Melting Ice Caps

In the lead up to the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP17) to be held in Durban, science is pointing to the fact that time is running out for a political solution to the climate crisis.

According to Dr Emily Shuckburgh of the British Antarctic Survey “unless carbon emissions are reduced in line with the given schedule as established by the Kyoto Protocol, in 15 years the world will be unable to reverse the effects of runaway climate change".

Speaking at an event hosted by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainable Leadership and Webber Wentzel in Cape Town last month, Shuckburgh said that while accurate climate change projections depend on future emissions, currently we are on track for the upper range. “Something needs to be done,” she said, adding that “in most scenarios, global surface warming will be up to 2 degrees Celsius by the middle

Earthlife March

March to Demand a Solution to Climate Change at COP17 is being hosted this Saturday, 26th November, by Earthlife Africa Jhb

Global greenhouse gas emissions are rising to dangerous levels and if a global deal to reduce emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius is not reached soon, Africa will face droughts, submerged cities and coastlines, famines, species extinctions and many climate refugees.

With the Kyoto Protocol coming to an end in 2012, global leaders need to reach a just, fair and legally binding agreement that continues to keep emissions in check.

For this reason, Earthlife Africa Jhb and allies will be marching on Saturday, 26th of November 2011.

As Makoma Lekalakala, Programme Officer at Earthlife Africa Jhb states, "The world is coming to South Africa and the only question is will there be only hot air, or will a deal be reached? We, in South Africa, need a deal. Runaway climate change, or even warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius, will undermine all of our development gains made since liberation. We are

Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union Ltd, Bushenyi, Urganda: Pic by Nathalie Bertrams

Climate change has wiped out nearly half of the 10 million coffee trees the members of the Fairtrade Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union have planted since 2003.

Mzuzu Coffee represents 3,500 small holder coffee producers in Malawi’s mountainous northern region whose hopes rest on COP17 delivering policies that can help them in the face of climate change.

With a week left to COP17 in Durban, South Africa, a critical element of the discussions in Durban must be around financing adaptation. Outcomes of the talks must provide sufficient support to tackle the adaptation needs of farmers in developing countries who have done very little to cause climate change yet are vulnerable to its effects. Fairtrade farmers are

What's on this weekend... 17 / 18 / 19 November

Our green guide to this weekend

Carrotmob Cape Town:

Join Climate Smart Cape Town in South Africa's first carrotmob this weekend in the heart of Cape Town. Carrotmob is a global movement aimed at creating social change and builds upon the power of consumers to change the way in which businesses operate. You will be mobbing certain carrotmob businesses, who will in turn agree to invest a certain percentage of the profits into improving its environmental or social impact. It is a “buycott” instead of a “boycott”.

Carrotmob takes place at Maria’s Café on Dunkley Square, Gardens, this Friday 18 November from 5pm till 10:30pm

For more information, click here

Green Expo Cape Town:

The Green Expo in Cape Town takes place this weeked at the CTICC. Expect some to find some great eco-friendly goods, green technologies, earth-friendly products and more.

For more information, prices and contact details, please click here

Inspiring Change:

Inspiring Change is brought to you by Climate Smart Cape Town and runs concurrently with

Image: www.clker.com

We are generally kept in the dark when it comes to the dangers of nuclear power and radioactive materials.

Japan had a scary awakening after the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis wrecked the No. 1 nuclear reactor at Fukushima. Since then the ‘no-entry zone’ totals roughly 1 100 square kilometres while caesium contamination zones are now estimated at over 8 000 square kilometres.

Cape Town has a nuclear reactor - Koeberg, and it sits slap bang in the middle of the west coast. Yet Koeberg has no evacuation strategy should a nuclear disaster occur, and their emergency response plan only deals with a radius of 16km around the site. This is slightly concerning considering the Cape Peninsula is exactly that – a peninsula. What’s even more concerning is that those evacuated from Fukushima were from a radius of 20km around the site!

Not only are emergency response plans seriously under-prepared, but the scale of possible disaster is also underestimated. The Cape Town city centre is only 28 kilometres from the current Koeberg site and despite this being almost 10 kilometres over the ‘outer reaches’ of an evacuation area, developments along the west coast over the past decade have been enormous.

Oddly enough, the South African Government wants

Inspiring Change: 18 - 20 Nov, CTICC

Running concurrently with the Green Expo this weekend (18th - 20th Nov), the Cape Town Climate Change Coalition is hosting a gathering called Inspiring Change.

Held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 18 – 20 November 2011, this series of talks and demonstrations aims to stimulate fresh thinking and to share ideas about our city.

The gathering includes several cool aspects including the Siemens electric mobility roadshow, Pecha Kucha sessions, inspiring panellists deliberating on Cape Town's role in climate change solutions, site visits and a Carotmob.

The travelling exhibition by Siemens has already been in many parts of the world and makes its

GASLAND screening tonight

Cafe Ganesh and Exploding Cinema will be kicking off a new season of documentary films this Wednesday with a special don't frack with our Karoo screening of the award-winning documovie, Gasland. The Screening is on Wednesday, 16 November at 8:30pm and entrance is free!

With the entire Karoo being faced with fracking leases (yes, the proposed area is almost 15% of South Africa's entire land-mass!), this documovie is now particularaly relevant to all South Africans!

Read some more...

"GASLAND - (2010) Directed by Josh Fox.
Winner of Special Jury Prize - Best US Documentary Feature - Sundance 2010.
Screening at Cannes 2010.

Fairtrade Week

This week (14-20 November) marks South Africa's first ever Fairtrade Week.

Fairtrade Label South Africa (FLSA) is the local marketing organisation for Fairtrade and aims to alleviate rural poverty while empowering small-scale farmers and disadvantaged workers primarily in Africa. This is done by creating market opportunities for, and increasing sales of Fairtrade labelled products in South Africa. So far, their hard work and our local support has seen sales in South Africa reach a staggering R18,4 million in 2010, a three-fold increase from the R5,7 million in 2009!

The perfect opportunity to purchase cutting-edge literature

First Book Fair
This Guy Fawkes marked the first anarchist book fair in Africa, a trend that has taken off all around the world. These events are a great opportunity for existing anarchists to come together and the common public to learn more about anarchism.

Located at Observatory’s quirky café Ganesh, the anarchist book fair on the 5th November had a revolutionary atmosphere, and you could almost feel the genius as it bred in small groups, big ideas swished around by foreigners and locals alike.

‘There were more anarchists at the book fair than we expected,’ says Stef, one of the fair's organisers. ‘I realise now how many are actually living in Cape Town. We sold loads of books and distributed tons of pamplets.’

Cool as Folk

Join the Treevolution!

This Saturday 12 November sees the coolest green party of 2011 touch down at The Assembly in Cape Town. This awesome night of fun will be in aid of a sending Greenpop to Durban for COP17, the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), later this month. The conference aims to facilitate pivotal discussion and allow significant decision making regarding the future of our environment, industries and the world’s forests.