Fairtrade: the facts

• SA is home to the first Fairtrade wine operation in the world – Thandi Wines (2003)
• wine has become one of the most important Fairtrade products in SA
• as of March 2012 SA boasts 16 Fairtrade certified wine grape producers, and over 39 companies involved in Fairtrade wine-making and trading
• in 2010 17 million bottles of Fairtrade wine were drunk globally
• two thirds of these were from SA
• for every Fairtrade labelled bottle you buy, 50 cents goes back to the farm workers to use for social economic investment (some include education and training programmes for workers and families)
• Fairtrade certification means wine is produced sustainably in accordance with Fairtrade Standards

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.

The latest eat in magazine is now on the shelf and worth laying your hands on to drool over the winning foods that include Earthshine's range of Kale Chips (innovation award), Croft Chickens (best organic or free-range producer), Oude Bank Bakkery (best small producer: Bakery) and Boon Hill Salad Leaves (best small producer: Earth).

This edition is labelled the ultimate green shopping guide and lists farmers' markets, organic vegetables, sustainable seafood and free-range beef etc.

It also has a section on shopping ethically in SA, where urban sprout makes it to the list of websites to visit to stay in the green! (good to know we're still well regarded out there)

Get your copy at a stockist near you.

Dear Friends,

Across the planet now we see ever more flood, ever more drought, ever more storms. People are dying, communities are being wrecked — the impacts we’re already witnessing from climate change are unlike anything we have seen before.

But because the globe is so big, it’s hard for most people to see that it’s all connected. That’s why, on May 5, we will Connect the Dots.

Travelling up to the Harmonic Resonance party to help promote my mums event The Little Green Gathering , we discovered many hidden treasures amongst the otherwise isolatingly spacious and overgrown landscapes of the Garden Route.

Wild Sprit lodge& backpackers (photograph by Julan Briant)

Friday Night:

After a long-winded and rather dramatic 6-hour ride in the dark and rain, we arrive at our friend's off-the-grid home, greeted mercifully by a cup of Organic hot cocoa. This is the kind of house where you take a flashlight to the loo and have to stand in a certain place in the lounge to receive any morsel of cellular phone reception. I slept like a baby.

Saturday:

Probably the most important reason for lowering our impact on ecological systems is to try and reduce the rate of extinctions of species. We rely entirely on the eco-system services which our planet provides us for survival – water, energy, food.

A planet with reduced diversity is an unhealthy and unstable one. If our range of foods becomes too small, there is more risk of disease. We need wild diversity to survive.

What is sustainable living? It is reducing human impact on the ecologicalsystems of the planet, starting with one human in particular – you. As consumers we need to slow down, stop shopping and start living...

Last year we planted 1324 trees at the Greenpop Reforest Fest and this year, we're hoping for more. Come and be part of this awesome event!

The Platbos forest is an ancient South African forest jewel and we need to protect it. Over the past decades it has been deforested for agriculture and now is under threat of fire as alien vegetation has taken over substantially. Platbos reforestation project aims to ultimately grow the forest back to its original size and splendor.

GROW AND SUSTAIN THE SOIL. 2012. Mixed media on paper. 900mm x 640mm.

GIFT A TREE and stand the chance to win this artwork!

Buy a tree or two for Greenpop's TREES FOR ZAMBIA project and you stand the chance to win this original artwork of a tree.

See our event calendar for details

Light a candle and switch off your lights for an hour this Saturday; take the time to reflect on our planet...

To find an event near you.