South Africa’s environment behaviour change lead, about how each of us can make a contribution to protecting our planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Prof Mark Swilling, Co-Director of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University, about his view that new Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s plan to extend the life of our increasingly costly, ageing, and polluting coal-fired power stations is not a good idea.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Prof Mark Swilling, Co-Director of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University, about his view that new Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s plan to extend the life of our increasingly costly, ageing, and polluting coal-fired power stations is not a good idea.
As the world faces the unfolding energy and climate crisis, Cape Town is one of a growing number of cities across the world that are taking the lead in the transition to renewables. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Rana Adib, the Executive Director of the highly respected international renewable energy network, REN21, which has just published the first modules of its annual Global Renewable Status Report.
The City of Cape Town, in partnership with the University of Cape Town, has launched a free mobile climate change app for individuals, funded by the European Commission. In a nutshell, you can use it to take on challenges to reduce your impact on the environment. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Grant Smith of UCT’s Energy Systems Research Group, which is part of the global consortium developing the Climate Campaigner app. It is free to download on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
The world’s top climate scientists released their latest report earlier this week which painted a grim picture. The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said we can only avoid the worst of climate change by rapidly using less fossil fuels and making big reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors. UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, described the report as "a survival guide for humanity". In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Nicolas Simpson, a member of the IPCC Synthesis Report writing team and Lead for Knowledge and Practice of the UN’s Africa Climate Mobility Initiative.
The city of Edinburgh in Scotland recently became the first European capital to endorse a plant-based diet to tackle the climate emergency. In fact, a vegan diet is widely regarded as being better not only for the environment but also for our health. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook visits The Conscious Kitchen vegan restaurant in the CBD and speaks to owner Dana Korstenbroek, about her journey to a more plant-based diet and the do’s and don’ts of veganism.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Valentin Aich, a senior water and climate specialist at the Global Water Partnership, about concerns of yet another drought in Italy and the surrounding region this European summer. This after the Alps received less than half their normal amount of snowfall over the winter.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Cassie Carstens of BirdLife South Africa about its Bird of the Year, the endangered Cape Parrot, and a project that aims to increase its numbers in the wild.
The popularity of e-cigarettes continues to grow in South Africa with estimates suggesting that close to half a million people are now vaping. In Australia, the situation is pretty much the same, and environmental organisations there have sounded the alarm saying the sharp increase in the number of people vaping, presents “a new and serious environmental issue. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook is joined by Keith Anderson, CEO of the e-Waste Association of South Africa (e-WASA), to discuss the most environmentally-friendly way to dispose of an e-cigarette.
There has been a lot of talk this summer about the temporary closure of several Cape Town beaches due to pollution from sewage spills. The City pumps millions of litres of raw sewage into the sea every day from marine pipelines in Green Point, Camps Bay, and Hout Bay. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Kevin Winter, a researcher at UCT’s Water Institute, about whether there is a better way for Cape Town to deal with its sewage. www.groundup.org.za
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to University of Pretoria meteorology professor, Willem Landman, about forecasts that the El Niño weather phenomenon will likely make a return later this year, resulting in unprecedented heatwaves and an increase in extreme weather events.
Twenty or 30 years ago, one of the most feared problems facing mankind was the increasingly large hole in the Earth’s ozone layer. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to environmental lawyer, Ernesta Swanepoel, about the good news that it is healing. A United Nations report published this week shows that, thanks to international action, the ozone layer is on track to be fully recovered across most of the world by 2040.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Katharina von Dürckheim, leader of Wildlife Free to Roam research programme at Stellenbosch University about her research into the African elephant’s extraordinary sense of smell.
As you hit the beaches or swimming pool over the holidays, did you know that the materials most commonly used to make your bikini or swimming trunks - nylon, polyester, and spandex - are plastic based? And that while there are alternative biodegradable fabrics, like organic cotton and viscose, currently there isn’t one that has all the performance qualities needed for a swimsuit. As a result, many eco-friendly brands are relying on the next best alternative, fabric made from recycled plastic, including Cape Town based label, Gabrielle Swimwear. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to its designer and managing director, Gabrielle Kool.
Globally, the agriculture sector is responsible for around one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, and the biggest chunk of that comes from livestock. Many scientists believe eating less meat is an important step to reducing the environmental impact of the methane-rich belches of sheep and cows. So does this mean you have to abandon your favourite burger treat? Not if a Cape Town company has any say in the matter. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Brett Thompson, CEO and co-founder of Woodstock-based Mzansi Meat, that earlier year produced Africa’s first cultivated beef burger.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Ian Michler, co-author of the book “Living in Two Worlds: Addressing Humanity’s Greatest Challenges”. It documents the four-month non-motorised journey he and fellow conservationist, Ian McCallum, took across six southern African countries, the insights they gained, and the questions their journey raised about how we are protecting the animals that share this world with us.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Robin Fears, project leader of the InterAcademy Partnership, a global network of academies of science, medicine and engineering, who was one of the speakers at a World Science Forum panel on the impact of climate change on health.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Talitha Noble, conservation manager at the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, about its sea turtle programme which is the beneficiary of a charity event taking place this weekend. The DELI2SEA ocean awareness fun run is taking place on Sunday from the Chardonnay Deli in Constantia to the Dalebrook tidal pool and café in Kalk Bay. Tickets on Quicket, and the charitable entry includes a donation to the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, in particular, its turtle programme.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Eben Olderwagen, the environmental project manager at Vergelegen Wine Estate, about its involvement in the Quagga Project and the imminent birth of a foal on the farm.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Nicholas Simpson, Senior Advisor and Lead for Knowledge and Practice at the African Climate Mobility Initiative. He delivered a paper earlier this week at the United Nations Climate Conference, COP27, which says that by 2050, 113 million people across Africa will be forced to move because of climate change.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Soil for Life’s CEO, Cindy Buské, and Fine Music Radio’s station manager, Eon de Vos, about a joint project to plant an FMR vegetable garden at WIN Educare in Delft on the Cape Flats. To find out more or make a donation, visit: www.fmr.co.za/soil-for-life/.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Olivia Rumble, a director of Climate Legal who specialises notably in environmental law, climate change, climate finance and development, about the financial expectations of Africa’s negotiators attending this year’s edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, which gets underway on Sunday.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to 24-year-old Capetonian Gabriel Klaasen, who is Youth Coordinator at the African Climate Alliance about the message young South Africans will be taking to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) which gets underway on 6 November in Egypt.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Keith Anderson, CEO of the e-Waste Association of South Africa (e-WASA) about which electronic items in our households are potentially dangerous for the environment, and how to correctly dispose of them.
In Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to David Parry-Davies, founder and director of the annual Eco-Logic Awards about this year's winners.
It’s National African Penguin Awareness Day on Saturday 8 October, and in this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Alistair McInnes, Seabird Conservation Programme Manager at BirdLife South Africa, about the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s decision to declare some areas around the major penguin colonies as temporarily closed to commercial fishing, and the Avian Flu outbreak at the Boulders Beach penguin colony.
With news this week that there were leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines used to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, Glynis Crook speaks to …. In this week’s edition of Being Green, about the potential environmental impact.
As we face more loadshedding, in Being Green this week Glynis Crook speaks to Hilton Trollip, a Fellow in the Global Risk Governance Programme at the University of Cape Town, about how quickly wind turbines and other types of renewable energy systems could be installed in the Cape.
It’s Arbor Month in South Africa, a time when we’re encouraged to plant and conserve trees. Much of the focus each year tends to be on the greening of our cities and towns and the important role trees can play in climate change mitigation. One of the organisations that has risen to the challenge, planting over 200,000 trees in South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia since 2010, is Greenpop. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to its head of programmes, Zoe Gould-Angelucci, about why the foundation believes the time has come to shift the focus from counting the number of trees planted, to ensuring they have a meaningful impact.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Cedric Coetzee, regional manager for the east region at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, which manages nature conservation in KwaZulu Natal, about the ongoing rhino poaching in the province’s Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Park. It’s believed that over a 100 of the animals have died so far this year.
Over the past few years, there has been increasing concern about the number of trees in Cape Town that are being illegally stripped of their bark. Taking the bark off puts the tree at risk of viral or bacterial infections and can ultimately lead to its death. Lobby group, Friends of Table Mountain, recently raised the alarm about the destruction of Table Mountain National Park’s limited indigenous forests. It says the two areas that are most concerning are Newlands Forest and Echo Valley in Kalk Bay. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to arborist, Francois Krige, about the issue.
The Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, whic is endemic to the dry savannas of Southern Africa, was last evaluated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as of Least Concern. This despite the fact that the population appears to be decreasing. But a recent study at the University of Cape Town into the effect of climate change on their breeding success in the Kalahari Desert found that they could be wiped out by 2027. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Nicholas Pattinson, one of the researchers at UCT’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology.
According to a recent assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the IUCN, more than 300 species of sharks, and their close relatives, rays, are threatened with extinction. South Africa is in fact one of the top 5 global hotspots for these marine animals, which is why it is good to hear that WILDTRUST, along with the government, has launched a new campaign to protect these incredible creatures. To find out more, in Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Jennifer Olbers, a marine conservation scientist at the WildTrust’s Shark and Ray Protection Project.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Stephanie Lamour, founder of the social enterprise, Komani, about their reusable sanitary pads. It’s estimated that it could take between 500 and 800 years for one disposable sanitary towel to decompose on a landfill. This is because they are largely made up of plastic. So when you consider that it’s believed that an average woman uses close to 300 sanitary products per year – that makes a lot of plastic out in the environment. In addition to reusable pads, other eco-friendly alternatives include period pants, menstrual cups and organic pads which have gained popularity in recent years.
