Empower yourself and learn how to become self-sufficient in any situation. The Permaculture Design Course teaches essential skills to meet the challenges of a world beset with climate change, economic meltdown, and diminishing natural resources. Learn to design regenerative human living environments that will provide for your every need in a way that benefits everything and … [Read more...]
Forest restores biodiversity and lowers temperature at Indian campus
The summer temperatures in Bangalore this year have been cause for particularly high concern among its residents, with some claiming that daytime temperature shot up to 41 degrees Celsius one day in April. This summer has surely felt hotter than most old Bangaloreans remember it ever being. But, there are some parts of the city that have kept the unrelenting heat away. Walk … [Read more...]
Europe poised for total ban on bee-harming pesticides
The world’s most widely used insecticides would be banned from all fields across Europe under draft regulations from the European commission. The documents are the first indication that the powerful commission wants a complete ban and cite “high acute risks to bees”. A ban could be in place this year if the proposals are approved by a majority of EU member states. Bees … [Read more...]
Web of corruption blamed for SA rhino poaching
Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and conservationist Jane Goodall have joined a list of famous names who have signed an open letter to South Africa's government calling for an end to rhino poaching. More than 1,000 rhinos were killed across the country in 2017 for the fifth year running. The international monitoring group Traffic says nearly 5,500 rhinos have been killed … [Read more...]
A tiny beetle and its deadly fungus is threatening SA’s trees
Sandton is Johannesburg’s economic hub – home to numerous companies’ headquarters and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. And now it has a new, unwelcome resident: a tiny beetle that could lay waste to several tree species found in the suburb and potentially the wider Johannesburg area. This is particularly concerning, as Johannesburg is considered one of the world’s largest urban … [Read more...]
Carbon offsetting spekboom a must for every garden
Referred to as ‘spekboom’ by both English and Afrikaans speakers, iNtelezi in Zulu and iGqwanitsha in Xhosa, this plant is an important part of the Addo elephants’ diet. Portulacaria afra is a slender, evergreen shrub with small, rounded succulent leaves. It has a varied growth habit; in the Addo Elephant Park the plant grows wide with a loose, rounded shape due to its … [Read more...]
Cash before conservation – the commoditization of lions in South Africa
Concern is growing that SA's legal lion bone trade may be used to launder illegal wildlife products. With a legal export quota set by the DEA of 800 lion skeletons (with no grounding in science) from our captive bred lion population there is now also a growing body of evidence. This evidence is contained in an alarming report titled “Cash before Conservation, an overview of … [Read more...]
Apple facilities now running on 100% renewable energy
You have to see Apple’s Reno, Nevada, data center from the inside to truly understand how huge it is. It’s made up of five long white buildings sitting side by side on a dry scrubby landscape just off I-80, and the corridor that connects them through the middle is a quarter-mile long. On either side are big, dark rooms–more than 50 of them–filled with more than 200,000 … [Read more...]
Pipeline spill in South Dakota twice as big as first thought
A crude oil spill from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota last November has turned out to be nearly twice as big as first reported. Around 407,000 gallons (338,900 imperial gallons) spilled onto farmland when the pipeline broke near Amherst in Marshall County on Nov. 16, a spokeswoman for pipeline owner TransCanada Corp., told the Aberdeen American News. TransCanada had … [Read more...]
New app identifies plants and animals in your photos
In July of 2016, thousands of people wandered out into streets and parks under the guidance of a hugely popular wildlife app. The app was Pokemon Go, and the wildlife did not, in any real sense, exist. Yet while Pokemon fans were attempting to collect fantastic—if ultimately digital—animals, some inevitably found real ones as well. The disconnect spawned quite a few jokes, … [Read more...]
Western Cape to scrap environmental commissioner post after 20 years
The Western Cape government is set to scrap the position of commissioner for the environment, created 20 years ago, but never filled. This incensed a young advocate, Winston Erasmus, who was called to the bar just two weeks ago and decided to take on the Western Cape government for failing to appoint an environment commissioner, who he argued could have helped prevent Cape … [Read more...]
The battle to save Groot Marico River
Egbert van Bart sits on a riempie bench on the stoep of the Groot Marico Visitors Information Centre, stroking the long grey beard flowing down his thin neck. Here, on the deserted main street of the “beautifully weird” bushveld dorp, he recites a well-used passage by South African author Herman Charles Bosman, describing the North West town. “There’s no other place I … [Read more...]
Environmental group will monitor Table Mountain borehole drilling
The City of Cape Town's emergency groundwater drilling programme will be formally scrutinised by an environmental monitoring committee. This is to ensure boreholes are located in ecologically-acceptable areas and are operated responsibly, according to a GroundUp report. The programme, that initially proposed as many as 222 hastily-drilled exploration, monitoring and … [Read more...]
