Note: Due to the torrential rains caused by the greenhouse effect - a direct result of too many cars on the road and not enough bicycles - the Critical Mass has been moved to this Friday 14 March at 19h00 for 19h30, not 7 March as originally planned.

Critical Mass is a celebration of the alternatives to cars, pollution, accidents and the loss of public spaces and freedom. It’s sometimes described as an ‘unorganised coincidence’; essentially a resistance ride to the problem culture of the car.

Not an organisation or group, but an idea or tactic, Critical Mass allows people to reclaim cities with their bikes, just by getting together and out-numbering the cars on the road.

Jo’burg is organising a ride for this Friday, 7th March

The Business Times story published over the weekend placed the issue of safe drinking water on the nation's agenda, and in light of the electricity crisis it's quite right that this receives national attention.

Dead carp in Wonderfontein spruit: pic courtesy Paul Neal (Dream Africa)The Dept of Water Affairs and Forestry calmly assures us that there is no water crisis. But should we believe them based on a government track record of denial or blithe reassurance?

Dept of Safety and Security: Crime? No problem there, just lots of whingeing.
Dept of Health: HIV / Aids? Beetroot, garlic and the african potato to the rescue.
Dept of Minerals and Energy: Electricity? It should all be okay as long as our economic growth stays at 2%?

Reports of 43 percent of DWAF managed dams having safety issues sounds pretty critical to me. Or what do they propose a safe tolerance level is for a water-stressed country? 60%? 80%? 43% sounds bad enough and I'd like to know what is being done to fix the problems especially in light of Peter van Niekerk, chief director of water resources planning at DWAF, commenting, "we have constructed some dams but nothing to the same extent because of much greater use is the opportunity to manage demand." Sounds suspiciously like load shedding rationing to me.

More concerning is the contamination of ground water by radioactive mining waste in the Wonderfonteinspruit area. This is particularly worrying as the issue of uranium contamination...

And here I'm not talking about the killing that companies supplying generators must be making at the moment but rather the opportunity to design a better system of power generation. By better I mean a system that doesn't add to global warming by producing CO2, doesn't leave a disaster for future generations to deal with and is equitable for the poor. If we had to start from scratch what type of system could we design that would not only be sustainable but also create jobs and wealth?

The path leading to our current power crisis is littered with ineptitude, bureuacratic bungling, a lack of communication, foresight and planning and a preference for sticking heads in the sand and either failing to recognise that a problem exists or outright denial. There has been no shortage of scandalous press surrounding Eskom over the last few days, some of it very entertaining reading. Whilst the consequences of not having a reliable electricity supply are critical for emergency response and life support systems (class action lawsuit anyone?), and I'm sympathetic to the impact on small business, some of the doomsday scenarios that have come to light just have to be ignored. Investors moving their money overseas (sub-prime will get you anyhow?), the meltdown of the South African economy, SA going the way of the rest of Africa (whatever that means).

History shows us that a crisis is a good catalyst for change. So for that we have to thank Eskom and the Government. The average South African now...
[read on to see what Earthlife Africa, COSATU and others propose as the solution]

Greenpeace and leading British chefs are uniting forces tomorrow in a campaign to push restaurants to serve up only species of fish that have not been overexploited

Because of overfishing, three-quarters of the world’s fish stocks have been pushed to the brink, and, with it, goes widespread corruption.

“Who are the people who can bring about change, the pioneers coming up with radical solutions? We can modify our lifestyles, but that will never be enough. Who are the politicians most able to force society and industry to do things differently? Where are the green shoots that will get us out of the global ecological mess?”

The Guardian, Britain's lefty newspaper, printed a list of 50 people, over the weekend, they claim can help save the planet. The paper sought nominations for a variety of people, including Robert Watson, the former chief scientist of the World Bank and chairman of the IPCC, and Gerd Leipold, the head of Greenpeace International.

On the 9th September 2001, while the Twin Towers were collapsing in a heap on television sets around the world, Labour Party aide, Jo Moore, penned a memo at 2.55pm UK time: "It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors expenses?".

Aside from terrorist attacks, natural disasters or world cup sporting events, other times of the year to ensure news does not get read includes Easter, Christmas and other public holidays.

Syngenta chose to publish their (obligatory) public notice to import genetically modified maize into the country on 16th Dec - the Day of Reconciliation. It's also roughly the time civil society NGO's wind up for the year, along with the rest of us consumers, and go and lay on the beach. Considering that there are only 30 days to object to the Registrar of Genetically Modified Organisisms (by 16th Jan) is this just inconsiderate timing or is their intention to place the notices so that minimal objections are received?