Last month, an extensive spatial biodiversity assessment, prioritization, and planning project got underway in 4 Southern African Development Community countries. This may not sound like the most exciting of projects, but it is a crucial one. The mapping of ecosystems in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, and Malawi will help these countries to improve their environmental planning and monitoring of indigenous species and ecosystems. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Ghislain Reb, head of the infrastructure and environmental team at the Agence Française de Développement, which is one of the co-sponsors of the project.
Today on Being Green, we’re talking about a new local waste-to-energy technology that has been developed by the South African National Energy Development Institute, SANEDI. Glynis Crook speaks to its project manager, Dr Neville Smith, who led the design concept alongside NECSA’s Dr Jaco van der Walt.
As climate change continues to make its presence felt across the world, one unexpected profession has decided it needs to clean up its act. Launched in the United States, the Clean Creatives campaign is asking individual creatives, agencies and PR firms to pledge to refuse future work with the fossil fuel industry. To find out more, in this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Stephen Horn, its South Africa Country Director.
Last week on Being Green, Glynis Crook spoke to 13-year-old Quinley Wild about his song - SOS or Save our Soil. He wrote it after his mom got involved in a global movement to address the crisis of soil degradation. To find out more about why taking better care of our soil is crucial, this week Glynis speaks to Dr Ailsa Hardie, a senior lecturer in soil chemistry at Stellenbosch University.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to 13-year-old Quinley Wild about his song SOS (Save our Soil). He wrote it after his mom, Casey, got involved in a global movement to address the crisis of soil degradation. And big local stars like Zolani Mahola, originally from Freshly Ground and now known as ‘The One Who Sings’, joined in to make it all come together. Theo Crous from Springbok Nude Girls, the Khayelitsha Children’s choir, and a group of AFDA alumni also took part in the project.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to UCT oceanographer and climatologist, Dr Sarah Fawcett, about the vital role played by South Africa’s polar research vessel and icebreaker, the SA Agulhas 2, in the field of climate science.
New Zealand has released a draft plan to tax farmers for the methane emissions from their sheep and cattle. The country is home to about 5 million people, and some 10 million cattle and 26 million sheep, and agriculture accounts for about half of its greenhouse gas emissions, mostly in the form of methane. There’s been a lot of criticism of the government’s failure to tackle the issue of emissions from the agricultural sector. Globally, agriculture is responsible for around one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Christo Van Der Rheede, the executive director of Agri SA which represents the agricultural industry in South Africa, about whether this kind of system would work here.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to 13-year-old Quinley Wild about his song SOS (Save our Soil). He wrote it after his mom, Casey, got involved in a global movement to address the crisis of soil degradation. And big local stars like Zolani Mahola, originally from Freshly Ground and now known as ‘The One Who Sings’, joined in to make it all come together. Theo Crous from Springbok Nude Girls, the Khayelitsha Children’s choir, and a group of AFDA alumni also took part in the project.
A recent study, published in the journal Nature, found that one-fifth of the world’s reptiles are threatened with extinction. Scientists examined over 10,000 species and found that 21% of them are critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable to extinction as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Reptiles include snakes, tortoises and turtles, lizards and chameleons. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to herpetologist Johan Marais about why this is so alarming and what the status is of reptiles in South Africa.
International Tea Day is celebrated on 21 May. But did you know that most tea bags contain up to 25% of plastic. Many brands use a non-biodegradable plastic called polypropylene in the heat-sealing process and to help keep the bag in shape when it’s immersed in hot liquid. A recent study by Canadian researchers found that steeping a tea bag in boiling water releases billions of microparticles of plastic into your cup. To find out how to brew an eco-friendly cuppa, Glynis Crook spoke to Mingwei Tsai, the owner of Nigiro Tea Merchants and tea café.
The ongoing plague of brown locusts in parts of the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape Karoo, believed to be the biggest in 25 years, has been a nightmare for farmers. Experts say that in just one day, a small swarm can eat the same amount of food as 35,000 people or damage 100 tonnes of crops across a square kilometre of fields. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Laura Standford of the Nairobi-based regenerative agriculture company, The Bug Picture, which has come up with a novel way of dealing with the millions of locusts in a swarm.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Alderman Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, about the annual global City Nature Challenge. This year, over 400 cities are expected to take part in a bid to find out which can gather the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people. In last year’s edition, Cape Town had the most observations, came second in the number of species identified, but fell short on how many people took part. So, the race is on for this year’s event which takes place from Friday through to Monday and the City is hoping we will bag all three top spots this year.
It’s the time of the year that the loggerhead sea turtles hatch on the coastline of northern KwaZulu-Natal and are then carried south by the Agulhas current. Unfortunately, as a result of injury, dehydration and hypothermia, some of the little hatchlings wash up on our beaches here in the Western Cape. So, the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation is calling on all Capetonians to help assist with the rescue of these little turtles. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the aquarium’s communications manager, Renee Leeuwner, about why they are getting into trouble and what you can do to help. Here is the sea turtle rescue hotline: 083 300 1663. To find out more you can go to: https://aquariumfoundation.org.za/sea-turtle-rescue-rehabilitation-and-release/become-a-turtle-rescuer/
Monday 18 April will mark the one-year anniversary of the devastating fire that destroyed UCT’s Jagger Reading room and damaged other buildings on campus. It also gutted two historic buildings - Mostert’s Mill and the Rhodes Memorial restaurant - and caused damage to other buildings in the area. The blaze also burnt hundreds of hectares of land in the Table Mountain National Park. To find out how the rehabilitation of the mountain is progressing, Glynis Crook, in this week’s edition of Being Green, speaks to the Park’s manager, Frans Van Rooyen.
The third and final report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th assessment cycle was published earlier this week. Part 3 finds that, despite warnings, emissions have continued to rise in the last decade, and that only severe cuts will allow the world to avoid climate extremes. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to UCT professor Brett Cohen, one the lead authors of the latest report, about the finding. Cohen is also one of the directors of The Green House, a sustainability consultancy.
In the Western Cape, more than 40% of all waste delivered to landfills is organic, and as it decomposes, it releases the extremely harmful greenhouse gas, methane. With the first phase of the province’s new Organic Landfill Ban in effect from this year, residents need to start thinking about how to dispose of their food waste in an environmentally friendly way. And for those who live near Sea Point, Constantia, or the Gardens, there is a simple solution with the Ladles of Love’s Feed the Soil programme. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the organisation’s founder, Danny Diliberto, about the initiative.
Construction on tech giant Amazon's new Africa headquarters at the River Club site in Observatory has been halted following an interdict by the Cape High Court against developers, Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust. In her ruling, Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath recognised the land’s importance as the historic dominion of the Gorinhaiqua nation in pre-colonial times. Building on what many consider sacred land has been the dominant theme in the ongoing controversy over the development. But another element is the fact that it is taking place in an environmentally sensitive area. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Kevin Winter of the University of Cape Townʼs Future Water Institute to remind us of the environmental concerns.
Almost 200 of Africa’s most spectacular heritage sites, both natural and cultural, are in danger because of rising sea levels. That’s according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change which found that they face a severe risk of flooding and erosion over the next 30 years. Scientists mapped out 284 heritage sites recognised, or under consideration, by UNESCO’s World Heritage centre and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to one of the study’s authors, Dr Nicolas Simpson, a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Nhlanhla Sibisi, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, which took part in the recent talks in Nairobi, Kenya. At the meeting, 175 nations reached an agreement to start negotiations on an international treaty to tackle plastic pollution. Delegates endorsed a resolution to finalise a deal by 2024 that will address the full lifecycle of plastic from production, to use, to disposal.
In this week's edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Gina Ziervogel, Associate Professor in Environmental and Geographical Sciences at UCT. She's lead author of the chapter on cities, settlements, and key infrastructure, in a new report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was published on Monday. It says both humans and nature are being pushed beyond their ability to adapt, and that any further delay in global action to mitigate climate change will result in the world missing the 'the brief and rapidly closing window' to secure a liveable future.
You may mistake their mission statement for a quote from the A-Team, but the Goat Army Africa is a very real herd of goats that is being used to clear alien vegetation like Port Jackson and wattle. It is the brainchild of Pieter Bosman and Ronnie Visser, and the 'unit' is currently on an operation to munch its way through alien plants at Cape St Francis in the Eastern Cape. In this week's edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Pieter about the army and how this way of destroying alien plant species works. You can find out more about the unit's work at: https://goatarmyafrica.com/
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, speaks to open water endurance swimmer, Sarah Ferguson, about her bid to swim from Durban to Cape Town to put the spotlight on plastic pollution in the ocean.
Hello again. Let’s look at some of the headline catchers in recent days. You may remember talk of a “Gas Master Plan” surfacing recently, punted by the fossil-fuel lobby, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy which is unashamedly part of the lobby? (I wonder if Minister Gwede Mantashe gets paid as a lobbyist? He would be paid were this the USA and Washington politics, but it’s not, so I don’t know.) Anyway, some parties stand to gain from the Government’s openly transparent support of fossil fuels. I wonder who? I’m sure you’ve guessed already.
