Bet you thought the day could never come. All this blarney about fish running out is just part of the whole green thing, people are just over-reacting, as usual... right?

Wrong. The prediction is that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.

Imagine, for a moment, an ocean without fish. Your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This if the future if we do not stop, think and act.

The End of the Line is a film that reveals the impact of overfishing on our oceans and our global love affair with fish as food.

The major feature doccie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, is screening overseas at the moment, and is due in South Africa in September at a cinema near you.

It is possible to do something that has a real impact on the nuclear furture of South Africa.

These words arrived in my inbox this morning, sent by Peter Becker to members of the .

The deadline for submissions on the Environmental Impact Assessment for Eskom's proposed Nuclear-1 project EIA: 12/12/20/944) is tomorrow. You can make a difference. And here's how. Send an email to bongi.shinga[at]acerafrica[dot]co[dot]za. In the body of your email, if you don't have the time to actually comment, say something along the lines of:

Green prefab homes rising in popularity
A modular home manufacturer in USA says that, where other builders are cutting projects in the down economy, his company is raising production of the energy-efficient model, called the 'i-house' – a solar modular home. South Africa has its own version that's caused quite a stir, known as Zenkaya – ready-made living space that is re-defining the term 'prefab' and giving it a new eco-friendly and eco-chic slant. They're cheeky, easy, chic and unique. The designs are based on core sustainable principles – efficient use of space, reducing waste in the factory, and all materials are recyclable.

Eskom shuns renewable energy
An Irish energy company, Mainstream Renewable Power, claims that Eskom does not want renewable energy to succeed in SA. Mainstream vented its frustration over what it said was Eskom’s unwillingness to accommodate renewable energy players in the SA power generation market. It last year established a joint venture with local company Genesis Eco-Energy to build wind farms to generate 500MW in the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape. “Eskom does not want renewables. They do not want competition,” Mainstream CEO Eddie O’Connor said yesterday. [businessday] read here about what Eskom should be doing...

Ammendments to the law in SA mean that, despite the fact that the country has been growing genetically modified crops since 1997 and has never conducted a single environmental impact assessment (EIA), the Minister of Environment now has the power to carry out EIAs.

Join The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) in their most recent campaign – to call for an EIA for Syngenta's application to government to permit them to commercially release a new event of genetically modified maize, called GA21.

This maize is resistant to their herbicide, Touchdown Forte. The technology gives farmers the freedom to spray poisonous herbicide indiscriminately, as the poison will kill everything except the crop, which is modified to survive the poison (in much the same vein as Monsanto's Roundup).

Before the word gets out, I thought I’d share my addiction to the latest restaurant to open on the Spier Wine Estate in Lyndedoch Road, Stellenbosch. Eight at Spier serves good wholesome breakfasts, brunches and lunches on the grounds of the popular weekend destination.

The restaurant is child-friendly, affordable, and one of very few restaurants with a green ethos where environmental consciousness and commitment to the Earth is a high priority. Most of all, the restaurant lacks pretentiousness, and easily ranks as one of the best places to get a decent, healthy breakfast over a weekend …

design: anja bredellno waste, no pollution and absolutely no harm! This is not a trend. This is an opportunity to design and sustain our very own futures. Together we can create a better quality of life for all and a better place to call home, through the application of clean, smart design. Would you like to live responsibly in style? No Kak!

The Eco Design Initiative 2010 is now calling for entries from emerging designers in South Africa – all schools of design are welcome. You have until 30 April to submit your sustainable creation that is a durable product or service that minimises adverse impacts on the environment, whilst making every day life simpler and more pleasant.

There is something of the sacred in Hogsback. Perhaps it is the ethereal proximity of dense, indigenous forests that hint at faery folk, or its remoteness that make it so. But few people leave here without some element of reparation, even if it is simply their faith in the beauty of nature that is restored.

The approach to the eco shrine, which the artist Diana Graham calls the 'Voice of the Earth Eco shrine', does much to reinforce this impression. It is a tunnel formed by lean, leafy Hazelnut trees that create a vortex through which one moves from one time into another. Or so it seems.

As far as food markets go, the Wild Oats Market in Sedgefield on the Garden Route probably comes up tops. Residents of Sedgefield and visitors to the town head out in their droves on a Saturday morning to the edge of town right next to the Swartvlei lake-lagoon, where the market has a permanent home under the trees.

The market's full name is the Wild Oats Community Farmers' Market and it has won numerous awards during its ten year life span. Whilst I'd heard only good things about the farmers' market, I hadn't yet had the opportunity to visit it, but our road trip up to Hogsback had been conveniently carved into a number of stopovers that included Sedgefield, and the market was one of the first to make its way onto the itinerary.

A new GM study by the University of Caen in France shows a negative impact on the function of kidneys and liver in rats consuming GM maize varieties for just 90 days.

From the study:
"We investigated three different GM corn namely NK 603, MON 810 and MON 863, which were fed to rats for 90 days. The raw data have been obtained by European governments and made publically available for scrutiny and counter-evaluation.

“These studies constitute a model to investigate possible subchronic toxicological effects of these GM cereals in mammals and humans. These are the longest in vivo tests performed with mammals consuming these GMOs. The animals were monitored for numerous blood and organ parameters.

A 150-turbine wind farm capable of generating 300MW of electricity is planned for near Caledon, in the Western Cape.

The Caledon Wind Farm would span 15 farms covering an area of 3500 hectares within the Theewaterskloof Muncipality approximately 16km west of Caledon and 7km east of Botrivier.

Each turbine will be able to generate between 2 and 3.6 MW, stand 80 metres tall to the hub and have a 40m blade. Additional infrastructure required will include powerlines, access roads and a new electricity substation...