cartoon: moontoon.comUN Expert: Eat less meat to fight climate change

We're used to the IPCC urging countries to reduce their emissions, but now Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said that people should make reductions in the amount of meat they eat.

The 68 year old Indian economist, who was re-elected the panel's chairman for a second six-year term last week, said "give up meat for one day (per week) initially, and decrease it from there". The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Via the guardian. More on greening your diet here.

Something fishy behind croc deaths

Scientists are probing whether ailing fish in the Olifants River system may be behind the puzzling deaths of more than 150 crocodiles in the Kruger National Park in the past three months.

"The fish are under some sort of stress, which could be caused by various things including pollutants, heavy metals and the ph of the water. At least we're now finding possible links in the cable and that it's not just the crocodiles that are affected - it's the fish as well. Crocodiles eat fish", said Danie Pienaar, the head of scientific services in the Kruger Park.

Via The Star

This greening it up continues: What would you change, Beekeeping project sets Hluleka abuzz, Team beautiful take to the streets, Toxic Winds

In a few years, the backlash against coal power in America has become the country's biggest-ever environmental campaign, transforming the nation's awareness of climate change and inspiring political leaders to take firmer action after years of doubt and delay. Plants have been defeated in at least 30 of the 50 states.

The success of the US campaign is also now inspiring a global wave of protests, many in Europe, against similar schemes that plan to build coal-fired generators before carbon capture technology exists.

The US anti-coal campaign is being linked to protests against similar plans in Australia, Germany, Italy and the UK, where there are demonstrations at almost every public appearance by E.ON, the company that plans to build Britain's first new first new coal power station for two decades in Kingsnorth, Kent, where protesters set up a protest camp against the new development in August.

Coal power returned to the US political agenda when vice-president Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy lifted key pollution restrictions. It took two years for environmental groups to see what emerged: state by state, project by project, a total of 150 new plants were put forward...

It's that time of year again when we're urged to haul out spades, dig holes and plant trees. Or at least we should be so urged. Heck with climate change we need to be doing all the planting of trees we can possibly muster. However, other than press releases by stalwart greening NGO, Food and Trees for Africa, little is being said in the media of Arbor Week 2008. I'm sure there are lots of events going on at grassroots level around the country by many NGO's but there's not much mention of it in the press.

The Dept of Water and Forestry comes to the party with a website that has some information about provincial Arbor Week events and a "useful facts" section on how to plant a tree, benefits of trees etc.

I found the section on the Trees of the Year pretty interesting (you can use the the Wild Plum to make wine, but

“Our challenge is to make a new Enlightenment, rejecting belief that we can master Earth and treat it as our unlimited supermarket, playground, laboratory and dumpster.”

I’ve just read a pretty inspiring column by a guy called Bill Vitek, who claims to be a rather middle of the road kind of guy. Despite this, he’s advocating my kind of revolution! If I could have written his article myself, this is how I would have written it.

As much as most of us want to see our current problems (energy depletion, global warming, major inequality) as part of the usual ups and downs of the business and climate cycles, they are not. In the past three years oil production has remained steady while the price has doubled. Oil supplies will soon fail to keep up with ballooning world demand. Then the other fossil fuels will flare out too. But not before adding to atmospheric carbon dioxide already a third higher than pre-industrial levels and strongly tied to a long, abnormal rise in global temperatures.

Bill Vitek goes on to say: I have come to this perspective reluctantly, but am now convinced: We are living in revolutionary times! We must change to a way of life as inconceivable to us as...

Soil for Life is a Cape Town non-profit organisation that teaches home gardeners and whole communities to grow their own food. They are one of the few organisations I know that cross the divide between rich and poor: their weekend courses aimed at suburbanites wanting to grow their own food help fund their vegetable gardens and development work in needy communities.

Now they are pushing the local fundraising envelope with a great idea based on overseas charity challenges:

"We have decided to pilot a concept that is popular in the United Kingdom and Europe, where donors combine a holiday with fundraising. You are invited to join us in our first ever Charity Adventure Hike! It will take place from 2nd to 8th October at Marrick Safari in the Northern Cape, situated on 3000 hectares of pristine savannah. By raising R10 000, you will cover the full cost of your participation as well as make a generous contribution to Soil for Life’s work."

It’s wildflower time again! The moment when the N7 is literally inundated with daisies (you’ve already heard all of the apt descriptions about patchwork quilts and tapestries of flowers – well, they’re all true!) and just about everyone in Cape Town heads off to find the incredible delight of colour. This year’s wildflower display is slightly different.

It seems that awareness of our environment and its intense vulnerability is fast growing. Greg Nicolson, a masters student at UCT, has set off on a journey, shank’s pony style, from the Namibian border to Cape Town along the N7. Why? He’s mapping the rare and

One of the so-called criticisms of petitioning or campaigning is that one invests "negetive energy" in opposing something unjust. I've heard some people comment that they would rather be pouring energy into initiatives that promote positive outcomes than always opposing, lobbying, campaigning and fighting against the status quo. I also know that some activists are prone to burn out because of the mindset that they have to adopt: it is hard work constantly having to oppose.

Personally, I believe that both forms of action are effective and very necessary. I think we have a duty to support companies and organisations that offer positive alternatives but that we also need to do more than voting with our wallets and so should take part in campaigns, protests and on the ground action too. So we can support organic but should also oppose GM and we can support renewable energy and also oppose nuclear. Some things just are mutually exclusive.

Not only do the three civil society organisations involved in the GM Potato Protest vigilantly look out for applications to bring GM food to market, campaign against legislation (by having to take government to court - an expensive exercise), and tirelessly get their petitions signed - they are also involved in positive outreach! For example: They

The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has been conducting field trials for several years with a GM potato called Spunta G2, genetically engineered to kill a pest called the Tuber Moth. They have given notice that they will apply to the South African GMO Council for a general release permit in the next few days. This means they want to release the GM Potato to commercial farmers, which has the potential to wreak havoc with the local potato industry, and infringes on our basic human right to choose the food we want to eat.

Please check out this petition on the activist website, it is activist's first campaign and a very important one. The campaign is initiated by the African Centre for Biosafety and supported by SafeAge, Biowatch SA and urban sprout. (We're founding members of activist too).

What can your signature do?

The GMO council will be deciding on whether or not to allow this permit to commercialise GMO potatoes. Your signature will show them that consumers are not willing to eat this product. Your signature can sway their decision.

Potato South Africa oversees the whole potato industry. If they believe that their market will be jeopardised by GM potatoes, they will make a strong case to the GMO council not to allow them onto the market. Potato SA has already said

New Scientist magazine, in April this year, published an article by Ian Fairlie, a London-based consultant on radiation in the environment, that looked at the one environmental concern surrounding nuclear power plants that provokes public anxiety like no other: the fear that children living near nuclear facilities face an increased risk of cancer.

Though a link has long been suspected, it has never been proven. That now seems likely to change.

Last year, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston carried out a meta-analysis of 17 research papers covering 136 nuclear sites in the UK, Canada, France, the US, Germany, Japan and Spain.

The incidence of leukaemia in children under 9 living close to the sites showed an increase of 14% - 21%, while death rates from the disease

Our government has enlisted the aid of a brand consultant to give the image of nuclear power in SA a major makeover.

Rephrased: you're being sold a PR pitch about nuclear in SA.

Led by the department of public enterprises, the government is using taxpayers’ funds to create a perception of acceptability for the nuclear programme as a means of bypassing public participation processes.

They have hired the services of brand consultants Freedthinkers, which calls itself a "research and development think-tank".

Freedthinkers has begun conducting interviews with a range of people...