Earlier this week, the Two Oceans Aquarium announced the exciting news that a female eagle ray had given birth to four little pups. In Being Green, Glynis Crook, speaks to its spokesperson, Renee Leeuwner, about this type of ray and why they do not lay eggs like most fish. You can watch a film of the live birth here: https://www.aquarium.co.za/blog/entry/stingrays-give-birth-to-live-young-take-a-look
The current debate on electricity tariffs (current –gettit?!) is generating (gettit?) a fair amount of hot air, which is a mixture of gases, which brings us back to gas. Sorry, I couldn’t resist being facetious – all in a good cause, but I’ll stop it now.
So, gas – gas as a fuel, which is being punted as a better solution to energy needs than coal, and we don’t need to underline the drawbacks of coal. In fact, Gwede Mantashe would really not like us to do that… But gas is a fossil fuel, and the emissions which are, it is true, less harmful than those from coal-burning, are still emissions that contribute to the atmospheric warming effect.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the DRME, is promulgating a Gas Master Plan, and is inviting comment from anybody interested enough. But you’d better get in quickly, as the deadline is very soon. The DRME has put out a basecase report and the following are their words, not mine...
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Sidney Jacobs, chairman of the Friends of Zeekoevlei and Rondevlei, about steps that are being taken by the City of Cape Town to remove large quantities of reeds and organic sludge from the Rondevlei weir in the False Bay Nature Reserve. This is expected to significantly improve the health, biodiversity, and water quality of the wetland system. Rondevlei is home to about 230 bird species, a variety of small mammals and reptiles, as well as a hippopotamus population.
(website quoted): www.climate.copernicus.eu
Fire and heat have been very much on our minds recently – this 2nd week of 2022. Funny how, although we know it’s just numbers, the start of the year feels somehow different. Perhaps it’s the new school year, and the media hype and frustrated journos writing facetious paragraphs about fresh starts and that sort of thing? Probably, but I’m just like you, and I cross my fingers and hope there will be a fresh start and against the odds, a better year ahead, whatever better means for you.
Denmark says it wants to make all domestic flights fossil fuel free by 2030. That’s in just eight years’ time. In her New Year’s address, the prime minister did however acknowledge that the solutions needed to reach this target were not yet in place. So what options are out there? And how advanced are we in the development of the necessary technology? In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Ian Cruickshank, an aviation sustainability expert, to find out.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook offers five tips to make your Christmas celebrations more environmentally friendly.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Simon Elwen, director of Sea Search and a research associate at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Botany and Zoology, about the humpback whales that have been spotted all week off the coast of Sea Point, Green Point, and Mouille Point.
(www.nature.org) A good green morning to you. At least that’s what we hope will be the greeting from your bank or FSP one of these days soon. There are concrete developments being reported now in the sphere of green investment, and some of these hoped-for announcements go beyond public-relations media statements. For instance, here’s a case involving one of the most established and tough-minded banks with a solid capitalist history going back to the days of ‘financiers’ as they were called, industry moguls like Andrew Carnegie and banker J P Morgan.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Judy Mann, a conservation strategist at the South African Association for Marine Biological Research’s Oceanographic Research Institute, about oil giant Shell's plan to carry out a seismic survey off the Wild Coast in a search for oil and gas deposits. Marine activists and scientists have been up in arms over the issue saying it will have a negative impact on marine life in the area. The survey is due to get underway on 1 December some 20km off the coast of the Eastern Cape and cover over 6,000 square kilometres of ocean surface. Activists are calling on South Africans to boycott Shell service stations over the peak holiday travel season in December in a bid to get them to step down.
www.oceansnotoil.com
Thanks for joining us this morning, and welcome to the post COP26 world, as I’m sure you are relieved to hear. It’s all over bar the shouting as I remarked last time, and thanks to Glynis for wrapping up the take-away impressions for us in her interview last week. But there will be a fair amount of shouting and groaning for a long time to come.
On the final day of the United Nations Climate Conference, Cop 26, aimed at bringing climate change under control, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Christopher Trisos, director of the Climate Risk Lab at UCT’s African Climate & Development Initiative, to find out whether he thinks progress has been made.
Is it all over bar the shouting? At COP26 I mean. The world leaders – those who attended – have departed the stage. Major announcements have been made and photo opportunities for the politically important provided, so what happens now? A lot of negotiating and fine-print examination no doubt, as the guardians of government money – many different governments – try to figure out how much they’re in for and how best to lay off the budgets for “saving the world” or more realistically, working towards realistic goals in the direction of ‘net zero’.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Nicolas Simpson, a postdoctoral research fellow at UCT’s African Climate & Development Initiative, to find out what African countries will be hoping for from the United Nations Climate Conference, Cop26, which gets underway in Glasgow this weekend. The talks are widely seen as a “make-or-break” moment for the planet. It’s hoped that delegates will recommit to net zero fossil fuel emissions by 2050 - as well as big reductions by 2030. Many African leaders and experts have pointed out that while we contribute only a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts of climate change on the continent are significant, and have highlighted the need for funding for adaptation programmes.
GREEN HYDROGEN! Now there is a new term to get your head around in green circles, and it’s assuming more and more importance. You’ll hear more about it I promise you – so here goes. It’s GREEN HYDROGEN. Hydrogen is the colourless light gas we all know and love from the basic science programme of our schooldays, but why ‘GREEN’?
As of 2022, the Western Cape Organics Landfill Ban comes into effect. This means that municipalities will be required to divert 50% of the estimated 3 million tonnes of organic waste generated in the province every year from landfills. And that figure increases to a 100% diversion by 2027. The idea is to prevent organic waste from slowly decomposing on landfills where it produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas that has reportedly contributed to about 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Alderman Xanthea Limberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste for the City of Cape Town, to find out if plans for the city are in place.
Nobel Prize in Physics Goes to Climate Change Researchers This week saw the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics, one of the Big Nobels. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so coincidentally, the news in London was full of flooding and disruptions after torrential rainstorms over the city.
The rapid expansion of the wine industry in the early 2000s led to concerns that the vineyards were encroaching on the Western Cape’s two unique global biodiversity hotspots – the Cape Floral Kingdom and the Succulent Karoo. So, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) decided to partner with farm owners who are effectively custodians of the land and therefore are able to ensure that the natural areas are protected. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook joined them in Paarl as the organisation and winemakers celebrated the fact that 50 Cape wine farms are now recognised as Conservation Champions.
A significant event took place a few days ago in Southern England. Not exactly earth-shattering, but we’ll probably look back on it in years to come as the start of a new age. An age of electric transport heralding another de-carbonisation initiative. What am I talking about? The first flight of Rolls-Royce’s electric aeroplane.
It’s National Recycling Day today, and in this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Melanie Ludwig of Organics Recycling Association of South Africa about new rules coming into effect in the Western Cape next year with regards to organic waste in landfills, and how we can use ours to make compost.
Tuna Populations Bounce Back Good news for a change and it’s sorely needed amidst the political turmoil and natural disaster events abounding on the media at present, to say nothing of COVID-19, so we won’t say anything about it. Good news? Well, there is some, say marine conservation scientists. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the IUCN, is currently meeting in the French city of Marseille, an annual congress which announces the sate of the planet’s biodiversity and is reckoned to be the most authoritative voice on the subject. You will know the Extinction Red List, compiled by the IUCN.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the World Wide Fund for Nature-South Africa’s environment behaviour change lead, Pavitray “Pavs” Pillay, about the recent breach of a decommissioned landfill at Witsand which resulted in large quantities of litter spilling onto the beach and out to sea. They also discuss the need to improve waste management in Cape Town.
The fates seem to conspire sometimes, (I know that’s ridiculous coming from an old skeptic like me) BUT anyway…there was excitement a few days ago about the phenomena in the sky above Gauteng, when a slow-moving meteor seemed to be breaking up and heading in the direction of Botswana, with fiery trails and all. Pursued by many cell-phone cameras hastily deployed, and many What’s Apps and calls exchanged
Last week on Being Green, John Richards spoke about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth climate assessment report which had been published a few days earlier. It was the first to be released by the United Nations body since 2014 and comes ahead of the COP26 summit. The meeting in Glasgow in November is widely seen as one of the last chances for the world to agree to limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The IPCC report’s warnings are stark, and it places the blame for changes in the world’s climate squarely on the shoulders of humans. It’s such an important story that on this week’s edition of the programme, Glynis Crook speaks to one of its lead authors, Francois Engelbrecht, who is a professor of climatology at Wits University’s Global Change Institute.
The climate-change community is abuzz with the latest report just put out by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to give it its full jaw-breaking title, but we’ll switch to IPCC, much easier. This is the final and authoritative report on the state of play before the COP 26 big event in Glasgow in just over 90 days time. And things have really been hotting up
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Adam Harrower, a botanist at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden about an alarming story in the New York Times detailing the extensive trafficking of succulents, many of them endangered, that are unique to the Western and Northern Cape. South Africa is home to about one-third of the world’s approximately 10,000 succulent species, and Cape Nature says there are fears that the level of poaching may result in some of them becoming extinct in the wild. It’s believed that the surge in smuggling is driven by a demand from collectors abroad, with foreign syndicates using locals to harvest the plants.
The Perfect Storm? It’s been a really tough week or week-plus whether you’re in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere on this rocky planet, and I’m not talking about the geology. The north-Americans and the Europeans have been rocked by off-the scale summer weather events. Heat and floods. Records don’t even make the news much any more. So it’s been the hottest day recorded ever; the largest bush fire ever …ho, hum…
As several countries in Western Europe count the cost of the recent devastating floods, and hopes of finding survivors fade, scientists are saying this type of flooding could hit the region far more often in the future. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to climate scientist, Dr Peter Johnston, about what happened and how prepared we are here in South Africa for extreme weather events
Hybrid Concrete Solutions www.arcinnovations.co.za I’m sure at this time you are contemplating going outside and grappling with whatever plans you have for getting through today and making it to the weekend; or you may be in the traffic as the sun breaks through, or tries to, on this winter morning. I am doomed to the same thoughts every year at this time as I sit over the keyboard in a cold room, and work out little strategies to minimize exposure to the cold which seems to seep into my arms and legs.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Renee Leeuwner, the Two Oceans Aquarium’s spokesperson, about its “Ocean Superhero” campaign which showcases the spectacular superpowers of marine animals. To find out more visit: www.aquarium.co.za.
