Yesterday, the Portfolio Committee on Energy (PCE) delivered its report on the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), to Parliament. According to the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI), Parliament has once again failed to act in the people’s best interest, stating that it found “no persuasive arguments against … [Read more...]
Happy days when your rainwater tanks are full
During last summer's drought, the price of rainwater tanks shot up. Business was booming. You could see trucks full of tanks all over the place. Good for a green heart who’s been promoting rainwater harvesting forever. We reached for second hand tanks, reconditioned oil drums – looking for the best value for money. Then a newby arrived on the market. A portable tank, … [Read more...]
Calling on government to conserve our groundwater and springs
Kildare Spring, which is part of the Newlands system (and Newlands Aquifer), is situated in the Cul de Sac, Spring Way - off Kildare Road in Newlands Village. For years people have collected Water here, with only one outlet. It took one Water activist with foresight and initiative, to set up the pipes, so that multiple people could collect at any one time. Active citizenry … [Read more...]
South Africa: Stop this criminal devastation of the Transkei ecology
Now you can voice your concern about the toxic spraying in the Transkei. In 1995, the South African Police Service (SAPS) began the aerial spraying of cannabis in the rural former Transkei. Every year since 2000, three SAPS Air Wing squirrel helicopters (donated by the American DEA) arrive at a luxury resort in Port St Johns on the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast. For 3 - 4 weeks, … [Read more...]
Campaigners attack UK government u-turn on fracking
Campaigners have attacked a UK government U-turn that could result in fracking being carried out beneath the New Forest and the South Downs National Park. A cross-party committee of MPs will debate the potential impact of fracking and the level of protection given to special areas of the English countryside. The government originally pledged that fracking would be banned … [Read more...]
Berg River swim cut short by high water pollution and low flow
High water pollution levels and exceptionally low flows have forced extreme swimmers Andrew Chin and Henko Roukema to abandon their quest to swim the length of the Berg River. They had set off on Monday 19 October on an initiative to heighten awareness around the state of our rivers by swimming the Berg from source to sea. Yet the polluted water caused such illness in the … [Read more...]
A global tour of seven recent droughts
Every inhabited continent, to varying degrees, faces extremely high water stress. That means that in certain areas more than 80 percent of the local water supply is withdrawn by businesses, farmers, residents and other consumers every year. Not all of that water is consumed - it may flow back into a river after it’s used and be available again downstream - but the demand … [Read more...]
Minister Molewa urged to address fracking implications
The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) considers the Minister’s decision to gazette the intention to declare fracking a controlled activity a portent of the risk fracking poses to our water resources in the greater Karoo. WESSA continues to urge the Government to exercise the precautionary principle enshrined in the National Environmental Management Act … [Read more...]
Fast food worsens GHG emissions
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says food wastage across the world – totalling 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually – is the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions after China and the USA. The FAO estimates the direct cost to producers of food that goes to waste is currently US $750 billion (R7356 billion) annually, a figure that excludes wasted … [Read more...]
Offshore fracking on the cards for Mossel Bay?
PetroSA wants to explore the possibility of hydraulic fracturing to improve the productivity of three of the development wells currently being drilled 110km offshore of Mossel Bay. In an advertisement that recently appeared in Die Burger, environmental assessment consultant WorleyParsons and PetroSA expressed their intention to amend their existing production right and … [Read more...]
Groundwater depletion accelerates sea-level rise
Groundwater depletion will soon be as important a factor in contributing to sea-level rise as the melting of glaciers other than those in Greenland and Antarctica, scientists say That's because water pumped out of the ground for irrigation, industrial uses, and even drinking must go somewhere after it's used—and, whether it runs directly into streams and rivers or evaporates … [Read more...]
New Yorkers against fracking
As scientists and physicians continue outlining the disastrous health impacts of fracking, New Yorkers Against Fracking recently began a new effort to outline the negative economic impacts of fracking. In a new television ad airing in the Binghamton and Elmira markets, Pennsylvania residents detail lies the gas industry told and the devastating impacts on property values … [Read more...]
Frack fluids can migrate to aquifers
A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted. More than 5,000 wells were drilled in the Marcellus between mid-2009 and mid-2010, according to the study, which was … [Read more...]
