New handbook for sustainable living
December 15, 2007
Posted in Lifestyle
If you’d love to live a more sustainable lifestyle, but don’t have a clue where to start, the City of Cape Town has published a little gem of a book that is exactly what you need.
It’s called the Smart Living Handbook and it explains the hows and whys of things like recycling, energy efficiency, water use and the importance of conserving biodiversity. It’s very user-friendly and full of fascinating (and disturbing) facts, as well as practical advice on how to do things like make compost, conduct an energy audit in your home or estimate your household’s carbon emissions.
It’s focus is sustainable living in Cape Town, but the general information has broad appeal.
It would be brilliant if we could have one of these handbooks for Joburg.
To download a pdf version of the book, click here and look for the City of Cape Town Smart Living Handbook link.
Bali: SA will do its fair share and adaptation fund breakthrough
December 13, 2007
Posted in Green News
Greenpeace and other NGOs organised a human banner message on a beach in Bali at the weekend. The image represented the world being washed away by climate change, with the words ACT NOW! – Image: Kelly Mavis, some rights reserved under Creative Commons licence
South Africa will take ambitious action to mitigate climate change that will be measurable, reportable and verifiable, environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a speech at the opening of the high-level segment of the UN’s climate change conference in Bali on Wednesday.
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Make a change: Green tip #2
December 10, 2007
Posted in Green tips, Lifestyle
Don’t throw away glass containers such as bottles and jars. Glass is not biodegradable, but it is 100-percent recyclable.
The energy saving from recycling one bottle will power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour, a washing machine for 10 minutes, a TV for 20 minutes or a computer for 25 minutes.
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Eskom comes second on world emissions list
December 10, 2007
Posted in Business
Photograph © acilo/iStockphoto
For years South Africa’s electricity has been among the cheapest in the world, now we can add another distinction: our electricity utility, Eskom, is the second-highest carbon dioxide-emitting power company in the world, according to the Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) database launched last month.
The database makes interesting reading. Overall, South Africa ranks eighth on the list of countries for the emissions produced by their power sectors. The United States (2.8-billion tons a year) and China (2.7-billion tons) unsurprisingly take the top places. Australia (226-million tons) just edges ahead of South Africa (222-million tons) and Britain (212-million tons) follows in ninth place.
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Shareholder takes Sasol to task on emissions
December 5, 2007
Posted in Business
Treevolution is thrilled with shareholder activist Theo Botha for raising concerns about Sasol’s level of commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions at the petrochemical giant’s AGM last Friday.
A report in Business Day said Botha had pointed out that the company, which is the second biggest carbon dioxide emitter in South Africa after Eskom, had as yet made no capital commitments to address environmental issues, while its shareholders had received dividends worth R5.6-billion this year.
“Shareholders have to acknowledge that this company is making substantial profits but is damaging our environment. This damage has a knock-on effect on the community,” Botha was quoted as saying.
Read the full story at Business Day
Business Report noted that Sasol’s chairman Peter Cox and chief executive Pat Davies had told Botha at the AGM that a number of his suggestions would “be taken on advisement”.
Read the “Botha shakes up Sasol” section of the Business Watch column
And there’s more about the AGM in “A matter of trust at Sasol” by FM’s Rob Rose
Around the world in a solar-powered taxi
December 5, 2007
Posted in Renewable energy, Transport
The head of the UN Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, will be picked up from the airport by a very special solar-powered taxi when he arrives in Bali for this month’s big climate change conference, Reuters reports.
The taxi has stopped off in Bali as part of a 50,000km round-the-world trip.
The director of the Solar Taxi tour, Louis Palmer, set off from Switzerland in July and is now a third of the way along his planned trip. The 35-year-old Swiss school teacher told Reuters that the car had already driven 14,400km through 17 countries without a drop of petrol.
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SA’s day of climate change action
December 4, 2007
Posted in Green News
Want to learn more about climate change? Get on down to Rhodes Park in Kensington, Johannesburg, on Saturday (December 8). It’s Global Day of Action on Climate Change and the South African Climate Action Network (Sacan) and the Greenhouse Project are hosting an event aimed at stimulating understanding of climate change. They’re also demanding action to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celcius.
There will be a steel drum orchestra, poetry, an exhibition of crafts made from waste materials, demonstrations of renewable energy and energy efficiency appliances. Bring a picnic and a drum (jembe) if you have one so you can join in the afternoon drumming session.
Time: 10am to 3pm. The event is free. For more information phone Nthabiseng Baloyi 011-339-3662 or email reneiloebaloyi@yahoo.com.
Make a change: Green tip #1
December 4, 2007
Posted in Green tips, Lifestyle
Keep your car tyres properly inflated. Driving with under-inflated tyres can increase your fuel consumption, and therefore your emissions, by up to 5 percent. Keeping your tyres properly inflated also reduces wear and tear.
Source: Friends of the Earth
Climate hot spot in Bali
December 3, 2007
Posted in Green News
Government ministers and officials from more than 180 countries are meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali over the next two weeks to debate ways to deal with climate change.
Environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk will reportedly be attending for South Africa, although there’s been next to nothing about that in the local media. Interestingly, Yvo de Boer, the UN’s top climate change official, said in a Mail & Guardian interview last week that South Africa, through Van Schalkwyk, “is a frontrunner in climate change negotiations”, and is taking the lead with Brazil “in finding solutions for developing countries to grow their economies and fight climate change at the same time”. That’s good to know.
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Plot your way to health
December 3, 2007
Posted in Transport
We all know that getting out of our cars and onto our bikes is not only good for us but is also good for the environment. The average car pumps out around 160g of carbon dioxide for every kilometer you drive, so even one bicycle ride a week, instead of a short car journey, reduces your carbon footprint.
One of our favourite online tools for tracking our cycling routes is Mapmyride. Using Google Maps, Mapmyride makes it easy to plan a cycling route and then share it with friends and other cyclists.
What we also really like is that if you have Google Earth installed, Mapmyride shows the elevation of the various parts of your route. Which is important if you want to make sure you’re not faced with a long uphill on the way back home.
Mapmyride is also good for finding interesting routes when next you’re on holiday in unfamiliar territory. Get cycling.
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