Two Fundamental Necessities for Viable Community Living. www.greencape.co.za Hi from me JR. To preserve a reasonable frame of mind and by-pass the elephant in the room, I’m going to focus on a few insights into two of the fundamental necessities for reasonable living. First up is water. Promised in the Constitution, everybody should have access to sufficient water, and enough potable water to drink.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Jan Arkert, a geologist and researcher for The Green Connection, about a Canadian company which has been granted a licence to explore for oil and gas in one of Africa’s most environmentally-sensitive regions. The areas in Botswana and Namibia near the Okavango River encompass or border both national parks and several wildlife conservancies. The decision to allow the drilling of the test wells has drawn the ire of both conservationists and indigenous leaders, who want the fragile area to remain untouched.
How Did Climate Change Action & Carbon-Capture Fare at the G7 Summit?
The pizazz and self-important bustling of the G-7 international leaders, their handlers, media persons and all the enablers of that ilk are departed from picturesque Carbis Bay in tourist-friendly, picturesque Cornwall. (My great-aunt Lily had a small shop in Carbis Bay; she would doubtless have approved of the buzz and crowds, good for business one would have thought. But alas Aunt Lily and her shop are long gone.) Did you see the media-release pic of the G-7 main players and the non-G-7 ‘guests’ sitting around the table, President Ramaphosa among them? Rather like the ‘poor relations’ who were invited to the banquet at the Manor House by the gentry of old. Enjoying the goodies but not really participating
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Tess Gridley about an epic journey made by a grey whale that travelled more than 25,000 kilometres from the waters of the northern Pacific Ocean, where this species typically feed and breed, to Walvis Bay in Namibia. Gridley, who is co-director of the Namibia Dolphin Project/Sea Search and research associate in the Department of Botany and Zoology at Stellenbosch University was part of the team that first spotted the lone 12-metre-long cetacean in 2013. The findings of the researchers from Stellenbosch University and Durham University in the United Kingdom was published earlier this week in the journal, Biology Letters. It’s also available online at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbl
“Out of the Mud – proof that the ‘Anthropocene’ goes back further than scientists thought.” Hi – thanks for joining us on BG. Sorry about my croakiness but it’s a proud badge. I had my vaccine shot a few days ago and there have been a few mild side effects. I went to Mitchells Plain Hospital – Lentegeur – and the experience was, well, affirming. Hats off to an impressive organization, a band of total professionals, cheerful and encouraging, firm but kind with us old toppies. Wow, it restores faith in the basic humanity of us all, amidst so much negativity. Good on yer, Mitchells Plain team.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Brett Jordaan, the CEO of the Centre for Regenerative Design and Collaboration, both Global and South Africa, about its pilot plant in Cape Town that has been making a concrete modifier from plastic waste. The product replaces the sand and stone that would normally be in a concrete mix, together with cement and water. The CRDC’s trademarked RESIN8 recently won the Dow Business Impact Fund prize worth R1.5 million in recognition of the positive impact it will have on both people and the planet. It plans to use the money to scale up its production by opening a permanent plant in Cape Town later this year.
John Richards talked to Prof John S Compton, geo-chemist and emeritus professor of geology, UCT, about the geology and natural history of the West Coast, the basis for his new book West Coast - a Natural History.
The publisher is Earthspun Books. Website: johnscompton.com
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s regional director for Southern Africa, Professor Hubert Gijzen, visited both the University of Cape Town and the Cape Floral Region Protected Area on Tuesday to assess the damage following the devastating mountain fire in April. As UNESCO has accorded the Cape Floral Kingdom World Heritage status, Glynis Crook spoke to him after his visit to find out what, if any assistance the organisation will be offering to rehabilitate the vegetation. The fire burnt some 600 hectares of land and destroyed or damaged 11 structures, including UCT’s Jagger Library. They also spoke about the role UNESCO might play, through its Memory of the World programme, to help protect special collections in the university’s libraries.
John Richards talked to Prof John S Compton, geo-chemist and emeritus professor of geology, UCT, about the geology and natural history of the West Coast, the basis for his new book West Coast - a Natural History.
The publisher is Earthspun Books. Website: johnscompton.com
This week in Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Anton Hanekom, Executive Director of Plastics SA, the umbrella body for the industry in South Africa. Just over two weeks ago, government gazetted new regulations regarding plastic bags. From 2027, all plastic carrier bags and flat bags used in the country must be made out of 100% recyclable material. The new amendment to the regulations, under the auspices of the Environment Conservation Act, applies also to imported bags. Under a staggered approach, bags must contain a minimum of 50% recycled material by the 1st of January 2023, 75% by 2025, and 100% by 2027. Those who break the rules can be fined up to R5 million and face possible jail time
Suddenly for very cogent reasons there’s been a lot of talk about the “urban edge” this week, and the twitterati have had a field day with instant judgments of the ‘us and them’ variety. They need to leave instead of cluttering up the suburbs with homeless infrastructure like makeshift tents. Where do ‘these people’ come from, how do we get rid of them? The authorities should find housing for them. And etcetera and…and… I’m sure you’ve seen at least a few of the comments.
This week in Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Alison Davison, Head for Waste Minimisation for the City of Cape Town, about a pilot project to divert organic waste from landfills. In South Africa, a third of the food produced is never consumed and 90% of it ends up in rubbish dumps. There it produces carbon dioxide and methane gas, which is even more devastating for the climate. The good news is that national government is responding to the challenge and in the Western Cape, the provincial government has set a target for a 50% diversion of organic waste from landfills by 2022 and 100% by 2027. In February the City of Cape Town launched a trial project, providing residents with 5 litre buckets which they can take home and use for their food waste. Participants then return them to one of eight designated sites across the city where the container will be decanted, cleaned and handed back. At the end of June, the City will then assess whether the programme has the potential for further rollout. To find our more you can speak to staff at one of the drop-off sites in Belhar, Killarney, Hout Bay, Woodstock, the CBD, Claremont, Durbanville, and Somerset West, or e-mail: re.cycling@capetown.gov.za.
You quite often see big ocean-mining vessels tied up alongside in the harbour, with – to me at any rate – intriguing engineering gear towering up out of their innards, and specialized pumps and mining what-not on display. And somehow there’s also a tinge of apprehension about what exactly happens down there on the ocean floor, out of sight. Ocean diamonds are big business and important in our extraction economy, oil and gas exploration goes without saying, so we won’t say it, there are other desirable minerals prospected and mined. Hopefully with due regard to the environment.
This week in Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Australia-based South African author, Jax Moorcroft, about her book, The Flexitarian Foodie, published by Penguin. A flexitarian diet is one in which you eat mostly plant-based foods, and only occasionally meat and other animal products, and is widely considered to be more environmentally friendly. Moorcroft describes herself as an ‘aspiring eco-warrior’ and the book is packed with information and useful tips on topics as varied as how to green your kitchen, why we should ditch our yellow wash-up sponges, and greening your groceries. And, of course, a wide-range of delicious and easy-to-use recipes.
The energy landscape has been thrown into high relief by the Coronavirus pandemic. Of course we know that, the “economy” has suffered a major disruption, income from tourism plummeting, shutdowns and lockdowns, economic shocks of all descriptions have had their effects across the board. Conservation of biodiversity just one of the many sectors threatened. So it’s no surprise that the energy business – mainly electricity generation, has been hard hit. Despite reduced demand, Eskom battles to provide a service. Although nobody would wish it, in a funny way, the electric emergency has sped up the move to a better
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Michal Šťastný of the Safari Park Dvůr Králové in the Czech Republic about an experimental project underway at two zoos on opposite sides of the country. To make up for the lack of interaction under Covid-19 restrictions, they are live streaming activities in the chimpanzee enclosures so that the two troops can watch each other’s daily lives. If you want to check out what the chimps are up to, you can do so here: https://safaripark.cz/en/about-us/news/chimps-in-safari-park-and-brno-zoo-zoom-every-day. The project will continue until the end of March.
They are throwing huge boulders into the sea just off the coast of Britain, near Brighton in the English Channel. Who are they? GREENPEACE, the environmental activists and botherers. Why are they doing this? Well, it really annoys the British fishing industry, and the fishing police get very cross.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Georgina Smit, head of technical at the Green Building Council of SA, about a pop-up building that is currently on display in the Green Point Urban Park. It was the winning design in the ultimate ‘clean green home’ competition, which was hosted by the City of Cape Town in partnership with the Green Building Council of South Africa. You can have a walk through the My Clean Green Home pop-up from 10h-16h every day until 14 March. All Covid-19 protocols are in place but, if you prefer, you can do a virtual tour of the house by visiting: www.capetownfutureenergyfestival.co.za/mycleangreenhome. The digital walk through allows you to experience a net zero carbon home and provides a wealth of information which you can use in your own homes. For information about how to green your home, you can also visit: www.smarthome.org.za.
