Is Grahamstown a dump? Some people living here evidently think so. Garden refuse dump sites around town are a disgrace.
Is Grahamstown a dump? Some people living here evidently think so. Garden refuse dump sites around town are a disgrace.
Many items of non-garden trash are dumped, often overflowing the skip to the extent that you can’t reach it. It is unacceptable that some take advantage of the Council’s apparent inability to police dumping laws; the mentality that you can do something because you can get away with it is sickening.
Council could justifiably eliminate this facility as an eyesore and health hazard, and then our only option would be to take our garden refuse to the main municipal dump.
Habitat is not only for wild creatures: urban areas are the human habitat. We should look after ours.
Green Fund Run
The fourth Green Fund Run at Rhodes University went off pretty well on Sunday 17 March with a record 850 entries. Highlights include 83 entries from DSG (biggest school team prize) and entry by 15 out of 30 residents of Rhodes’s Canterbury Annexe (the top res participation award).
Prizes in the form of tree plantings were also awarded for the three fastest teams and creative outfits.
To buy a T-shirt (R75) to support the Fund contact Nikki Köhly at environment@ru.ac.za / 046 603 7205 (w).
All funds raised for the Green Fund go towards projects that promote sustainability at Rhodes and in the wider community.
More at: http://www.ru.ac.za/environment/committee/greenfund/funrun2013/.
Earth Hour 2013
People all over the globe turned off their lights for an hour on 23 March to support Earth Hour 2013.
Isn’t it time we moved past symbolism? It’s great to see progress on local wind farm proposals, but time is running out for real action.
Latest climate change science is very worrying: contrary to prediction, the deep ocean is warming fast and the Antarctic has a lot more ice grounded below sea level than previously known.
These two facts increase likelihood of rapid sea level rise. Political attacks on climate science have forced scientists to tone down “alarming” predictions.
Nature, unfortunately, does not care what alarms us.
More at http://www.skepticalscience.com/new-research-confirms-global-warming-has-accelerated.html and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21692423.
Grow your own food
Growing veggies in your back yard is not unusual, even in urban areas, but do you have to have your own back yard?
Many universities around the world have space where students can collectively or individually garden.
Several Rhodes student projects already exist and RU Green is working on promoting more.
Growing food in public spaces is not only for poor countries: it’s pretty big in Australia for example.
Community gardens have benefits including making fresh food more accessible, cleaning polluted urban air (more an issue for big cities) and bringing understanding of farming to urban communities.
We have many unemployed people in our town: should we not be promoting this concept more widely?
Read more about a Rhodes project at http://www.ru.ac.za/lilianngoyi/lilianngoyihall/communityengagement/ and about Australian community gardens http://communitygarden.org.au/.
For more about RU Green contact Ruth Kruger at g10k2679@campus.ru.ac.za.
Enviro Film Fest
Free movies at Rhodes shown over February and March will be re-shown during Rhodes Environment week, all at Eden Grove Blue, at 6.30pm:
•Fuel: the most hopeful movie about energy – 22 April
•The 11th Hour: visionary solutions for climate –23 April
•Wall-E: love story with great insights into waste – 24 April
•Thirst: inspiring look at the politics of water – 25 April
•Food Inc: unflattering look inside America’s corporate food machine – 26 April
Details here: http://www.ru.ac.za/environment/events/campus/.
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, 082 575 9781 / Philip Machanick: p.machanick@ru.ac.za, 046 603 8635 / Strato Copteros: strato@iafrica.com, 082 785 6403
