The National Planning Commission is wrong to consider mining for shale gas in the Karoo when there are more viable, known gas deposits to be exploited, which will be far less threatening to the environment.

This is the view of TKAG Chairman, Jonathan Deal, in response to a report by Minister Trevor Manuel that the NPC saw natural gas providing a rising share of the energy mix.

"Natural gas undoubtedly has a role to play in the energy mix of South Africa. Deposits such as the 2.5tcf (trillion cubic feet) held by Forest Exploration International off South Africa’s west coast is a prime example of a supply that could keep the Western Cape in gas for decades. "

"And this is miniscule compared to the reported finds off Mozambique", he added.
"And Royal Dutch Shell are making plans to explore off-shore in the Orange River basin."

Bolo'Bolo , the new vegan restaurant open on Palmer Road, is more than your average eatery...

Bolo Bolo interior contains an air of effortless style

Palmer Road’s vegan restaurant has just changed hands and its new name, Bolo’Bolo, makes reference to a anthropological joke - the fictional name given to societies that don’t follow normal cultural patterns. Proud new owner Aragorn has experience in this type of business before, having opened and ran South Africa’s first vegan restaurant ‘Earth2’ while he was still living in Johannesburg some years ago.

Come and see sustainable design's "Fresh Talents" - finalists of the Eco design Competition 2011, themed "Home is where the heart is" and their sustainable design concepts and prototypes reflect the Eco Initiative's original call for product, system and service designs that support harmonious development and improve life.

These designs, featured in the Sustainable Design Showcase at City Hall Cape Town earlier this month, include a variety of product, communication campaigns and community projects that address local development challenges, yet have the potential to make a global impact.

Tomorrow, Friday 16 March 2012, the Eco Design Initiative will proudly announce the competition winners that will continue their participation in the initiative's skills and culture exchange with design peers in Sweden when they visit Scandinavia in June 2012.

After 6 months of exciting and intensive leadership training on how to empower children, adolescents and adults to shape their mindset and actions for a sustainable future, 9 South Africans have returned from Germany, each with some valuable knowledge, competences and innovation projects on their plates to be implemented here in South Africa.

UPDATE: Please note that since 1st July 2013, all products produced in the FUTURELIFE factory have been made from NON-GMO raw materials. For more info please visit http://www.futurelife.co.za/gmo or see our post here

FUTURELIFE replaced GMO ingredients with NON-GMO ingredients in July 2013. Thanks for making a difference FUTURELIFE!

ACB's press release follows:

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) is outraged that several food products, including baby cereal, maize meal consumed as a staple, a renown and heavily promoted dietary supplement for active sports people and wheat free cereal, have tested positive for GM- yet are all unlabelled.

Home Birth Gathering at Erin Hall : Birth as a humans rights issue

Ever wondered about your birthing options?

‘We’re not anti-hospital, we’re just about sharing,’ says Ruth as we begin. According to her, natural home birth is a valid option for an expecting mother. These gathering events are a chance for the interested to meet up and discuss – from couples to mothers-to-be, doulas, midwives or simply anyone who is curious about the idea of having a baby at home. As it was Human Rights Month, this particular Home Birth Gathering topic was titled ‘birth as a human rights issue’.

Meeting with Patrick Dowling, family friend and WESSA environmental educator, we discuss a more perfect world and a positive way out of our current economic and environmental dysfunction...

Patrick Dowling (pictured here doing some planting) believes that a Steady State Economy is now the way to go

Ok so we get that we are stuffed - with the economy doing a double dive and the planet protesting years of misuse - so now what? If economists have been questioning the idea of perpetual growth for centuries, how have we allowed ourselves to walk headlong into this mess? Surely this is a good a sign as any that we must make changes to our system, but the real question is, how?

Patrick believes that a Steady State System could just be the answer to our current situation.

Anthea Torr, eco-entrepreneur and part of the local Freeman Movement - 'The Republic of Good Hope', has recently faced trial and a warrant for her arrest in an attempt for her critisms of the system to be heard.

Anthea Torr, owner of Enchantrix

It all began with a building.

Having lately become very interested in the Freeman Society movement , Anthea decided not to follow the compliant route of obtaining legal papers for her structure, explaining her reasons clearly in 6 letters hand delivered to the council over the duration of a year.

“My message to the people of Cape Town is get involved. This is your mountain. We are custodians of this mountain for future generations. I feel we have to stand up".

So says Fiona Hinds who was arrested after occupying the Chapman's Peak toll plaza construction site for five days. Fiona appeared in court yesterday on a charge of "malicious injury to property" for reportedly spraypainting "Murray & Robbers" on netting around the site. Entilini, developers of the R 54-million plaza and administrative centre, are owned partly by construction firm Murray and Roberts.

Hinds' legal representative asked the court to remove the bail condition imposed on her after her arrest on Monday which prevented her from returning to the construction site. Removal of the bail condition was granted and the court hearing postponed until 23 March.

Graham Taylor (Hinds' attorney) said: "It is a long shot to prosecute people for

The Department of Energy has promulgated two draft bills that it intends to send to Parliament. These Bills are the National Energy Regulator Amendment Bill and the Electricity Regulation Second Amendment Bill. Due to these Bills highly undemocratic nature, the Department of Energy should withdraw these Bills without delay.