Some environment-related news events and community happenings that have turned up in this bizarre period of we-are-about-to-be un-locked-down but not-just yet. The green energy debate has continued to run in circles in America, despite (or perhaps because of) the announcement from President Biden that he would re-enter the USA as a fully participating member of the Paris Climate Agreements. The conservative coal and fossil-fuel lobby, although they took a bit of a knock, came out fighting. Aided by the unusual freeze-up and blizzard which hit the state of Texas and led to major power outages, what we would call load-shedding, the anti-renewables chorus were quick to blame frozen wind-turbines for the electricity failures.
The race for South Africa’s Green Economy is on, though you would be forgiven for not really noticing it. But it is happening, say proponents of the Green Economy, and they’re getting on with it while most of us have our heads buried in the complexities of vaccine politics.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to arborist and Chairman of the Friends of the Arderne Gardens, Francois Krige, about efforts to save a 150-year-old Cork Oak which fell over recently. It is one of six so-called Champion Trees in the garden, a designation given to exceptional trees that represent a unique part of the nation's forest heritage. Established some 175 years ago by British timber merchant, Ralph Henry Arderne, the gardens are home to the largest collection in South Africa of exotic trees. To find out more about the Arderne Gardens, visit: https://www.ardernegardens.org.za/.
In Being Green, we go back to a story from last year about hundreds of elephants dying in Botswana’s Okavango Delta region. Following tests in specialist laboratories in South Africa, Canada, Zimbabwe and the US, the authorities announced the cause to be the ingestion of cyanobacteria at water holes. In today's edition, Glynis Crook speaks to the University of Pretoria’s Professor Rudi van Aarde about a new international study he led which argues that it is the restricted movements of elephants in this area which made the sudden die-off much more likely. To read the study, go to: https://peerj.com/articles/10686/
Hullo fr me, JR & Bng Grn. With The Vaccine on the horizon – hold thumbs – perhaps we can breathe a little easier. And now that the dust is settling around the U S Capitol and the White House (Is it?), my mind returns to the big picture.
Table Mountain is so very much part of our lives as Capetonians that perhaps we almost forget that we have this incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site right in front of us, dominating the city. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Marie Abraham, environmental control officer at the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company about some of the history of its flora and fauna and what the status quo is today.
The news gets better every day. Well we have to believe in something. The negative psychological toll on our mental well-being in this time of the plague is difficult to quantify, but I feel it is huge.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Gabriella Leighton of the Urban Caracal Project. To find out more about the organisation’s work, you can go to: www.urbancaracal.org.
www.compology.com Greetings from me, JR, on this designated day. About the only thing we can say with certainty about the year ahead – it’s not a leap-year. As common-sense would suggest, the extraordinary disruption of the pan-demic didn’t impact as disastrously on the state of the environment as some prophets of doom were predicting. We still care about the planet and hope that various interventions are on track to mitigate climate-change effects, improve on water resource management, encourage sustainable use, and all those optimistic goals that are sincerely promoted by the goodies
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Michael Stausholm, founder of the Danish start-up “Sprout”, that has come up with the incredible idea of growing Christmas trees and other plants from pencils. They are made from sustainably harvested wood that have a plant-based capsule at the end of them that are filled with seeds. So, when the pencil gets too small to sharpen, you simply plant the capsule side and then take care of it in the same way that you would any seeds. To find out more you can go to: www.sproutworld.com. Sprout pencils are available in South Africa at: www.pixodel.co.za/product/sprout-pencil-tm/
www.globalcarbonproject.org The Main Emergency Feature Continues… Amid the shock-horror reports of the new peak – practically world-wide – in Covid-19 infections and the inevitable death score, the United Nations kept the flag flying on climate-change action in their virtual top-level meeting, “Climate Ambition Summit”. Attended by 71 governments, the Summit heard UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres giving it to us straight from the shoulder. Since the Paris agreement of 2015, progress has been patchy at best, and it’s not good enough. …
In Being Green this week, we learn about the ancient Japanese art of furoIn Being Green this week, we learn about the ancient Japanese art of furoshiki. The traditional cloths have been used for centuries to transport food, clothes and gifts. And today, they are increasingly being embraced as a sustainable and reusable alternative to throwaway gift wrap. Glynis Crook speaks to Cathy and Yukki, co-owners of Zusetsu, an English company that imports the traditional material from Kyoto. To find out more, you can visit Cathy and Yukki’s website: www.zusetsu.com, or you can watch some ‘how to’ tutorials at: www.furoshiki-giftwrap.co.uk.
Good news about climate change for a change. When I look at trees I somehow feel…well not exactly happy, rather relieved or reassured. There’s something about trees, forests, coppices, trees in a garden, trees in a park, trees in the wind, trees on the veld that is, somehow companionable. The trees and us, we’re in it together. When we think about trees at all – I’m not saying we should go around hugging trees and giving ammunition to the satirical jibes of the anti-green lobby. No. But.
Link: www.weforum.org – Why trees really matter in the race to de-carbonization.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Cape Town entrepreneur, Vusumzi Mahlatshana, who uses the alien invasive species, the Prickly Pear, to make everything from bricks, to insulating material, lamps and even jewellery. To find out more about Cactu-tecture, you can visit his website: www.pricklypearproducts.co.za, or find him on Facebook @ Cactu-tecture.
www.esrl.noaa.gov Strong Plea for Aggressive Investment in the Climate Emergency
From time to time here on BEING GREEN we’ve checked in on the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The agreed best site, most reliable, most credible, is the NOAA’s GLOBAL MONITORING LABORATORY. The benchmark carbon dioxide reading from the Mauna Loa monitoring station in Hawaii has been on the go ever since the days of David Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the late ‘fifties of last century. Now pretty sophisticated and updated to the standards of modern-day Earth System’s research practices, you can take it that it’s authoritative.
There is widespread agreement among climate activists and experts that Donald Trump’s tenure as the president of the United States has been a disaster for the environment. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to former United States diplomat, Brooks Spector, about what we can expect from US President-elect, Joe Biden, when he takes office in January.
Think global, act local – the environmental activists used to say. Maybe they still do. A local spatial-environmental issue that has been catching my eye is pretty much in our faces, although you may not be aware of it if you’re not a follower of the great science of Astronomy, often claimed to be the oldest science. It certainly is the oldest science pursued officially in this country, and astronomers have just celebrated 200 years of the Royal Cape Observatory, in Observatory, or the S A A O as it’s now called. The environmental issue is an old one, resurfacing in a new and urgent guise – what to do with the land on the banks of the Liesbeeck River.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, talks to Naude Dreyer of the non-profit organisation Ocean Conservation Namibia, about the death of over 7,000 Cape fur seal pups that have washed ashore at Pelican Point in Walvis Bay. For more information, please go to: https://www.ocnamibia.org
The economy. Don’t groan. If I can understand it, you can. Everyone agrees that rebuilding the economy is number one priority. We’re looking to our leaders – and particularly the chief leader Cyril Ramaphosa – for cues to show the way and dispel the trauma of these times. Or at least attempt to dispel the trauma. And now is the time for opportunities to improve the economic model. (www.dailymaverick.co.za/our-burning-planet/)
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, talks to Chris Krauss, the chairperson on an NPO called Sea the Bigger Picture, which has been testing an innovative way of removing microplastics off our beaches. The Enviro Buggy basically vacuums up sand, small bits of plastic and other debris. The machine is still in its trial phase but when ready for use, could be one part of a more global solution to reducing plastic on our beaches and in the ocean. https://seathebiggerpicture.org/
We know that life on Earth, for all of us – humanity – depends on life on Earth, for every living thing – plants, animals, birds, sharks, fish, molluscs, reptiles, arachnoids, microbes – even viruses, if they are to be considered living. The minister of the environment Barbara Creecy stressed recently, as she often does, the prime importance of the ecological infrastructure and the natural world as embodied in our conservation landscapes. It’s conserved by agreement and managed by us, under our government, and it’s symbolic as well as practical.
Spring has sprung, and in this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook, looks ahead to next week’s Garden Day. Horticulturist Tanya Visser, presenter of The Gardener on the Home Channel, gives us ideas about what to plant in our gardens that is good for both us and the environment. And chef and food writer, Karen Dudley, of The Kitchen restaurant fame, speaks about how growing fruit and vegetables in your garden makes for both delicious food and a reduced carbon footprint. They will both be speaking at the Virtual Garden Day on Sunday 11 October. To find out more about the events you can join in on, go to: https://gardenday.co.za/events-promotions/promotions/virtual-garden-gathering/
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, as we celebrate Clean-Up & Recycle SA Week, National Recycling Day, and both the International Coastal Clean-Up and Let`s Do It - World Clean-Up Day, Glynis Crook speaks to Candice Burgess-Look of the annual Eco-Logic Awards, Blake Dyason of “Love our Trails”, and Justin Needham of “Imagined Earth” about the importance of doing our part in taking care of the environment.
