A heart-breaking film about the often downplayed environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracking, Split Estate is a relevant watch for all South Africans.

This doccie will open your eyes to why so many are against fracking

Dwindling petroleum resources and technical advancements is what brought on the fracking hype. How it works is that fluid is injected into rock at high pressure to encourage the release of residue gas, which is then extracted. While hydraulic fracturing remains a controversial topic, Split Estate follows the stories of those people who have been affected by it.

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.

Dear Friends,

Across the planet now we see ever more flood, ever more drought, ever more storms. People are dying, communities are being wrecked — the impacts we’re already witnessing from climate change are unlike anything we have seen before.

But because the globe is so big, it’s hard for most people to see that it’s all connected. That’s why, on May 5, we will Connect the Dots.

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...

Light a candle and switch off your lights for an hour this Saturday; take the time to reflect on our planet...

To find an event near you.

Yes, we can have clear, gorgeous swimming pools without it costing nature!

Natural systems can keep pool water clear!

Jenny Louw’s beautiful, bio-diverse swimming pool is a wonder to look at. Like a natural lake it lies transparent amongst the rushes and reeds, home to many garden creatures.

Unlike chlorine pools, natural swimming pools work with the nature around them. They require no chemicals whatsoever and a quarter of the amount of electricity needed for normal swimming pools.

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.

Two years ago, the Dutch government donated a unique toilet unit to the small community of Pook se Bos. We go to check it out...

After following a technology breadcrumb trail, (getting lost along the way) we found ourselves in the middle of a baking hot Athlone. My contact was nowhere to be seen, and I foolishly had not jotted down his number. After several seconds of unsuccessful phone web searches, I jumped from the car and strode up to one of the locals sitting outside their rickety home, surpassing an aggravated dog as I did so.

'Hi there. Can you please tell me where the toilets are? The blues ones?,' I gestured.

Anti-fracking “speak out” at Greenpoint Park on Human Rights Day, 21 March 2012
Time: 9h30

Earthlife Africa Cape Town are planning another anti-fracking protest on Human Rights Day, Wednesday 21 March, from 9h30 in Greenpoint Park, to highlight the threat that fracking poses to our basic human right to clean air and water.

“As 22 March is also World Water Day, we want to place special emphasis on the fact that the vast quantity of water needed in the proposed fracking operations will be permanently removed from the water cycle, and the waste water that is generated is so toxic to all life that it has to be permanently contained,” says convenor Marina Louw.