In South Africa 98% of all potential raw water sources are already allocated for use. Increasing urbanisation and demand for safe sanitation place heavy demands on our water resources. The Department of Water & Sanitation estimates that R7-billion in potable water is lost annually. That amounts to 36% of the clean drinking water supply! Dr Jo Barnes, epidemiologist and … [Read more...]
Vacancies: 2 Lecturing positions at UWC
There are two vacancies, for an Animal Ecophysiologist and an Animal Evolutionary Biologist, at the University of the Western Cape. Organisation: Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape Location: Bellville, Western Cape Starting date: 1 January 2014 The successful applicants will be required to: teach at both the … [Read more...]
Economics of a finite planet
"Every one of the planetry boundaries is trending in the wrong direction - we need to go for a radical transformation," says Peter Bakker in the overview of the key themes of the Cambridge Distinguished Lecture Series 2013, What it Takes to Seed a Sustainability Revolution. This featured accessible lectures by leading sustainability thinkers. Peter Bakker begins with a … [Read more...]
Earth: What will it look like after climate change?
Dry, barren landscapes stretched out for miles. Animal skeletons scattered everywhere. Not a tree or plant to be seen. Damaged and dilapidated houses and buildings. Extreme weather conditions exacerbating these scenes. Is this a melodramatic view shared by the paranoid of what might happen after climate change? Or is this the reality of what awaits our children and … [Read more...]
Fundamental leadership failure threatens our future
“The current response to our climate crisis in nothing but incremental tinkering. Rearranging the deckchairs. Those in power are doing system maintenance and re-arranging instead of redesigning them. Our current system is fundamentally broken, but our leaders are suffering from what’s called ‘cognitive dissonance’ – all the facts are there, but those in power block them … [Read more...]
