Training courses on sustainability – for you 'jo public' (Jhb and CT)
The team at icologie (Grace, Andy and Andrew) now offer Smart Living (remember the handbook?) to South Africans at large. The courses give practical advice on how to preserve resources and often save money in the areas of energy, water, waste and biodiversity. There are 5 courses: practical solutions, sustainability and climate change, event greening, sustainable business implementation, and sustainable business strategy. Visit www.icologie.com, or

New rhino poaching hotline
The endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is protecting the rhino with a hotline for anyone to use. If you are aware of any illegal or suspicious activities concerning rhino poaching or the sale, movement and or trade in their horns.

No kak (design that gives a damn) finalists announced
In August 2010, 20 finalists were selected for their eco design concepts, submitted as story boards , during the competition's first selection round. These "Fresh Talent" now have the opportunity to create life size prototypes of their design ideas, using natural, organic and waste materials  sourced from South African suppliers with clean efficient processes, such as "made by hand" and "local sourced and produced". The eco design prototypes will be showcased at next year's Design Indaba in Cape Town. For more visit nokak.com

pic: Seaweed Lamp by Wren

We walked part of the fan walk on Saturday and were amazed at the masses of people, many of whom, like us didn't have tickets for the Argentina vs Germany game, but just went along with their kids to soak up some gees. More than 300 000 fans were in Cape Town over the weekend, 42 000 attended the Fan Fest and 153 000 supporters used the 2.5 km Fan Walk on Saturday. What a cool sight to see thousands of us mobilised to watch 22 men chase a ball around a little field of grass...

Join 1 Goal
About 70 million children world-wide will the opportunity of education through the FIFA 1Goal campaign, said ambassador Anthony Baffoe of Ghana on Saturday.

One of these children was Ghanaian Stephen Odai, who was given an opportunity to watch Ghana play against Uruguay on Friday.

"My policy has always been combining football with education, 1Goal helps these kids to start their life," said Baffoe, who was at a media briefing at Soccer City in Nasrec.

He said that 18-year-old Odai was the classical example of how education can open doors for young people...

giraffe in kruger national park by arno and louise from fotopediaPenguin chicks perish in the cold

Frigid weather and strong winds have taken their toll on African penguins on islands offshore of Port Elizabeth.

Nearly 500 chicks living on Bird Island died over a 24-hour period early this week, more than half the island's juvenile population.

More died on St Croix Island, home to the largest breeding colony in South Africa, but because of heavy seas, SA National Parks officials have not been able to count the dead birds.

Spokesperson Megan Taplin said the deaths were concerning because the penguin population in South Africa was already in decline.

She said it was normal for about a third of the chicks to die with the first cold weather every winter, but this time a lot more had died.

gulf of mexico oil spill
Day 50: Latest oil spill developments

This is CNN's round up of developments followed by stories of the major developments in one of our worst environmental disasters

(updated at 4:42 a.m.) Here are the latest developments on the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig.

NEW

– Frustrated advocacy group to hold nationwide vigils Tuesday night

– President Obama delivers strong defense of his administration's response to the spill stating he has held meetings with experts and has learned "whose ass to kick."

– The president is also endorsing plans to lift the cap on damages that oil companies must pay for a spill, currently set at $75 million.

A new species found in Papua New Guinea: Long-nosed tree frog is one of the new species discovered in Foja mountains rainforest on the Indonesian island of New Guinea. Photograph: Tim Laman/NG

Wind turbine built at Coega

ELECTRAWINDS Belgium has started construction of its first wind turbine in the Coega Industrial Development Zone in Port Elizabeth.

The wind turbine will be completed in time to provide energy for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium during the World Cup.

Electrawinds has invested R1.2billion in the Coega Wind Farm Project to build 25 turbines. Each turbine has a capacity of 1.8MW which translates into an annual yield 5700000kWh, enough energy to power about 1700 households. The electricity generated by the wind farm will be fed into the national grid and distributed by Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan municipality to households within the metro.

Ministers charged for water pollution

Criminal charges over the pollution of the country's water supply were laid against three Cabinet ministers at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Friday.

After laying the charges, TauSA chairman Louis Meintjes said the organisation had been forced to approach the police after Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Mining Minister Susan Shabangu and Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, had repeatedly failed to address the problem.

"We want them to act and get the water clean... a snowball that gets too big is a runaway snowball," he said.

Meintjes said mines which used seven percent of the country's water supply were responsible for 75 percent of water pollution.

He said Sonjica should have acted in line with the National Water Act and that Shabangu should have known that mining, water supply and food security were directly linked.

He said the act provided that it was criminal for ministers to knowingly or unintentionally allow for natural resources to be jeopardised.

"If it's not the ministers, who is responsible?" - Sapa

Developers downplay King Shaka leaks
By Gugu Mbonambi

Developers of the new multi-billion-rand King Shaka airport admit that there are "minor leaks" in the airport's fuel pipeline, but deny

cats reducing biodiversity?Sewage the next Eskom
By Sapa and Moleboheng Tladi
The Green Drop report has found that more than 75% of South Africa's sewage treatment plants are not up to standard.

Of 852 waste water treatment plants, 403 weren’t even in good enough nick to be assessed. Of the remainder, only 203 scored better than 50%.

Of the 403 that weren’t assessed, the report highlighted municipal managers not feeling competent enough, and municipalities not adhering to the call to be assessed.
Those that managed to get more than 50% on the standards set by the Green Drop report were mostly based around Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.

Only 3.8% of the total plants actually got the Green Drop status, which is broadly equivalent to international standards.

Did the earth move for you?
By Botho Molosankwe

An Earth tremor measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale hit some parts of Joburg [Wednesday night] - prompting some residents to call radio stations.

It is not yet known what caused the tremor or its exact location, said Michelle Grobbelaar, the unit manager at the Seismology Department of the Council of Geoscience.

However, she said, it was widely felt in areas such as Mayfair, Glenanda and Florida.

"We don't know what caused it but normally it is because of stress build-up in the earth.

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern).

Worcester locals feel the earth move
By Murray Williams
Staff Writer

An earthquake struck the Cape Winelands on Monday, causing a blaze on the slopes of the Waaihoek mountains above Worcester and concern among farmers.

The earthquake was first picked up when a farmer reported a suspected aeroplane crash on his farm, Draaihoek.

Emergency services scrambled the Air Mercy Service aircraft to the scene.

Instead of a wreck, the crew found only smoke and a fire, and called firefighters to the scene.

Meanwhile, the Council for Geoscience in Pretoria had been alerted by locals who felt the earth move.

Earth hour around the world

Sydney - Landmarks such as Sydney's Opera House, Beijing's Forbidden City and Taiwan's Taipei 101 office tower temporarily went dark on Saturday as nations dimmed the lights for Earth Hour 2010 to call for action on climate change.

The symbolic one-hour switch-off, first held in Sydney in 2007, has become an annual global event and organisers World Wide Fund for Nature said they expect this year's to be the biggest so far.

The remote Chatham Islands was the first of more than 100 nations and territories to turn off the power at 8.30pm local time, in a rolling event around the globe that ends just across the International Dateline in Samoa 24 hours later.