They’re fracking at it again
Those of you who’ve read my previous enviro columns will know that I’m an anti-fracking freak! So it is indeed with horror that I learnt last week that Cabinet approved the lifting of a moratorium imposed on fracking in the country in February last year.
They’re fracking at it again
Those of you who’ve read my previous enviro columns will know that I’m an anti-fracking freak! So it is indeed with horror that I learnt last week that Cabinet approved the lifting of a moratorium imposed on fracking in the country in February last year.
One small victory is that the licences are just for exploration, not actual extraction, but those will involve some drilling. The government however conceded that it will halt the exploration in the Karoo if it is found that fracking poses any risk to the water table or to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project.
Hallelujah! Obviously there’s a threat! Unfortunately Mineral and Energy Resources Minister Sharon Shabangu’s environmental impact record has in my opinion been less than exemplary.
She has repeatedly come under fire from environmental groups for habitually dishing out mining and exploration licenses in eco-sensitive regions including the Transkei dunes; countless wetlands; and Mabungubwe in Limpopo, a pristine wilderness which was about to become a world heritage site until CoAL opened its coal mine there, even in the face of massive public opposition and overwhelming evidence of the environmental dangers it posed.
But global environmental movement italwww.350.org/ital invites you to a protest in front of parliament on 22 September, Global Anti-Fracking Day. See their website for more details.
To quote a stunning piece on SA’s future by 350.org: “It’s about time for South Africans to decide to make a new beginning, to live in harmony with nature, to embrace a truly renewable, sustainable energy future, and not allow polluting industries to destroy our people’s land and scarce water resources for their corporate profit”.
Come on, G’town! We are at the edge of the Karoo. Let’s stop this fracking nonsense once and for all!
For green and keen Rhodents
If you’re part of Rhodes University you can help your community, the environment and yourself through RU Green because umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (we are all people through other people).
RU Green is the Rhodes node of SEACC SF, an award-winning socio-environmental student organisation. New committee members can get involved in a number of community upliftment projects like:
•The St Mary’s Community Centre gardening project
•The Cleaning, Greening and Saving Project (developing composters, vegetable gardens and hotbags for households in Grahamstown East)
•SEA Pledge (an ocean conservation initiative in partnership with the Sustainable Seas Trust)
•WildREACH (working with underprivileged school children to promote social and environmental sustainability through wildlife conservation)
•Activism projects (involving causes such as rhino poaching and fracking)
Indeed, working with RU Green is a unique opportunity to collaborate with a number of organisations, to develop your skills and work to help create a better future. Through their work in RU Green, past committee members have kick-started careers aimed at changing the world, and so can you.
If you’d like to apply for a place on this dynamic committee, please submit a short bio and motivational letter to both italseaccsf@gmail.com/ital and /italg10k2679@campus.ru.ac.za/ital. Applications close on 21 September.
For more information about RU Green, visit their website on italwww.ru.ac.za/rugreen/ital.
So that’s it from me, for now, G’town. Stop fracking, support the RU Green initiative, put your recyclable material in orange and see-through bags for normal municipal collection and remember that as David Orr so beautifully put it: When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.
Contacts for Makana Enviro-News:
Nikki Köhly: n.kohly@ru.ac.za, 046 603 7205 / Jenny Gon: j-gon@intekom.co.za, 046 622 5822 / Nick Hamer:n.hamer@ru.ac.za, 084 722 3458 / Nick James:nickjames@intekom.co.za, 046 622 5757 / Lawrence Sisitka:heilaw@imaginet.co.za, 046 622 8595 / Strato Copterosstrato@iafrica.com, 082 785 6403