Things to Ponder on Whilst You Tend Your Indoor Plants in Lockdown.
www.roboticsandautomationnews.com “vertical farming”
The south-western Cape storage dams are pretty well supplied after the rainy days of mid-August and a few cold fronts that actually brought more than a smattering of showers. The relatively new (and once controversial) Berg River Dam near Franschhoek is 100-plus percent full, meaning that the overrun sluice gates were opened to release water into the much-utilised Berg River. That brings a feeling of relief to all us water-constrained folks, and that should mean all of us. And here is the mandatory warning: it’s still vital to conserve water, and we’re doing a good job in the Cape Town supply area, with an average saving of 28-million litres per day over the last few months.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Tlou Masehela, a researcher working on honeybees, about National Arbor Week, the importance of planting trees, the role played by bees, and why they are so important for biodiversity. To find out more about what trees you can plant in your garden to help bees and other insects, go to https://www.elsenburg.com/bee%20industry%20strategy%20mip%20may2018/Strelitzia_37_2016.pdf
You probably didn’t notice it, but last week we passed a date, or rather overshot a date – Earth Overshoot Day. What is it? A day that marks the limit of resources used to full capacity, or all the goods and services the Earth systems can supply or regenerate, as a date in the year. We live the rest of the year on credit, and it would take about 1-point- 6 Earth’s to provide the complete resources. Talk about living beyond your means! Well the inhabitants of Earth – and that means the human race and everything else – has been doing that for quite a time. And the credit comes from the future, so it is literally robbing our children of their future.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Nigel Forshaw, the regional team coordinator for the Scout programme in the Western Cape, about a project to rid their Hawequas Adventure Centre of alien vegetation. The camp, near Wellington, is used for outdoor adventure activities and environmental education. Their fynbos restoration plan requires clearing out alien species including black wattle, stinkbean and pine trees. You can find out how you can help the Scouts finance the removal of these plants by going to: https://westerncape.scouts.org.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/10/HawequasFynbosRestorationProject.pdf
I think that means if you haven’t tested positive but are complying with all the recommended protocols including the legally binding ones. New Zealand has been in the news this week, for the wrong reason really – a bit of nervousness over the import of a single case of Covid-19. It seems to be safely under control, and we must congratulate the New Zealanders on their admirable compliance and vigilance
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Leslie Petrik of the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Western Cape, lead author of a new study which has found toxic herbicides, that are banned in other parts of the world, in seawater, mussels, sea urchins, limpets and seaweed in Camps Bay. It was published recently in the journal, Science of the Total Environment. To ready the full study, you can go to: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342310014_Presence_and_risk_assessment_of_herbicides_in_the_marine_environment_of_Camps_Bay_Cape_Town_South_Africa
One thing you can say about the human condition is that we seem to be slightly more on the glass half-full side, despite the prophets of doom making the most noise. I mean that there’s quite a buzz of positive views on the blogs and in the media generally. You may say that’s just whistling in the dark, and only time will tell.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the lead author of a new study which shows that polar bears could be wiped out by the end of the century if global warming continues at the current rate. Dr Péter Molnár and the team of researchers say shrinking sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has already seen some sub-populations reach their survival limit as the loss of ice forces the animals onto land and away from their food supplies for longer periods.
One of the environment ironies of the pandemic is the fact that conservation areas are benefiting from the reduction in tourist traffic – as far as biodiversity is concerned, though not funding. So if the funding is compromised, it upsets the conservation-must-pay-for-itself model, and there may be a future reduction in land or water area under conservation regimes, a double irony if you like. So far, no clarity emerging, and it’s too soon to make any definite call.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Niall McCann, founder and conservation director of the UK-based conservation charity, National Park Rescue, to get an update on the unprecedented death of some 400 elephants in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. No-one knows why they are dying, but the country’s government said samples taken from the dead animals were to be analysed by laboratories here in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Canada. Botswana is home to the largest elephant herd in Africa. Across the continent, there are only an estimated 415 thousand of the animals left and they are classified by the IUCN as vulnerable.
In amongst all the media noise of the “new normal” – sorry, that’s the last time I’ll use that phrase – here is a spotlight on this topic: the importance of nature, the environment, whatever you want to call it. Modeling remedial action on natural examples will loom larger and larger in the struggle to find a way through the maze of management strategies to help action on Climate Change. And there is more than a reasonable chance that Climate Change will be implicated in the increasing frequency of zo-onotic, that is inter-species outbreaks of virus epidemics. Green Awareness as ever, top priority. Restoring and protecting nature is one of the greatest strategies for tackling climate change, but not just for the obvious reason that it sucks carbon out of the air. Forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems like mangroves act as buffers against extreme weather, protecting houses, crops, water supplies and vital infrastructure. The strategy of using nature as a defence against climate impacts is called ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) – in essence, look after nature and it will look after you.
In this week’s edition of Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Brett Jordaan of the Pristine Earth Collective about a pilot project in which litter booms have been installed at three points across the Black River to trap solid waste litter including plastic, so that it can be collected and not flow out to the sea.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Peter Ryan, director of UCT’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology about a study looking at litter on the beaches in Cape Town. In collaboration with the City of Cape Town and government’s Working for Coast Programme, his research team took advantage of the absence of beachgoers during lockdown to learn more about where the litter comes from. The City hopes that, by identifying the sources of pollution, it will be able to develop and implement programmes and actions to address the problem.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Renee Leeuwner of the Two Oceans Aquarium to find out more about Alvi and Yoshi, two endangered sea turtles that have been released back into the ocean. The also discuss why turtles are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) endangered species list and what is being done to better protect them.
In today’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Romy Klusener who is Rehabilitation Manager at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. They discuss how SANCCOB is coping with the African Penguin egg-season which is a busy time of the year for the organisation, the arrival of a group of young Cape gannets at their Tableview clinic, and how the public can help by adopting a penguin or an egg. SANCOB
Brazil earlier this week deployed the military to the Amazon in a bid to halt illegal logging and mining activities in the rainforest. The development came just days after satellite data from its space research institute showed there has been a 55 per cent surge in deforestation in the first four months of 2020, in comparison to the same period last year. The rainforest is seen as vital to curbing climate change. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Erika Berenguer, a forest ecologist at both Oxford and Lancaster Universities, about the impact this might have, and if bringing in the army is the right way to deal with the situation.
Four of the world’s leading biodiversity experts have warned that we need to stop destroying nature or face deadlier and more frequent pandemics that inflict even worse economic damage. They say human activities such as deforestation, intensive farming, and exploitation of wild species have created a “perfect storm” for diseases to spread. Their strongly worded article was published last week by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to one of the scientists, Professor Josef Settele of the Department of Community Ecology at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Halle, Germany.
Following the sighting of a pod of Orcas or Killer Whales in False Bay last weekend, Glynis Crook speaks to scientist Dr Simon Elwen of the NPO Sea Search, to find out more about the mammal, why they are coming more frequently to waters around the Cape, and the impact their presence has on the local ecosystem. They also discuss reports that two of the Orca have been attacking sharks and eating their livers, which is unusual behaviour. To find out more visit: http://seasearch.co.za or visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/seasearch. Seasearch
Glynis Crook’s guest in this week’s edition of Being Green is Dr Eleanor Hutchings who is the People and Conservation Coordinator: Biodiversity Management Branch at the City of Cape Town. They discuss the annual City Nature Challenge which takes place from Friday 24 to Monday 27 April. More than 250 cities across the world are taking part this year in the special Covid-19 lockdown edition. In places where residents are not allowed to leave their homes, they are being encouraged to document the plants, birds, animals, reptiles and insects they find in their gardens, on their balconies or even from their windows. To take part, all you need to do is sign up for the challenge and start recording your observations. If you have a smartphone, you can download the free iNaturalist app in your app store. iNaturalist
Last year, Being Green spoke to journalist Steve Kretzmann about the quality of the coastal water around Cape Town. He said it was difficult to know how clean it was as the City of Cape Town had not made public the results of its water sample tests for some time. Well a few weeks ago, it did in fact publish the Know Your Coast, 2019 report on water quality at recreational beaches and monitoring points along the Atlantic and False Bay coasts, looking at samples taken over a period of five years. In the programme this week, Glynis Crook asks Steve what he made of it. Full report here
Easter is said to be the peak holiday for chocolate sales around the world, beating even Valentine’s Day and Christmas. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook asks just how environmentally friendly your favourite slab is. Do you know where the cocoa is sourced, are the farmers paid a fair price, and do they use sustainable farming methods? She speaks to Antonino Allegra, the head chocolate-maker at local brand, Afrikoa, which sources its organic cacao beans directly from farmers in Tanzania. Afrikoa
Glynis Crook speaks to climate scientist Peter Johnston of the University of Cape Town’s Climate System Analysis Group. They discuss the positive impact that reduced human activity due to the coronavirus pandemic is having on the environment, whether it will last, and if there are any lessons to be learned from this period for our fight against climate change.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook talks to Kirstenbosch Gardens’ senior horticulturist, Cherise Viljoen, about the Spekboom which is widely fêted for its carbon absorption properties. They discuss concerns that people, in their enthusiasm, are planting them where they don’t really belong, and whether other indigenous succulents have similar capabilities.
A new assessment by a group 89 scientists from 50 international organisations has found that the polar ice caps are melting 6 times faster than in the 1990s. A comprehensive review of satellite data from both poles showed that the Antarctica and Greenland lost 6.4 trillion tonnes of ice between 1992 and 2017, thanks to warming conditions. This led to an increase in global sea levels of close to 18 millimetres, with experts again warning about the future implications for coastal communities. In this edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the co-leader of the study, Professor Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds.
