Training courses on sustainability – for you 'jo public' (Jhb and CT)
The team at icologie (Grace, Andy and Andrew) now offer Smart Living (remember the handbook?) to South Africans at large. The courses give practical advice on how to preserve resources and often save money in the areas of energy, water, waste and biodiversity. There are 5 courses: practical solutions, sustainability and climate change, event greening, sustainable business implementation, and sustainable business strategy. Visit www.icologie.com, or email them

New rhino poaching hotline
The endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is protecting the rhino with a hotline for anyone to use. If you are aware of any illegal or suspicious activities concerning rhino poaching or the sale, movement and or trade in their horns, call 082 404 2128 or email them.

No kak (design that gives a damn) finalists announced
In August 2010, 20 finalists were selected for their eco design concepts, submitted as story boards , during the competition's first selection round. These "Fresh Talent" now have the opportunity to create life size prototypes of their design ideas, using natural, organic and waste materials  sourced from South African suppliers with clean efficient processes, such as "made by hand" and "local sourced and produced". The eco design prototypes will be showcased at next year's Design Indaba in Cape Town. For more visit www.nokak.com

pic: Seaweed Lamp by Wren

treevolution a la greenpop.orgThe revolution has a name and it is Greenpop! Greenpop is a volunteer-powered tree planting project - a "creative greening campaign with a treemendous amount going on". Their first aim is to plant 1000 trees at various under-greened areas across Cape Town during spring 2010.

They seem to be up to really good things, including some reverse-grafitti street art and eco-educational upliftment. And thanks to involvement of Misha Teasdale, documentary filmmaker, there are some cool clips to check out on YouTube (be sure to watch them all).

This Sunday (29 Aug) the first trees will be heading groundwards at the Sosebenza Centre for Peace in Masiphumelele. And in conjunction with this, Urban Harvest will be planting a veggie garden too. They're keen to have as many volunteers join them as possible so check out their website for details.

Jeremy Hewitt and other accomplished musos

a greener athloneWe've seen some unexpected media releases in our time, but this one takes the cake. So here it is verbatim:

ATHLONE POWER STATION LOCATION TO BE CONVERTED TO WIND FARM

South Africa’s leading energy supplier has announced that, in conjunction with the City of Cape Town, it will be converting the old Athlone coal fired power station into a wind farm filled with eight new 1.5MW wind turbines.

It indicated that the implosion of the old power station is a symbol of its commitment to clean energy and plans to convert all existing coal fired powered stations into renewable energy sources by 2016.

We walked part of the fan walk on Saturday and were amazed at the masses of people, many of whom, like us didn't have tickets for the Argentina vs Germany game, but just went along with their kids to soak up some gees. More than 300 000 fans were in Cape Town over the weekend, 42 000 attended the Fan Fest and 153 000 supporters used the 2.5 km Fan Walk on Saturday. What a cool sight to see thousands of us mobilised to watch 22 men chase a ball around a little field of grass...

Join 1 Goal
About 70 million children world-wide will the opportunity of education through the FIFA 1Goal campaign, said ambassador Anthony Baffoe of Ghana on Saturday.

One of these children was Ghanaian Stephen Odai, who was given an opportunity to watch Ghana play against Uruguay on Friday.

"My policy has always been combining football with education, 1Goal helps these kids to start their life," said Baffoe, who was at a media briefing at Soccer City in Nasrec.

He said that 18-year-old Odai was the classical example of how education can open doors for young people...

Sara Karnowski and Jefri Meintjes sitting in front of their bikesSara : ‘I just got my bike a few days ago, and I’m not really a big biker so I don’t know technical things about it, but I love it and it rides really nicely. It’s probably the nicest bike I’ve ever had! I’m used to strand cruisers, and this is kind of a mix between a mountain bike and a strand cruiser, for me, which is cool. It’s got gears and a basket and I’ve just been riding around running errands and stuff like that. I’m originally from Los Angeles and I came to South Africa in December of 2008. I actually went to university in Santa Barbara and there everybody rides their bikes everywhere - to class, to the store, it’s a big biking community.

learning the permaculture way with SEEDSeed embodies what permaculture is all about. The Seed permaculture courses teach you how to design and grow your garden in a way that mimics the diverse biological systems in nature. The garden works as a whole system, providing ecological sustainability, whilst at the same time meeting human needs. Looking at a permaculture garden you may be forgiven for thinking that this is organised chaos! Yet as in nature, there is method in madness.

Plants are planted in a manner that conserves space and allows them to benefit each other. Seeds Saturday courses teach you the principles behind permaculture and how to go about adding permaculture to your own garden. The courses take place at

Hottie – The world’s most travelled hot dog stand comes with a social and environmental conscience.Become a part of the World’s most travelled Hot Dog Stand and support kids of the Bushmen in South Africa. Dream, inspire and create positive social change to neglected children.

This Hot Dog stand is travelling around the world handing out a bite of Danish culture and hot dogs for free. Countries visited since 2003 include Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, England, China, Japan and across the US. Next stop South Africa soccer World Cup 2010.

How does it work? The visitors get a hot dog for free and the

Second Edition Cape Town Green MapWe've been working on a project with the City of Cape Town's Environmental Resource Management Dept and A & C Maps for the last eighteen months and today we're launching the second print edition of the Cape Town Green Map, ahead of World Environment Day tomorrow. The online map was launched a year ago, and Open Green Map, the global green map system we are affiliated with, is also turning one tomorrow.

Stephanie Baker with her bikeStephanie Baker - 'I'm limited to about a kilometre in view of my age, and I use it, well, certainly every other day... about a kilometre uphill in Pretorius street. I keep on the pavements, they're in a terrible state with chunks missing, but cycling is awfully good for public relations. I know the area's cleaners at the flats on my way to church - I get a greeting from them. The security men at the forensics place always wave, and going along you sort of get to know people, often you see someone really looking quite gloomy and you sort of give a smile and say don't worry and get a smile back. I think it’s wonderful for public relations! I really do. I enjoy it, I'm happy on the bike. I don't find this area hostile, I really don't. Some people living here get a bit frightened and well, I don't think you can go about looking over your shoulder and expecting trouble. I've only had one incident years ago where

There are many things that we can do everyday that can help stop climate change. It may be something small, but collectively, these small changes add up to a big difference.

Ten organisations including 350.org, Project 90 by 2030, and I am changing the world, are all proposing challenges that they will undertake to help reduce climate change. The challenge starts today (Friday 21 May).

They are encouraging both companies and individuals to take part. Prizes will be awarded to those companies and organisations that meet their goals each month and overall prizes at the end. They are aiming to get as many South African organisations and individuals taking part as possible. You can go and sign up, with your pledge here.

These are the ten different categories of challenges that you can set yourself and they fall under the broad areas of:

Energy efficiency (reducing how much energy is needed by simply using less)

1.On-line submission of targets for carbon footprint reduction of at least