1st prize: SHOOTS by Gabrielle BirkenmeyerIn March 2012, the Eco Design Initiative hosted its highlight events, the Sustainable Design Showcase at City Hall and the Fresh Talent Challenge, a social design intervention that took place in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. (6 to 16 March)

These were the culmination of the Initiative’s second cycle of events, themed “Home is where the heart is”. The goal of the Initiative’s mission to “educate, exhibit, exchange” is to deliver tangible examples of how sustainability and design thinking and processes have the power to make life better - for people, our planet and prosperity.
the sustainable design awards

The City of Cape Town has taken another step towards the fostering of green energy and reducing Cape Town’s carbon footprint.

The Mayoral Committee has recommended to Council that it establishes an Energy & Climate Change Committee at its Council meeting on Thursday 26 April.

This committee will ensure that Cape Town’s energy plan reduces the City’s carbon footprint according to set targets and timelines with the goal of making the city carbon neutral. This will be achieved through the promotion of green energies, as well as improvements in Cape Town’s energy efficiency relating to industrial, commercial and domestic consumption of energy.

Leeks, lettuce, lemon juice, lamb, loaves of bread and lovingly made mozzarella. The Dargle Valley is home to many small producers of good food. Most homesteads have a vegetable garden to supply their kitchens and often share the surplus with neighbours.

Dargle Local Living is an initiative aimed at building a better future for our community, starting by listing as much of the food which is locally produced in a small, sustainable way as possible.

At the market held beside ilPostinoResturant, you will find handmade cheese, mixed greens, pickles, jams, quiches, gooseberries, tomato plants, compost, farm yard eggs (duck, quail and chicken), pumpkins, homemade muesli and natural yoghurt too!

Pandora Long, Penz Malinga, Penny Rees and Mike Farley

A small group of environmentalists passionate about the planet, and particularly water, will begin walking the 265 kms of the uMngeni River on 1 May (May Day).

Starting at MngeniVlei – the plateau above Dargle and Fort Nottingham where the river rises - and ending at Blue Lagoon where it rushes into the Indian Ocean.

Along the way they will document and record all impacts on the river to gain a complete picture of the health of the river and hopefully unite everyone in establishing a Green Corridor along the length of the river. Daily stories of their adventures and findings will be posted on their blog - www.umngeniriverwalk.wordpress.com.

Probably the most important reason for lowering our impact on ecological systems is to try and reduce the rate of extinctions of species. We rely entirely on the eco-system services which our planet provides us for survival – water, energy, food.

A planet with reduced diversity is an unhealthy and unstable one. If our range of foods becomes too small, there is more risk of disease. We need wild diversity to survive.

What is sustainable living? It is reducing human impact on the ecologicalsystems of the planet, starting with one human in particular – you. As consumers we need to slow down, stop shopping and start living...

Last year we planted 1324 trees at the Greenpop Reforest Fest and this year, we're hoping for more. Come and be part of this awesome event!

The Platbos forest is an ancient South African forest jewel and we need to protect it. Over the past decades it has been deforested for agriculture and now is under threat of fire as alien vegetation has taken over substantially. Platbos reforestation project aims to ultimately grow the forest back to its original size and splendor.

An agency of the Department of Transport is leading the way for government as the first parastatal in South Africa to achieve a Green Star SA rating for one of its buildings. Worldwide, buildings are responsible for a third of all carbon emissions and, given that SA has boldly committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 34% by 2020 and 42% by 2025 and that the lowest hanging fruit to reduce our emissions is through the built environment, it is especially significant that our government is demonstrating its commitment in this manner.

The Climate Change Leadership Awards (CCLA) has received a record number of entries for the 2011/2012 awards and judging has now been completed following the deadline for entries of February 10.

Categories include Climate Change Heroes for schools, youth groups, communities and individuals and Waste Minimisation Heroes, as well as Private Sector including agriculture and food, energy, minerals and industrials, financial institutions, other corporate services, retail, local municipality and SME.

South Africa's Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (80), revered around the world for his life-long fight against the oppression of people, became the first world leader today to embrace our planet and all its inhabitants in a new vision for the future.

By signing Compassion in World Farming's Vision for Fair Food and Farming at an official event recently at his Cape Town office, Archbishop Tutu leads the way towards a new era of sustainable, humane, and environmentally-responsible farming methods.

Said Tozie Zokufa, Compassion's South African Representative: "We thank Tata for signing Compassion's Vision for Fair Food and Farming. Tata's signature today is a triumph for the Earth, all its people, as well as for farmed animals."

A letter came across our desks recently, that needs sharing:

Dear editor,

The power of the bicycle was palpable in Cape Town (two weekends ago). It was inspiring to see the Argus Cycle Tour energy overtaking the city as usual. Even more exciting was to see hundreds of concerned citizens join the Cape Town leg of the World Naked Bike Ride on Saturday morning in a call for safer cycling, and sharing through their painted bodies important environmental and social concerns. (The World Naked Bike Ride is an international event driven by cyclists who meet and ride together to "deliver a vision of a cleaner, safer, body-positive world.”) What may seem to some as an eccentric event highlights the burning desire on the part of citizens to promote a bicycle friendlier-city and a more sustainable place to live.