Minister Pravin Gordhan has been opening up on some of his standpoints on the energy crisis, or the Eskom crisis, to say the same thing. There is no doubt that the downward spiral of diminishing demand and sporadic supply threatens the eventual survival of the big utility, and the road-map ahead for splitting the functions of generating and distributing will have to be implemented one way or another. That’s a tough one for the politicians to thread their way among the trade-unions, the supporters of the ruling party and the tenderpreneurs, the middle-men like the municipalities, and the end users like mines and industry – and you and me trying to live our lives while dodging around load-shedding.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to arborist and Chairman of the Friends of the Arderne Gardens, Francois Krige, about this incredible but relatively little known park that is situated just a few minutes’ walk away from the busy central Claremont shopping district. Established 175 years ago by British timber merchant, Ralph Henry Arderne, it is home to the largest collection in South Africa of exotic trees. This includes six of the so-called Champion Trees, a designation given to exceptional trees that represent a unique part of the nation's forest heritage. The Arderne Gardens can be found on the Main Road in Claremont and is open every day from 9h until 18h. Entrance is free. Find out more at: https://www.ardernegardens.org.za/. Arderne Gardens
We’ve followed with great sadness the story of the series of bushfires that have burned across Australia since September last year. They’ve resulted nationally in the death of at least 33 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and have burned more than 11 million hectares of bush, forest and parks. And experts estimate some 1 billion animals have died in the blazes. In Being Green this week, we speak to Professor Christopher Dickman, an ecology expert from the University of Sydney, about the impact the fires have had on Australia’s flora and fauna.
If you’re a follower of the Green thread in our current affairs – or put another way, if you care about the environment – of course you will be aware of the grand theme of political-economic-social discourse that dominates the field. BEING GREEN is Fine Music Radio’s acknowledgement of the importance of the Green Thread, and so thinks our sponsor, without whom we could not broadcast live concerts, or bring you other delicious cultural goodies on the airwaves.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Jason Drew, founder and CEO of AgriProtein, a waste-to-feed company. The Philippi-farm houses billions of black soldier flies which are reared on organic waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills where it would decompose, producing the powerful greenhouse gas, methane. The larvae or maggots are then harvested and used to produce a high protein feed ingredient for farmed animals, fish and pets.
Worries about rollout of 5G
I did a very unscientific snap survey of people’s understanding of 5G over the past few days. A few people, mainly I admit of my generation, looked blank. One chap said hopefully, the 5th Industrial Revolution? Others merely cast their eyes upwards and looked at me with sympathy, or was it contempt? So what is 5G and should we care?
A lot of people around the world do care and are very vocal about it. First, ‘5G’. ?. That’s the term for the 5th Generation of personal devices, digital mobile communication devices – cell-phones we call them, or tablets. And the network of base stations to connect them. We’re currently on the 4th Generation. And you can’t do without your smartphone or iPad, can you? Or perhaps you’ve never tried. Don’t. It’s not remotely an option.
Being Green this week visits the most extraordinary hotel near Cape Town airport that recently achieved a 6-star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa, giving it “world leadership” status. Hotel Verde showcases some of the most advanced, environmentally-conscious technological installations and construction methods including grey water systems, waste management, and regenerative drive elevators, to name but a few.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Ian Domisse of the EcoBrick Exchange teaches Glynis Crook how to make an ecobrick out of non-biodegradable waste and gives her some ideas about what it can be used for. He says that as a rule of thumb, it takes about 250 non-biodegradable chips packets to make one them. Ecobrick
SOME THOUGHTS ON PRESENT CHALLENGES, AND SOME TO COME
The more things change the more they stay the same… That cheesy old remark is – well – as true as it is cheesy. So here we are in that no-mans-land between the Years, and you’re probably letting media stories about Christmas babies, (91 in the Western Cape incidentally) the death toll on our dangerous roads, and of course ‘festive’ crime, waft over the mince pies.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GERLINDE MOSER OF RE/MAX. Being Green – Your window on the environment broadcast every Friday morning at 7.15. Glynis Crook will focus on key issues affecting our lifestyles, science and research outcomes, the quest for sustainable living and a healthier planet.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Georgina de Kock, inventor of the edible Munch Bowl which is an environmentally-friendly alternative to styrofoam and plastic food containers.
A new study by a group of British and American scientists has shown that eating healthy food is almost always also good for the environment. They assessed the health and environmental impacts of 15 common food groups and found that fruit, vegetables, beans and wholegrains were best for both avoiding disease and protecting the climate and water resources. Glynis Crook speaks to the University of Oxford’s Dr Michael Clark who led the research. Multiple health and environmental impacts of foods
If you haven’t noticed that South Africa is facing a Water Crisis and that it is growing in fits and starts, then you are probably not on this planet. It’s a little easier to get off this planet in the south-western corner of the Western Cape around the Peninsula because our dams are looking more than reasonable and the landscape is still pleasantly green.
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was recently in Lesotho at a foundation-laying ceremony for a new phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The project provides 27% of the entire Vaal River integrated system, which is to say that’s it about a third of the water for our industrial heartland. Politicians do this sort of thing because it’s a requirement for a big cross-government agreement dating from 1986. Lesotho benefits by selling their water and South Africa gets the water. Critics of the LHWP have said that Lesotho doesn’t really have a choice in this set-up, but that’s another story.
Cape Town pumps million litres of sewage out to sea every day from marine pipelines in Green Point, Camps Bay, and Hout Bay. The only treatment it receives before being pumped into ocean is to pass through a grid to remove solids. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to journalist Stephen Kretzmann who has written many articles about the problem of pollution along the city’s coastline.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste, Xanthea Limberg, about increasing water consumption and the need to remain vigilant about our water usage as we head into summer.
In this week’s edition, Being Green visits a new biodiversity hotspot being developed in Mowbray by the NPO, Communitree, in partnership with The Friends of Liesbeek River and others. It will be part of a green corridor to help birds and insects negotiate the urban landscape. Glynis Crook speaks to Communitree’s co-founder and director, Frances Taylor. To find out more about the organisation’s work, to volunteer, or to set up a project with them, visit: communitree.co.in Communitree
Plastic Cleanups - the struggle continues!
JOHN KIESER of the SA Plastics Federation talked about the results of the recent Coastal Cleanup Campaign organised by the Federation.
Despite adverse weather along the City’s beaches, FMR listeners and staffers turned out to brave the conditions and do their bit.
John Kieser stressed the importance of awareness and individual responsibility in the relentless campaign to improve the state of our plastic-impacted coasts and oceans.
Access the latest available stats on recycling and sustainability drives on the PLASTICS/SA
Being Green this week takes a look at some of the information out there about the potential medicinal uses for our indigenous fynbos. Glynis Crook speaks to Giselle Courtney, creator of the Cape Town Fynbos Experience tastings and apothecary workshops. To find out more, visit: Cape Town Fynbos Experience
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook learns about the Foundation for Environmental Education’s Eco-Schools programme. It’s active in some 67 countries and has been implemented in South Africa since 2003 by the wildlife and environment society, WESSA. Today more than 600 schools across the country are registered, with 106 of those in the Western Cape. Schools wanting to find out how to register for the programme can find out more on: http://wessa.org.za/wessa-eco-schools/ WESSA
MORE BRICKS IN THE WALL ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The news has not been comfortable this week. But then news, the stock-in-trade of the media, is commonly bad news – bad news sells, sensationally bad news sells best. There is good news, with a positive angle, and you hear it here on Being Green whenever we can squeeze in some good news.
Which is to say it’s not good news this week.
More bricks in the wall on climate change. Hurricane Dorian, sweeping along the Eastern seaboard of the USA, is downgraded to a violent tropical storm after the devastating tempest attack on the Bahamas, with highest wind speeds ever recorded. Another extreme weather event. And there are some equally ferocious hurricanes in the far East, and over the Indian ocean.
Even the most determined climate-change denier will have to admit that something’s going on. Of course it’s glib to say, there you are, it all ties up and we’re bound for catastrophe. But I think it’s fair to say we can use the term ‘climate change emergency’ without sensationalism.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook tastes fynbos in the form of tea, cordials and salts, and learns how they can be used to flavour food. Her guest is Giselle Courtney who runs workshops in the Company Gardens to teach people about both the culinary and medicinal uses of the Cape’s unique flora. The Cape Town Fynbos Experience
A concatenation of circumstances led to the world-shattering find of the Coelacanth on that fateful day in late December 1938, when Marjorie Latimer recognized a distinctive blue fin sticking out of a bunch of trawled fish on the quay in East London. She had no idea what it was, but she knew it was important. You could say in a way Marjorie’s unique upbringing and far from conventional education, and her experience as a single-handed museum curator, had prepared her for just this climactic event. Mike Bruton, himself of Coelacanth fame, has been researching her life and work.
In 1979, when South Africa decided to ban commercial whaling, the population of humpback whales in the western Indian Ocean was down to roughly 300 to 600 individuals. A new survey led by marine biologist Chris Wilkinson of the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute now suggests they have made a stunning comeback. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Ken Findlay, a whale biologist at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, who was supervisor on the study.
I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that recent temperatures in the North have been the hottest on record. In fact the last four years have been the hottest on record according to the UN climate watch. The change is accelerating up to thirty times as fast as it did at the start of the Industrial Revolution. So the push for climate change solutions and action on those theoretical solutions is intensifying. Cutting back emissions and moving to renewables for power generation is one of the popular mantras, and it makes sense to everyone except the vested interests of the coal and oil lobby, but even that is changing.
The average atmospheric CO2 level rises inexorably – the NOAA monitoring figure for July stands at 412 parts per million, up 3 ppm from the same month last year. If we can reduce the level or at least slow its increase down appreciably, we stand a chance of limiting global temperature increase and keeping it down to less than 2 degrees by 2050.
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Wikus Van Niekerk, Dean of Engineering at Stellenbosch University, who is co-author of a new study which suggests that installing giant turbines in the ocean off the east coast of South Africa could provide a “green” solution to generating the country’s baseload electricity.
