2011 Wessa AwardsThe Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) celebrates its 85th birthday this year. It was founded in 1926 (when my Grandpa was 7) and is one of SA's oldest and largest membership-based NGO's. WESSA does seriously good work protecting the environment by acting as a watchdog and educator through it's various projects which span biodiversity, waste, water, energy conservation, voluntary social change and legal compliance.

At a special event last week they honoured outstanding individuals and groups for their contribution to SA conservation and education. I thought I'd share with you some of the projects and people that stepped up for an award.

Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG)
They need no introduction for those following the fracking fiasco. Wessa acknowledged Jonathan Deal for his "tenacity and devotion" to the Karoo and his tireless work rallying support around "what represents true and timeless value in a world where quick profit drives many actions".

Friends groups
Wessa and "Friends" groups are synonymous in my mind. Friends groups care for a particular conserved environment and are an opportunity for members of

Climate Reality Project"24 Hours of Reality will focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us." So says Al Gore, in his latest Climate Reality Project.

In a world where most of us have an attention problem, keeping our heads afloat the tsunami of daily news, the big issues like Climate Change can easily drown amongst the other flavours of the day. The Climate Reality Project is hoping to refocus our attention and bring "the facts about the climate crisis into the mainstream" and engage with the public about how to solve it.

The last time I checked I was pretty convinced of the reality of climate change. The reality is that our lives WILL be affected, in adverse ways that scientists have modelled with a reasonable degree of certainty. Is there a link between human activities and the change in climate? Yes, I'm prepared to put money on it.

The trouble is that I don't have much money, while some BIG players like the oil and coal industries have

Mining will Destroy Life's Balance from Green Renaissance on Vimeo.

The Impumelelo Awards are held every two years and are the closest thing to the Oscars for South Africa's NGO sector. I attended the 2010 Impumelelo Awards function and was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the projects awarded, as well as the evening itself. The projects showcased were doing fantastic work to allieviate the plight of many South Africans and a good number of the projects also had an enivironmental focus.

The doors are now open to enter your NGO to be assessed for next year's awards - the deadline is 31 October 2011.

According to Impumelelo: "Projects that particularly focus on the empowerment and advancement of

Francis Kéré received a standing ovation at the Design Indaba 2011 Conference earlier this year - see why. His amazing presentation shows how this architect from Burkino Faso improved lives of fellow villagers from Gando (his rural home village) by building a school. He formed an ngo and raised $50 000 dollars to build the school. While Western aid agencies and well meaning donors construct buildings using materials like concrete, these fail after a few rainy seasons in West Africa. Kéré's use of natural, local materials (clay), local skills and intelligent design results in beautiful buildings that communities are proud of. African architecture should stop copying the West, engage the real needs of the people and regard the environment, says Kéré.

Today is "World Day to Combat Desertification" which the UN uses to "sensitise the public and policy makers to the increasing dangers of desertification, land degradation and drought for the international community".

This year the slogan, "Forests keep drylands working" is used to tie into awareness of 2011 being the "Year of the Forest" and to recognise the impact dryland forests can have on halting and reversing desertification.

Check out the amazing Hope in a Changing Climate by Jon Liu which was a winner in the International Forest Film Festival's Issues & Solutions category.

Liu shows how massive areas that were damaged by

Eco Design Competition 2011As the organisers put it: "Nokak is a beautifully South African way of expressing one's intolerance of nonsense!" And design can be full of, erm nonsense, to put it politely. The "Nokak" approach means removing waste, pollution and other harmful effects from the process and products being designed and produced.

The theme for Eco Design Inititive's 2011 competition is HOME. Because Home is where the heart is, it can be understood in any number of ways:

"The interpretation of HOME is relevant to each individual, based on our unique experiences, backgrounds and life situations; however, we do have one common HOME we all share – our Planet.

Designers are called to submit sustainable and innovative concepts for HOME. All creatives and innovators are invited to design to improve life and make a real difference!"

Host a lunch, save the world - this world environment day 5 june 2011.

World Environment Day falls on a Sunday this year, so why not couple it with the great Sunday lunch tradition to benefit the environment? Sheer genius really!

How does it work? You host a lunch in your home, inviting your friends to join and ask them to donate anything from R25 - R200 to food garden NGO, Soil for Life. You cook and your friends donate online and you all stand a chance to win great prizes.

All money raised at Eat for the Earth lunches throughout South Africa will go to

Tomorrow, Sat 14th May, is The Big Ride In and you can join the finishing leg of the Cairo to Cape Tour d'Afrique and get to test Cape Town's new cycling paths. This could be your moment of glory as you get to cross the finish line with the intrepid cyclists that set out from Cairo over three months ago on a racing tour spanning 11 718 km (the world's longest bicycle race)!

The Big Ride In, however, is not about a race or tour and extends beyond the traditional cycling community. It is about ordinary citizens taking back their power - realising that mobililty is not just about cars or taxis.

Lots of Argus contenders will know that the original Argus Cycle Tour as envisaged back in 1977 was a show of solidarity for the rights of cyclists and for more cycle lanes to be created in the City of Cape Town. The founding fathers of the original Argus, staged a Big Ride In to

Find out more about Fairtrade, Fair Trade, Fairtrade Coffee Week, World Fair Trade Day and what you can do to help!

Nothing beats that first sip of coffee in the morning, and most of the Western world rely on caffeine's psychoactive effects to kickstart their day, but spare a thought for how the world's second largest commodity (after oil) got from where it was produced to your lips.

In Black Gold, being screened at the Labia as part of Fairtrade Coffee Week, Tadesse Meskela is a man on a mission to save 74 000 Ethiopian farmers from bankruptcy. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, but as Tadesse travels the world, will he find a buyer willing to purchase coffee beans of the highest quality at a fair price?

The movie exposes the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world's coffee trade. Unsurprisingly the world's largest sellers of coffee to consumers - Starbucks, Proctor & Gamble, Nestle, Kraft and Sara Lee declined to be interviewed for the film. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation also come under scrutiny.

With so many middle-men, the coffee farmers, left to the devices of a skewed "free market" system, will never receive a decent price for their efforts. So what is an ethically minded coffee addict to do?

Support the Fair Trade movement
This is where the Fair Trade movement steps in so that