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.

Could commercial chumming be to blame for recent attacks?

Chumming for sharks is legal - but should it be?

Last Friday young local bodyboarder David Lilienfeld was tragically attacked and killed by a shark off Kogel Bay.

Fingers have been instantly pointed at Chris Fischer and NPO Ocearch who, despite public opposition, had been tossing up to 5 tonnes of chum into the False Bay oceans over the last few weeks in an attempt to attract Great Whites for their documentary series 'Sharkmen'. After the attack their permit was revoked.

Where have all the fish gone?

The End of the Line urges us to change our view on fish

Based on the book 'The End of The Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat' written by journalist Charles Clover, this prestigious documentary serves as a wake-up call for all mankind.

Having won numerous awards including the Puma Creative Award and Environment Award at the 2010 One World Media Awards, The End of the Line asks us to re-evaluate the way we see fish.

Pandora Long, Penz Malinga, Penny Rees and Mike Farley

A small group of environmentalists passionate about the planet, and particularly water, will begin walking the 265 kms of the uMngeni River on 1 May (May Day).

Starting at MngeniVlei – the plateau above Dargle and Fort Nottingham where the river rises - and ending at Blue Lagoon where it rushes into the Indian Ocean.

Along the way they will document and record all impacts on the river to gain a complete picture of the health of the river and hopefully unite everyone in establishing a Green Corridor along the length of the river. Daily stories of their adventures and findings will be posted on their blog - www.umngeniriverwalk.wordpress.com.

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.

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.

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.

One Struggle – a conference on social justice, animal rights and radical environmentalism - took place in Muizenberg last Saturday (18 Feb) thanks to the South African Vegan Society.

The conference focused on the rights of animals, the environment and human beings.

Hearing about the One Struggle conference, I was immediately excited; the South African Vegan Society represent a genuine passion for true authentic societal change, and I knew this would be reflected in any event they organised.

When we arrived in the afternoon, was busy giving her talk on veganism and food security in Cape Town: explaining how being vegan is better not only for animals, but for people and the earth too. The young lady really sounded like she knew her stuff, and displayed all the facts to back up her statements.

‘We may be making attempts to save water in our home due to turning off taps and showering instead of bathing, but when 85% of our water waste is on our plate it is important that we re-evaluate our diet. And this is not mere theory – the U.N. have been urging people to eat local and plant-based for years,' she explained, adding: 'But it is not just our diet that must change, but the production system of our diet.’

Opening up discussion to the audience, there were

Cyanobacteria: Anabaena solitaria ~ the organism associated with geosmin in TheewaterskloofAre you smelling it too? For a couple of weeks now I've been aware that our water tastes a bit funny and there's an odour too. It's a sandy, earthy kind of smell, but not earthy as in the wonderful smell of worm castings or compost - that fertile, rich smell. No, this is a dusty, decaying or stale earthiness. It's subtley unpleasant. I thought that it was perhaps time to change the water filter we use on our incoming supply.

Then all was made clear by an email received from the City of Cape Town, explaining that what we're smelling / tasting is Geosmin or MIB (2-Methyl-iso-Borneol), two "naturally occuring compounds found in surface waters (rivers and dams) as organic molecules produced by blue-green algae."

"Absolutely safe"
The city assures us that the water is "absolutely safe to drink".

“The water, however, is perfectly