ZERO-ING ON THE WATER POSITION
At least we’re having a (quote) normal (unquote) winter, the rain gauges are overflowing and there are substantial inflows into the dams. Also there’s been flooding and disruption, but that’s ‘normal’ too. Some places inland, like Leeuwenboschfontein near Touws River and Redelinghuys on the West Coast have had the first proper rainfall in four years, and hard-pressed farmers are rejoicing.
The water crisis continues, rain or shine. Don’t be tempted into thinking that the water worries are over – they’re not. Cape Town had the worst drought on record since records began, admittedly only about 140 years ago, but that’s how recently everything has hotted up in the modern world (apologies for the pun). DAY ZERO
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook was joined in the studio by Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for community services and health, Zahid Badroodien, for an update on two dangers facing trees in the city: the illegal stripping of bark off indigenous trees and an infestation by a tree-killing beetle fungus. In terms of the polyphagous shot hole borer, he said it’s important that people do not cut down an infected tree themselves, as special care needs to be taken throughout the removal process. Instead, they should report a sighting by going to: https://www.capetowninvasives.org.za/shot-hole-borer. Alternatively they can call: 0860 103 089 Giving an exact location of the tree is very important. The most common symptoms are: - Gum or sap oozing on the bark - Visible entry and exit holes - Sugary secretion - Sawdust visible around holes - Fungal staining on sapwood or outer bark - Dieback of part of the tree or the entire tree
Where are we with the “Global Warming” debate? Or:
Emergency? - What Emergency?
Some reporters and commentators go on about climate change crisis, it’s generally referred to as global warming, a problem. Now some are saying, emergency. In fact the Guardian has recently decided to use the tag, climate emergency. Typical left-wing proto-socialist medium I hear some typical right-wing pro conservative commentators ask, Emergency? What Emergency?
And the atmospheric COtwo level relentlessly ticks up, as we’ve mentioned many times here on Being Green. 413 parts-per-million and counting.
I’m so glad we’re joined this morning by one who can really throw a light on it all, who’s been living with it since way back in 2007 and earlier. Science writer, reporter, food security evaluator, environment monitor, Leonie Joubert. Acclaimed researcher and activist with a definite view, not a mincer of words!
Author of numerous book chapters, and individual publications including:
Scorched: South Africa’s Changing Climate, (Wits University Press, 2006), 2007 Sunday Times Alan Paton non-fiction Award. Leonie Joubert
As we become more aware of the damage we’re doing to the planet and consequently ourselves, many of us are trying to take steps to help protect the environment. We try to use less plastic, to recycle, and be careful with our water use, to name but a few. But one sector we don’t often think of is our beauty products, many of which contain harmful chemicals and make use of lots of packaging. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook talks to Sue Pugh of Still Pure which produces a range of 100% natural botanical body and home products that are not harmful to the environment. Still Pure
Entries for this year’s Awards are officially open
Sonia Mountford is a Woolworths Eat Out Sustainability Awards judge. She is a food journalist, a food-chain researcher and writer for EAT-egrity.
First introduced in 2016 in order to increase awareness about economically and environmentally sustainable practices in the South African food industry, and to recognise restaurant businesses which are making good strides in this regard, the Eat Out Woolworths Sustainability Award has become an accolade at the annual Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards.
Last year’s winner – The Werf Restaurant at Boschendal.
About Eat Out
SA’s best guide to SA’s best food, Eat Out is one of South Africa’s most loved and respected food brands. What started as the country’s definitive restaurant guide 22 years ago has evolved into a brand covering all aspects of food, operating on multiple media platforms. At the centre of the brand is the website, eatout.co.za, which is updated daily and supported by a strong social media presence, including Twitter (@Eat_Out), Facebook (facebook.com/EatOutMag) and Instagram (@EatOutGuide). The Eat Out app, launched in 2018, enables diners to find, book and review over 6 000 restaurants across South Africa. The annual Eat Out magazine includes the Eat Out 500, a power list of great restaurants across South Africa, as reviewed by a panel of food and restaurant industry experts. The annual Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards forms a cornerstone of the brand, celebrating the best of the South African restaurant industry.
All the news on: www.eatout.co.za
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook learns how to make Japanese Bokashi compost at the Oranjezicht City Farm on a rather windy day.
John Richards and David Parry-Davies, Director of The Eco-Logic Awards
World Environment Day saw the culmination of the Eco-Logic Awards with a gala presentation. The award finalists (and the sponsors) were the stars of the show, and the newly appointed National Minister of Environmental Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries showed government recognition with her attendance – and in fact her first public speech in the job. She probably felt a little nervous with all the green fire-power in the audience, people who daily grapple with the realities, and know intimately what challenges they’re up against. But she made encouraging remarks which bode well for environmental government, a tough portfolio. Enviropaedia
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook visits the Oranjezicht City Farm. She speaks to its manager, Josephine Fitzmaurice about why it was set up, how Capetonians can go harvest their own fresh organic vegetables there, what’s currently growing, and the farm’s educational programme. For more information, please visit its website on: www.ozcf.co.za or on Facebook. Oranjezicht City Farm
In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Jacqueline Bishop from the University of Cape Town's Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa about a new study which has found that common rat poisons used by Capetonians are spilling over into the city’s natural environment creating a serious threat to its wildlife
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Heather Walton who is a senior lecturer in environmental health at King’s College London. She’s the lead author of a new study which shows that some 1,000 Londoners are hospitalised every year with asthma and serious lung conditions due to harmful air pollution. They discuss the expanding list of potential negative health effects of poor air quality and look at what London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is doing to improve the situation.
In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to March Turnbull of the Quagga Project about what happened to the animals that were moved from the Groote Schuur Estate in 2017.
Another Chapter in the Energy Debate
The energy struggles rage on, as you well may expect, despite a lull in load-shedding implementation. Whether ESKOM is really upping their game, or is just grimly trying to plaster over the cracks and hold on because it will not do the ruling party a whole lot of good in the election campaign –well, that is a matter for yet more election-tide speculation I guess.
But there are indications that the move to renewable solutions has gathered momentum, and it’s the way forward in most planning and policy think tanks.
That doesn’t stop the coal lobby from lumbering on, with the trade unions repeating the tired old mantra of “job losses” in the wake of recommendations for South Africa to veer away from coal, or at least level off plans to increase coal-fired generation capacity.
FMR this week reported how a record number of dead dolphins, many of them severely mutilated, have washed up on France’s Atlantic coastline over the past few months. More than 1 thousand have been found with injuries which experts say are typically the result of being caught in industrial fishing nets. Ecology campaign group, Sea Shepherd, says this number could be as much as 10 times higher as the carcasses tend to sink to the bottom of the ocean. There are fears that the increasing rate of deaths could drive the European dolphin population to extinction. In this edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Prathna Singh of Sea Shepherd South Africa about the situation along our coastline.
It is estimated that almost one third of food produced in South Africa for human consumption is effectively thrown away, most of it ending up in landfills where it produces large quantities of the powerful greenhouse gas, methane. In Cape Town, Growthpoint Properties, in partnership with Dutch green technology provider Waste Transformer, has installed an on-site anaerobic digester at its N1 City shopping centre. This effectively uses food waste from the malls’ restaurants and supermarkets to produce electricity, hot water and fertiliser. In this edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Gavin Jones, Growthpoint’s Western Cape Retail Asset Manager, about the project.
John Richards talked to JASON McCAIN, Chief Operating Officer of INTERWASTE,
South Africa’s leading waste management and recycling company. The general area discussed:-
• How much is South Africa currently recycling? • Considering the amount of waste recycled in the country, how much could the country actually recycle? • Recycling offers many environmental benefits, however there is also an opportunity of job creation – how can recycling boost the economy? • What are some of the reuse, repurpose and innovations which are available currently in South Africa in terms of diverting waste from landfills? • What Interwaste itself commits to in terms of recycling programmes?
A GIANT BEE! (www.globalwildlife.org )
Entomologists exploring in Indonesia have found a giant honey-bee, or at least re-discovered it. After days & days of searching on the isolated islands of Indonesia scientists’ funded by GWC, Global Wildlife Conservation, found a female bee and photographed and videoed it. Now this is no ordinary bee. It’s the biggest bee in the world. Imagine a bee 5cm long with a concomitant wingspan. It has giant jaws like a stag beetle, and it’s jet black. You can imagine the loud thrumming buzz it makes too as it flies around the forests collecting sticky resins for its nest. The bees live together with tree termites, and line their nests with resins to keep inquisitive termites out. But it’s a bee alright. It was thought to be extinct, but now its rediscovery on the North Moluccan Islands has revived hope for its survival, although it’s not on the CITES red list. A GIANT BEE!
ENERGY CONTINUES TO GRAB THE HEADLINES
In a week where we all got hit in the pocket with fuel-price hikes, and spent the time nervously glancing out of the corners of our eyes for the next un-announced load shedding event, I suppose it’s not surprising that the enduring energy crisis took centre stage – again.
Certainly in the UK it was big news, despite all the shenanigans around the long-running comedy series Brexit. A deal confirmed between the UK government and the wind industry will ensure 30% of electricity comes from offshore windfarms by 2030. The move will help the UK towards an aim of securing almost all its power from low-carbon sources by 2030.
A Different Take on Zero-Waste Retailing
The REFILLERY is a new company which offers zero-waste direct to consumers grocery retailing on-line and at retail outlets in Gauteng. John Richards spoke to joint CEO DOM MELOTA about the philosophy and business plan, and practicalities of how it works. The REFILLERY is planning to roll out a retail outlet in the Western Cape soon.