On Sunday 9 February Cape Town open water swimmer Andrew Chin, along with fellow athletes Dr Mandy Uys and Joy Roach from East London, swam a 10km stretch of the Bronkhorstspruit River in Gauteng. This formed part of their broader Swim for Rivers campaign, which aims to raise awareness around the poor state of our country’s rivers and to highlight the urgent need to restore … [Read more...]
Poo issues in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village
Ecoli in the Sir Lowrys Pass river and hence the ocean at Gordons Bay is an issue that activists from the Helderberg are now fed-up with. Squatter camps in the village are suffering from a shortage of proper sanitation and sufficient waste disposal, so the river is used to dump unwanted things into. The City of Cape Town responded with the folllowing statement by the Mayoral … [Read more...]
Improving sanitation with the Peepoo Bag
Invented by a Swedish architect and professor, the Peepoo bag is a single-use biodegradable toilet for slums in the developing world where there aren't permanent facilities. When I first saw the Peepoo bag I thought it was a joke, but after reading about it I realized it's quite a novel idea. Basically it's a plastic bag to go to the bathroom in, but this simple little bag … [Read more...]
Prisoner poo powers Rwanda’s jails
Officials at Rwanda’s prisons were looking for a way to reduce energy costs, save money and cut down on their conventional energy source: burning firewood harvested from local forests. Their sustainable solution? Recycling the inmates’ own waste to generate energy. The country’s 14 jails have all installed biogas burners, which are 75 percent powered by prisoner poo, the BBC … [Read more...]
Step 3 – Now save water!
Step 3 in our 12 steps to a greener 2011 is NOW SAVE WATER. 'Water for Cities - responding to the urban challenge' is the theme of United Nations' World Water Day, to be celebrated in Cape Town from 21 to 22 March. This coincides with South Africa's National Water Week, running from 22 to 27 March. Organized by the Department of Water Affairs, it aims to raise the … [Read more...]