Actually two notices were published in the Sunday Times Business Times classified section, on separate pages probably so as not to draw undue attention to themselves.

They are both titled "PUBLIC NOTICE Commodity Clearance of Genetically Modified Maize" and should the Registrar of Genetically Modified Organisisms issue the permits it would entitle grain traders to import these particular types ("events") of GM Maize. Quantities are not mentioned in the notice so I assume that once the Registrar gives the nod, it is open hunting season and that the permits serve as a blanket authority to import any quantity the grain traders see fit. The grain will be

So will there be an agreement by the end of today (or the early hours of tomorrow morning)? Or will the last two weeks of talk end up as just that: talk, but no action.

Climate Change Protests on BaliThere were not many high hopes pinned on the Bali Conference on Climate Change from the outset. The conference was just supposed to be about agreeing on a few dates for proposing a new framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. A best case scenario was that no-one would walk out on the negotiations.

Things were, however, looking upbeat when on the first day of the conference Australia's newly elected Prime Minister announced they were joining in with other developing nations and had signed the Kyoto protocol.

If you're in Cape Town tomorrow, just a reminder that the Black River needs your help before it spontaneously combusts.
Cuyahoga River: Regularly caught alight due to pollution
From a recent article on IOL:

The aptly-named Black River in Cape Town is so polluted it could catch fire, an environmental organisation warned on Thursday.

"High levels of E.coli [bacterium] and phosphorus are turning the Black River into a methane-gas-producing swamp, which poses severe health risks to humans," the group What-On-Earth-Is-Happening (WOE-H) said in a statement.

Rivers in other parts of the world with such high levels of pollution had burst into flames, "and the Black River could do the same unless urgent action is taken", it said.

You'll also get to see some local politicians and celebs in latex (gloves).

Details of the river cleanup event over here.

And if you're in Joburg there is a day of climate action going down at Rhodes Park to coincide with demonstrations on Climate Change taking place around the world.

The event is hosted by the GreenHouse Project and will include a Q&A answer workshop on climate change, drumming sessions, poetry readings, craft made from recycled materials and demonstrations of renewable energy and energy efficiency appliances.

Check out more details over here

The first step down the road of making a difference is awareness: if you don't know what's happening out there you can't act. At urban sprout we try to raise awareness in a few different ways - news and opinion articles, green guides, a directory of positive options and details of upcoming events. We've been sending out details of events in our newsletter for the last few months, but today we launch a green events calendar to make this information more visible.

So without further ado, here are some important happenings in the next few days you'll want to support:

Safeage talk: Learning from the South American experience

The most common belief about genetically engineered crops is that they are necessary to feed our burgeoning world population, but when big business takes over small scale family farming, it results in the concentration of land ownership, the destruction of peasant economies and indigenous crops, malnutrition, urban migration, increased poverty and crime.

Join Safeage and Javiera Rulli tonight at the Portobello Restaurant, Long Str, Cape Town as she explains the social and environmental situation of South America due to the expansion of Round Up Ready soy monocultures.

Clean-up of Black River

Black River testing: Pic: SA Mercury Assessment ProgramCape Town's Black River is in dire need of a clean-up and this Saturday, 8 December, local citizen group What On Earth is Happening (WOE) will lead a massive campaign, backed by the City of Cape Town, celebrities, other environmental and corporate partners to clean up the Black River in one of its most polluted stretches close to where the N2 connects with the M5. This is a great opportunity to meet up with other like minded people and be part of a solution. Positive action is very empowering!

While You Were Sleeping screening: Uranium Road

If you're still sitting on the fence about nuclear power in South Africa and the PBMR this is the movie to see. Uranium Road lift's the lid on the closed world of nuclear in SA revealing secrets and greed. Uranium Road is a 53 minute documentary, based on the book by Dr David Fig.

Take a look at our calendar view of events here

And if you know of any upcoming green, organic, enviro events be sure to let us know

pic:dooroneEverything we buy impacts on our planet.

As consumers we need to question the products we buy and challenge the companies who produce them, which brings me to Pick ‘n Pay’s customer/environmental questionnaire. We blogged about it recently on urban sprout

Pick n' Pay has agreed to extend the deadline of the survey to 30 November especially for urban sprout readers.

Take this opportunity to directly influence and challenge one of our major supermarket chains to become more transparent about their products – labelling, fair trade etc – and to become more environmentally aware. Full marks to Pick ‘n Pay for making this survey available to their customers.

They invite your input on issues like GM, organic food, recycling and in-store energy-saving practices, and they provide space for your views - take advantage and address the issues. [online survey]