Everyone is aware that changes need to be made to address the environmental issues that will affect us in the following decades.

An understanding and practical information in how to address your personal environment can initiate change.

Below is a summary of what will be covered during the nine days.
· life of the soil; mulching; compost making
· succession and productivity; communities of plants (guilds)
· permaculture principles; natural farming principles; using organic methods
· listening /observing / allowing the land to tell you
· design principles
· water cycle; gravity, solar and kinetic energies
· “pests” and protection
· tree planting; seedling production; herbs and healing; vetiver grass; sacred eating; living fences

Green news from around SA & the world today: A round up of some of the HIV/Aids stats available in the news today - World Aids Day - reveals that less than half of SA's 15-year olds will live long enough to collect a pension. They have a 56% chance of dying before turning 60 and 29% of them won’t even make 60. [IOL health] Add to this the increase in the number of mothers and new-borns who die due to HIV and Aids. [IOL health] and the fact that the number of people in SA receiving antiretroviral treatment has only increased by 20% this year [IOL health] and things look pretty bleak – we await today’s unveiling of Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s new plan aimed at fighting the HIV/Aids crisis with bated breath.[read more...]

In an update on yesterday’s global warming issues [greening it up] a workshop that met in CT on Thurs to thrash out a strategy for responding to climate change in the Western Cape believes that any action to cut greenhouse emissions will only have an effect in the 2nd half of this century. In other words, we cannot stop climate change happening over the next 50 years. [IOL environment] Steven Hawking has said that they only way for the human race to survive is to leave planet Earth and head for the hills, so to speak, in a bid to populate other planets(?) [M&G] And apparently some schools in the US have rejected 50 000 free copies of An Inconvenient Truth (required viewing for students in Norway and Sweden)![Hippyshopper]

copyright: ecoserveAround the world & in SA today:Are we all doomed – is it too late to stop the global warming crises? The European Union apparently feels that some European countries have handed out too many carbon permits and is urging further cuts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Neither the US or Australia are in on this scheme to meet targets set by the Kyoto protocol and critics of the European Trading Scheme are saying that infact the limits are too high. [BBC]

Whilst the EU and critics battle away at emissions, controversial author James Lovelock was in London recently to lecture on the environment to the Institution of Chemical Engineers. He believes we’re wasting our time battling away at reducing carbon emissions, likening it to dialysis if your kidneys fail – it just buys you time. In his view, the earth has survived dramatic climate change at least seven times and, whilst a hot earth will only support about 500 million people (a tenth of it’s 6 billion strong population), the species won’t die out. The scientist, who has alienated environmentalists by backing nuclear power (read his book – The Revenge of Gaia) believes that rises in temperature of up to 8C are going to occur whether we try and curb this or not. [IOL]

I’ve got to tell you that I’m somewhat overawed by the animation genre. I can’t draw to save my life! I mean, I can’t even scribble a stick man and make it look convincing, let alone transform scribbles that you create in 5.3 seconds ( I exaggerate not, see their blog!) in Photoshop to become a hot 2-D animation show all about post-apocalyptic iKapa (Cape Town)! (The characters are apparently 2-D but they roam through a 3-D landscape – hmm)

I haven’t been able to watch this exciting new local show that screens on SABC3 on Saturdays at 9am, because the aerial on my roof needs adjusting and we’ve left it at its selected angle because TV just hasn’t had any appeal, until now.

Pax, the 13-year old futuristic black kid with dreadlocks and a ‘kickass’ hoverbike teams up with Keitu, a girl hacker with pink and purple hair and T-Man, a nutty inventor. This crime-fighting posse – they’re up against the obese and maniacal industrialist, called Una Malice, who controls CT and pollutes the environment – are aided by Pax’s super powers, given him by the spirits of the ancestors, and a great deal of determination and guts that takes them through a number of scrapes.

'Sustainable development' a 'boring catch-phrase for sad gits with nothing better to do with their lives'? Apparently not. Jonathon Porritt outlines why the world's politicians ignore this buzzword at their own peril in [BBC greenroom]

Did you know that toxic waste has been dumped in Abidjan that holds carcinogenic risks for those exposed to the fumes? According to [IOL], whilst rebels in Ivory Coast are wanting to punish those responsible, the government-appointed task force into the waste scandal are pointing a number of fingers. In the meantime, 10 people have died.

Around the world today: Really good reason to buy a Gary Larson 2007 calendar - apart from the fact that his work is really funny (!) is that all his earnings from the 3 million calendars printed will go to Conservation International to help end illegal wildlife trade in Asia. He's apparently come out of retirement to release this page-a-day calendar. [Treehugger]

Japan has introduced dual mode trains, which can run on roads like a bus in low density areas and then on rails in more developed areas - cool, hey? [Treehugger]

The destruction of wetlands around Lake Victoria is fast removing a buffer that stops it being poisoned by sewage and industrial waste - the worst case scenario is that the lake is going to die. [M&G]

Zim has launched a campaign to save energy, urging locals to switch off lights, hotwater tanks and computers to prevent yet further power cuts - and I thought Bob had decided to 'go green'? [M&G]

Okay, so I'm now really frustrated. We're health/organic/green/eco nuts who try to eat 'properly', so it's organic everythingwecanlayourhandson and if not, then we read the labels and anything with additives, preservatives, colourants etc. is OUT. So, you can imagine, there isn't much other than fresh food and the odd pre-prepared food that makes its way into my trolley (noddy badges accepted - hold the applause!).

Enter the article in the Biophile issue 4 - 'the truth about soy'. Now I am dismayed! I've actually been rather smug about the fact that we can get non-GM soy milk in our supermarkets. All the hooha about dairy products in the first year of a child's life meant that I introduced soy milk instead...

Iccsat's not a new funeral plan, but a potential way to limit the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming: bury the problem.

The London Convention governing burial of material in the sea was amended on 2 November, allowing carbon storage in sub-seabed geological formations. Twenty-nine countries ratified it, including the UK, China and Australia.

There are around 37 multinational companies, represented by the Carbon Capture & Storage Association in London (CCSA), that are no doubt delighted by the news and the potential business that co2 burial schemes will generate. There are seven prototype schemes planned in the UK alone and this would apparently cut British CO2 emissions by a quarter, far faster than other options.

Green news around south africa and the world today:

Vodacom is running a National Beach Clean-Up campaign that employs 220 unemployed people to keep 22 beaches clean over the Christmas festive season. [IOL]

Spillage of over a MILLION LITRES of aviation fuel at OR Tambo airport is having a devastating effect on the surrouding environment. It is the third incident in 16 months and ACSA (Airport Company of SA) may face charges of criminal negligence from the Gauteng department of water affairs and forestry as well as the Gauteng Environmental and Conservation Association. [IOL]

In the US mid-term elections, voters in several Western states chose to elect the candidate that supports clean energy. Candidates in the following states, whether Democrats or Republicans, were elected: Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming.

future of foodSaw this brilliantly shocking movie again at the Labia last night. It really is a must see if you care about your health, the environment or the corporate take-over of the food supply.

I've been thinking about what it is that really worries me about Genetic Modification. I am no Luddite - I believe in technology and medical progress. No one can argue that anti-biotics, vaccines, heart bypass operations etc have their place in modern society (although there are some questionable motives behind the drug companies promoting the technologies... another topic).

I think that GM does have a place in finding cures for incurable diseases. But the differences betw GM modification in the biomedical industry and the biofood industry was poignently highlighted in the future of food: a pill can't escape into the wild and start replicating itself; plants readily do this!