The Masses Gather...The 350.org Moving Planet Parade in Cape Town on Saturday was fantastic. Noah and I helped out at the Project 90x2030 offices the weekend prior to the march so knew we weren't going to be the only ones showing up. But you're still nervous. What if only twenty of you pitch and you look a right banana? So it was cool to arrive at the Cape Town station forecourt and see a massive bunch of people there. Actually it was more like a throng than a bunch! Getting there was an interesting affair as we were travelling by wheelbarrow...

Join us for Moving Planet this Heritage Day 24 SeptOn Heritage Day Saturday 24 Sept 2011 join the movement and move the planet! Embrace your inner activst and stand up for the planet! Join hundreds of thousands of us around the world as part of 350.org's moving planet where ordinary citizens band together and DO SOMETHING about climate change. Let's send a clear signal to our leaders and the general public that climate change needs to be tackled urgently.

We've made a list of the main events happening around South Africa tomorrow (incl. Grahamstown and Howick!). See you there!

Cape Town Moving Planet Events

Tread lightly parade through the central city

WHERE: Cape Town station forecourt
WHEN: 10:30 am
WHAT: Join the low carbon Moving Planet Parade on heritage day! Take the train, bus, car-pool or cycle (Metrorail will permit bikes onboard for the day) and join the 'Tread lightly' parade through the central city.

Bring your bike, pram, wheelchair, skateboard or any other form of low carbon transport. Think about

Today (22 Sept 2011) is World Rhino Day and non-profits, business and individuals have come together to raise greater public awareness of the plight of the rhino and also galvanise the action needed to prevent this majestic beast from extinction due to non-sensical consumer demand and human greed.

Rhino poaching has increased by a staggering amount in the last three years. From 2009 to date around 750 animals have been brutally slaughtered for their horns.

According to the WWF, South Africa has lost 287 rhinos in 2011, including at least 16 critically endangered black rhinos. South Africa is home to most of the worlds rhinos and has increased protection for rhino's by stepping up prosecutions and handing down stricter sentances to criminals.

Today is... recycling day. Actually every day is recycling day (or should be), but perhaps you're not already recycling or want to recycle more. Plastics | SA and the packaging industry initiated an annual Recycling Day for South Africa to raise more awareness about recycling and to get more South Africans recycling.

Our recycling journey started in the late 90's, when you had to drive for miles to find an orange Mondi igloo to recycle your paper. We used to live in Radiokop (near Honeydew) and drove through to the Northriding SPCA a few times a year to donate a mountain of newspaper. Then we lived in the UK for a while and were amazed that all

Climate Reality DurbanThe Climate Reality Project's 24 hour event begins this Wednesday 14 September to "mobilise the world to confront the reality of the climate crisis". The event will span 24 time zones and will be broadcast live over the internet by Ustream, viewed at www.climaterealityproject.org

The event kicks off in Mexico City at 7pm Central Time on Wed 14 (it will be 2am Thurs 15 Sep in South Africa) and will move westwards around the globe ending with a presentation in New York City by former Vice President of the US, Al Gore at 7pm Eastern Time September 15 (1 am Fri 16 in SA).

So most of us will be sound asleep when the event kicks off and again as it closes, but we'll be able to catch all the action in between from the time we wake up on Thursday morning.

Those in Durban will be able to attend the Climate Reality presentation at the Durban Botanical Gardens, and those in Joburg will be able to watch the presentation at the Joburg Green Drinks held at the FTFA Khaya (more details below).

TrashBack uphinda-phindo! launch in Imizamo YethuAn amazing community recycling initiative was quietly launched in Hout Bay this past weekend. It was not done with much fanfare but this innovative social change solution has great potential to transform recycling in communities across SA.

The brainchild of three students connected with UCT's Green Campus Initiative, TrashBack provides an incentive for locals to clean up their communities. The six month pilot project called uphinda-phindo! was started in Imizamo Yethu, an informal settlement in Hout Bay in collaboration with Green Living and the Hout Bay Recycling Co-operative based at the City of Cape Town's Hout Bay Waste Drop-off facility.

On Saturday afternoon an excited group of kids lined up at the recycling drop off point. Some had plastic bags full of plastic junk, others had crates of old beer bottles, they were queuing to register their details and deliver the recyclables that they had collected in their community over the last couple of days. In reward for their recycling efforts they earned points according to the number of crates their trash filled and how much it weighed.

greenpop one year old this monthIt's amazing what can be achieved in a year, just received this in from the Greenpop team:

Dear volunteer - legend - person we love,

Greenpop turned 1 last week on 1 September and we would like to say a gigantic THANK YOU for your support during our first year. We couldn't have done it without you and we're so grateful.

We can't believe it's been 1 year and so much has happened.
In the last 12 months, Greenpop has:

• planted just over 7000 trees at more than 100 beneficiary locations
• hosted 2 successful Education Days in collaboration with SANBI and Kirstenbosch for our beneficiary ground staff and teachers
• started up a grey water system which sees school children watering and caring for their trees
• had 723 volunteers signing up through our website
• been chosen as one of the winners of the International
  

Kumi in ArcticWhen I heard Kumi Naidoo, executive head of Greenpeace International, was in town I jumped at the chance to meet him, after all here was a chance to catch a glimpse of what life as swashbuckling eco-activist on the high seas must be like.

A small and motley crew of interested members of the public and Greenpeace supporters also turned up for Kumi's talk at Community House in Salt River last Monday evening. I was expecting more of a crowd, given Kumi's adventures of daring-do, but the event was not widely publicised (I only found out about it late in the day). It was a pity there weren't more people present, as Kumi was full of anecdotes and useful info.

Before proceedings started I met Ann, the director of Greenpeace Africa. I mentioned that I thought Greenpeace was a radical environmental group and she was quick to point out

Awesome treeplantistas, GreenpopIt's spring! Although the spring equinox is not until later this month (23rd), spring in South Africa is commonly celebrated on 1st September as Spring Day.

Our garden is surging with new growth at this time of year. We have strawberries, borage, apricot, spring onion, broad beans and of course those sunny nasturtiums all in flower. The fig tree has sent out it's first leaves and is already setting fruit and the lemon tree is full of tiny flower buds.

I've cleaned out the shed and am ready to get down to some serious seed showing. September really is the month for starting up new projects, shaking off that winter slumber and making time for something new. Something about new leaves and turning them over?

Along with renewed gardening endeavours another spring project is to do our annual eco audit and check out how SA's carbon calculators are shaping up since we last went through this exercise.

September is also abundantly full of awesome environmental events to check out, not least of which is Arbor day (today!). Thought I'd provide a roundup:

1 Sept National Arbor Day, Week, Month
Treeplantistas of the world unite. In South Africa, Arbor Day was first celebrated in 1983. In 1999, the celebration of Arbour Day was extended to National Arbor Week. It is now celebrated for the entire month of September. Look out for Greenpop and Food & Tree for Africa initiatives happening around the country this month. Join them or plant your

The Design Indaba's Your Street Challenge has been extended by a week. Today was supposed to be the deadline for entries but because of the "overwhelming response" it's been extended to Wednesday 7 September. So for any budding eco-designers/social entrepreneurs there's an extra weekend to put together a proposal to transform any street in Cape Town!

There is some hefty prize money up for grabs: R 100 000 for the winner and R50k for each of three runners-up to implement their design.

Your entry needs to be the best creatively and also include a sound business model that shows how your idea can be implemented. Proposals will be judged on these six principals:

1. Generosity: How many people other than you does your design solution effect positively?