Do you know what South Africa's national bird is? It is the Blue Crane – Anthropoides paradisea. It is nearly endemic to South Africa with only a small population of between 60 -80 birds living in Etosha in Namibia. There are only between 20 and 25 thousand left in the wild.

The Blue Crane is unlike any of the other species of Crane having no red on its body and living in grasslands rather than wetlands, with a preference for higher altitude grasslands. There are three strongholds for the Blue Crane: the grasslands of KwaZulu-Natal, North-eastern Free State and South-eastern Mpumulanga; the central Karoo region in North and Eastern Cape, and the wheat-producing regions of the Western Cape.

No fishingMarthinus 'not the man for climate job'
Xolani Mbanjwa – Cape Argus

Environmental lobby groups and civil society bodies are not convinced that South Africa's nomination of Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwayk for the top UN climate-change post is a good thing, with some questioning his track record.

Director of the Center for Civil society Professor Patrick Bond questioned van Schalkwyk's “integrity”, saying quality was required to head the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

“The UNFCC post must be headed by someone of integrity, and that's not a characteristic associated with van Schalkwyk, thanks to his checkered career as an apartheid student spy and a man who sold out his political party for a junior cabinet seat,” said Bond.

Investing in the future
In the past few years a new financial concept has been created called a green bond ( the World Bank recently issued its first green bonds to Japanese investors).

Recently, a new concept for these types of bonds, called a Climate Bond was created by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), which was launched in December 2009 by the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets. Climate bonds were the brainchild of

Children from the Gereformeerde Laerskool, grade 6 and 7, learning to track a leopardThe Cape Leopard Trust (CLT), in partnership with Cape Nature, launched their environmental camp in the Matjiesrivier Nature Reserve, Cederberg at the end of 2009 to aid their efforts with their education and outreach programme. The programme, which began in January 2009, is primarily aimed at children, providing them with quality experiences that teach them more about the wilderness and themselves.

Various themes are explored at the camps including biodiversity, leopard ecology, human-wildlife conflict, animal tracking, geology, rock art and astronomy. The underlying goal for the programme and the camp is to help young people to develop an understanding and connection with the wilderness.

Ferrari Hybrid HY-KERS 599No, Ferrari are not just painting their cars green in a bid to tap into a presumably growing market of sports car enthusiasts with a conscience. They seem serious about producing a fuel electric hybrid performance car. Marketing genius or missing the point? Or perhaps future European vehicle emission legislation is providing the nudge...

The experimental ('vettura laboratorio') Ferrari HY-KERS 599 debuted at the Geneva Motor Show last week and the electric motor adds to the performance by boosting the output by 100bhp. Handling is apparently also improved as the positioning and weight of the motor reduces the centre of gravity.

The hybrid is based on the 599 GTB Fiorano, with the electric motor assisting the 6.0-litre V12 petrol engine providing instantaneous torque. Goodness knows what the 0-100 km/h figures will clock in at.

Lithium ion batteries will be

The World Bank has proposed to give a US$3.75 billion (R29 billion) loan to Eskom to build a number of new coal-fired and nuclear power plants

And at the same time, Eskom plans to raise electricity rates 25% over the next three years. Big polluters are getting cut-rate electricity - the world's cheapest - while the poorest will face the highest rates in the country.

Dozens of South African environmental, community, church, labour, academic and women's organizations have mobilized, but we need your help sending a message to the World Bank that we won't accept a dirty loan.

Wind power blows away tranquility?

BENEDICTINE monks living in the hills outside Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, are angry about plans to build a wind farm near their monastery. Brother Timothy Jolley, the Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery prior, yesterday said the Anglican monks feared the noise and visual impact of the 135m turbines would forever destroy the “contemplative life” they had worked so hard to achieve over the past 12 years. More

The standard of water quality in the Cape under question.

The overall quality of the city's inland and coastal water has reached a 10-year low, and despite the associated health threats, budget and resource constraints mean the situation is unlikely to be reversed soon, says a City of Cape Town report.

Invaded: Leonie JoubertDid you know that there is a secret war going on right here in South Africa? That we are being invaded? No, illegal Zimbabweans are not to blame. Instead Leonie Joubert's book refers to the biological invasion of South Africa. No, not biological warfare either, but rather the movement of new species into habitats in South Africa and the ecological impact they have on the environment.

Joule at Geneva: SA Car FanOptimal Energy's Joule is on display at the 80th International Motor Show in Geneva and she's looking prettier than ever.

When last seen at the Paris Motor Show, the Joule was a static display model and she has now evolved into a pre-production prototype courtesy of Zagato's Total Design Centre.

The Optimal Energy-Zagato-Helfet team has made a number of changes to Joule and the car shown in Geneva is somewhat different, especially at the rear, from the version that was unveiled in Paris two years ago.

This car was hand-built in Port Elizabeth by Hi-Tech Automotive who are building a marketing and test fleet of approximately 100 vehicles, some of which

Spraying vineyardsIt has been known for some time that people are being affected by spray drift from pesticides, there have been several incidences of pesticide poisonings in South Africa.

“It is estimated that worldwide, 25 million people are poisoned by pesticides each year.” This is the lead slogan of The Air That I Breathe Foundation (Tatib), which has been formed by the local residents of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, Somerset West & surrounding areas, as a platform from which they can campaign against the harmful effects of exposure to potentially toxic spray drift from the adjacent vineyards & orchards, into bordering dwellings/residential areas.