It's UCT's Green Week this week. I'm supposed to be visiting (eek) but I'm also on a deadline...

As part of the Green Week, While You Were Sleeping and the UCT Green Campus Initiative invite you to watch four fantastic documentaries with important environmental themes at the Labia on Orange cinema in Cape Town from Monday 20 September to Thursday 23 September at 6.15pm.

Vanishing of the Bees
The Nuclear Comeback
The End of the Line
Crude

For a synopsis on each of these, .

Don't miss these thought-provoking and inspiring documentary films covering themes from nuclear energy and over-fishing to oil pollution.

A facilitated audience discussion will follow each screening. Tickets are R20 and can be reserved by calling The Labia.

Our friend Hazel (we blogged about her here ) lives on a farm. It isn't just any farm either, it's a beautiful organic farm offering accommodation perched on the hill overlooking the Gou Kou River in Stilbaai.

Hazel's farm is a hugely popular lunch and breakfast venue, not least because she grows most of the vegetables and salads that she uses in her meals on her farm according to the principles of permaculture.

She is, as you will soon find out, intensely enthusiastic about permaculture and it is no surprise that she is now offering a 12 day Permaculture Design Course - starting on 18 October 2010.

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

I'm a fan of theatre in any form. I particularly admire those who do theatre with a message (alright, I know all theatre has a message, but, you know), especially one with climate change for school kids. And this one is aimed at grades 5 to 9.

What's more, the team of actors, are prepared to act just about anywhere – in a quad, hall or field – just so that they can get their message across.

The “high-octane, action-packed adventure story” by the theatre team Craig Morris, Lerato Moloi, Jacques De Silva and Joni Barnard, from the Well Worn Theatre Company has already made it to the halls and quads of at least 20 schools with their climate change programme.

Encounters documentary festival is NOW ON in Cape Town and in Jo'burg. And there are a lot of 'green' angle films, some of them like local film maker and journalist Helena Kingswell's vital "Buried in Earthskin" really worth catching.

The section for the movies with a green bent is called 'Green Movies: rewind, review, remake' and you can look out for the following:

“Dirt! The Movie” Dirs: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow USA, brings us that much closer to understanding and appreciating the substance that provides food, shelter, implements, warmth, even giving our wines their

Arum lily season is here! You'll know this because at any number of lights around the city, some well-meaning chap will thrust a bunch at your window. And the temptation to buy these gorgeous flowers is enormous.

I've been aware that one shouldn't buy as they're being picked in the wild, destroying the natural balance of what remains of the natural wetlands, wild places and roadsides along which they grow (they're regarded as one of the wild flowers of the flower route and indicated in reports on the flowers).

But what I didn't know is that the endangered arum lily micro frog breeds in the water and dew held in the cup of these lilies.

pic: outdoorphoto.com

I lifted the lid on the cardboard box containing my to take a peek.

The young woman behind the desk at Nourish, the health shop at Dean Street Arcade, joined me, and we silently stood looking at the array of avocado pear, caramelised onion, mushroom, sprouts and what looked like cream, but I had been assured was actually cashew nut cheese.

She pointed to my son and whispered 'Is he going to eat this?'. I shrugged. I couldn't get my four-year old to eat a normal pizza, nevermind this affair. I assured her, my mouth already watering at the prospect of tasting what was infront of me, that I hadn't sampled the fare yet either. 'I'm just helping out' she smiled, 'and I hadn't seen one of them before'...

Remember last year's 350.org International Day of Climate Action that made the world sit up and take notice?

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That's the date. The place is wherever you live. And the point is to do something that will help deal with global warming in your city or community.

350.org are calling it a Global Work Party, with emphasis on both 'work' and 'party'. In Auckland, New Zealand, they're having a giant bike fix-up day, to get every bicycle in the city back on the road. In the Maldives, they're putting up solar panels on the President's office. In Kampala, Uganda, they're going to plant thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they're installing solar stoves for a massive carbon neutral picnic...

You can't get high on industrial hemp, but you can create clothing, housing, food, fuel, natural plastics and other locally useful and globally marketable consumer products out of it. And oh yes, did we mention jobs, and lots of them. Hemp is already a multi $ billion a year industry and growing.

The new HEMP NOW website is live, and they're petitioning the government of SA to join those countries already growing hemp.

There are many reasons why we should be growing hemp in SA:

• hemp is grown organically
• it is naturally resistant to most pests, so doesn't need pesticides or herbicides (cotton does)
• an acre field of hemp can yield up to 8 dry tons of fibre (3 times more than cotton)
• the same crop will give 4 times more paper than an acre forest of trees...

Every school week a box of vegetables is dropped off at my son's school with my name on it. It sits, in amongst similar boxes, awaiting pick-up. It must be said that I often forget and my box finds its way into the school fridge until I remember the following day to collect it.

My pack is always brimming over with a variety of fresh vegetables, picked on the morning of delivery. This might sound pretty obvious, but I have used other box delivery schemes in Cape Town where, because of logistics and through no fault of their own, you only receive your vegetables a couple of days after picking. This can make a huge difference to the state of your vegetables (Harvest of Hope's are firm, crisp and FRESH – gorgeous!).