OUR VISION To be a highly effective and well-supported champion of the environment. OUR MISSION To implement high impact environmental and conservation projects which promote public participation in caring for the Earth. WESSA EDEN Newsletter March 2015 Dear Friends of the Environment, we are already into March, so with no more ado...... 28 March - Permaculture - Integrated Food Systemfrom 9:00 – 16:30ish GROW YOUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD-LEARN HOW IN A FEW EASY STEPS Fresh healthy organic food is expensive; growing your own makes a lot of sense. Spend a few hours in a central suburban food garden to learn invaluable tips and gain knowledge on growing. Learn about: Location, lay-out, bed-design, soil-preparation, fertilization and compost making. A raised, no-dig bed will be created in which we’ll sow and plant, with focus on weed-control, companion planting and watering. Time permitting will deal with propagation, crop rotation, how to make liquid fertilizer plant teas and earthworm farming will be featured. Good for the environment, for you, your family and our beautiful planet. Limited to 16 participants. Imperative to book, follow up course possible. Participation fee R350 per person of which a percentage goes towards WESSA’s work in the Southern Cape. Bring refreshments, lunch, chair. More info and booking Michelle Schubert 044 873 2254 / 0827184334 [email protected]21 April WESSA Eden A GM – Speaker Deon van Zyl on getting off the grid. (By then we may be desperate for alternatives to ESKOM !) 17h30 Venue Moriarty Centre, Garden Route Botanical Garden, Caledon Street WESSA proudly presents WESSA proudly presents
Transcript
OUR VISION
To be a highly effective and well-supported champion of the environment.OUR MISSION
To implement high impact environmental and conservation projects which promote public participation in caring for the Earth.
WESSA EDEN Newsletter March 2015
Dear Friends of the Environment,
we are already into March, so with no more ado......
28 March - Permaculture - Integrated Food Systemfrom 9:00 – 16:30ish GROW YOUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD-LEARN HOW IN A FEW EASY STEPS Fresh healthy organic food is expensive; growing your own makes a lotof sense. Spend a few hours in a central suburban food garden to learninvaluable tips and gain knowledge on growing.Learn about: Location, lay-out, bed-design, soil-preparation,fertilization and compost making. A raised, no-dig bed will be createdin which we’ll sow and plant, with focus on weed-control, companionplanting and watering. Time permitting will deal with propagation, crop rotation, how to make liquid fertilizer plant teas and earthworm farmingwill be featured.
Good for the environment, for you, your family and our beautiful planet.Limited to 16 participants. Imperative to book, follow up course possible. Participation fee R350 per person of which a percentage goes towards WESSA’s workin the Southern Cape. Bring refreshments, lunch, chair.More info and booking Michelle Schubert 044 873 2254 / 0827184334 [email protected]
21 April WESSA Eden A GM – Speaker Deon van Zyl on getting off the grid. (By then we may be desperate for alternatives to ESKOM !)17h30 Venue Moriarty Centre, Garden Route Botanical Garden,Caledon Street
25 April – A glimpse into the past – join a self-drive guided Coastal Geology Tour
Our famous Garden Route, apart from being scenically beautiful, has fascinating coastal geologyand land-forming process which the untrained eye may not spot.
Join the experts – Paul Rixom, Peter Ginn and Colin Ralston – on a self-drivegeological day trip from Mossel Bay to Hoekwil. The evidence of the changingposition of the South African coastline and the power of erosion over millionsof years will be explained. Certain sediments were formed during the early break-up of Gondwana and the evolution of the first South African coastline.The development of the modern coastal dunes and their fossil predecessorsand of the coastal lagoons will give a greater appreciation of the natural beauty of the area. The palaeontological treasure of the area as well as mineral (gold and offshoregas ) will be discussed.The entire drive is a wonderful illustration of a range of sedimentary andcoastal erosion processes – with some igneous granite intrusions adding spiceto the mixture.
The tour is well-organised with route directions giving the stops (Groot Brak, Herold's Bay, Victoria Bay etc.) where each small group (max. 20 persons) will stop and perhaps walk a short distance. Bring refreshments, a picnic lunch, camping chairs and anythingyou need for your comfort. No shade en route.The tour commences at Mossel Bay at 08h30 and ends in the afternoon atthe viewpoint on the road up to Hoekwil.Bookings are ESSENTIAL . Please supply the following information on booking:Home location (suburb), Tel. contacts, whether a lift is needed or can be offered. Cost per adult - R 80 Donations most welcome.
Eco-Schools:- Planning meeting with Kommandantsdrift and Kliprivier Primary Schools. Adding invasive alien
vegetation to their action projects for the theme Nature and Biodiversity- George High environmental club, about 23 learners, visited the GRBG for
World Wetlands Day. We did mini-SASS tests (looking for goggas in thewater samples)
The whole enviro club participating in the mini-SASS exercise in which they lookfor insects or animals in the various water samples
Enviro club members use the Secchi disc to assess theturbidity of the water in the dam at the GR botgarden.A coloured disc is dropped into the water and thenconduct a mini-SASS
News from WESSA S.Cape Project Co-ordinator, Lorraine McGibbonNews from WESSA S.Cape Project Co-ordinator, Lorraine McGibbon
Youth Environmental Services training programme:- Programme settled with 37 participants and 13 host organisations- Module 1 of the Environmental Practices Skills level 2 course took place on 11 and 12- February. Went very well. Mandy, Lydia and Rendani from the Cape Town office accompanied me- Site Inspection with Nico Jantjies and Melany Mackenzie of the DEA and Helena Atkinson. Visited
Pledge NR and Vermont Centre in Knysna plus Sizamile Nursery in Smutsville, Sedgefield. Happy with placements, but protective clothing is an issue. No manual work is to be done without it. We have placed orders for the branded PPE
- First PAC (Project Advisory Committee) meeting went well. Thanks and praise for the programmefrom the host organisations and the two YES participants who attended
- Two Oudtshoorn YES graduates were accepted to do a level 5 Natural Resource Management course in Mpumalanga. They started this week. Proof of the value of the YES training programme
GARDEN ROUTE BOTANICAL GARDEN
7th March gates open 14h00 at the Garden Route Botanical Garden Show starts 15h00
Andrew Young plays “Summer Sax & Salsa” in George between touring China and the rest of South Africa....
If you missed this brilliant saxophonist and entertainer last year seephotos below ), make sure you don't miss it this year !
Electrical Engineering Lecture The Southern Cape Centre of the SA Institute of Electrical Engineering invites you and any interested colleagues to attend a lecture by Hennie Mostert of Eskom entitled :-
"Challenges and Lessons Learned from dealing with Independent Power Producers from aQuality of Supply point of View".
This will follow a brief general meeting of the SAIEE.Date and Time: Thursday 12th March at 16h30Venue: Conference Hall, Civic Centre, York Street, George.For planning purposes please RSVP before 9th March by email to [email protected] or by reply to this email at [email protected] do hope to see you there. Les Stuart SAIEE Southern Cape Centre
The FIRST Man and Biopshere Reseve Public Event 2015 Wilderness - Thank you EVERYONE. it is possible when we all speak with one voice.Thank you, Vernon Gibbs-HallsBiodiversity and Coastal Management - Environmental ManagementEden District Municipality - Management Services
More information on all South African Bipspheres :- www.biosphereresearch.org Kogelberg BiosphereCape West Coast BiosphereCape Winelands BiosphereWaterberg BiosphereKruger 2 Canyons BiosphereVhembe BiosphereGouritz Cluster BiosphereNelson Mandela BiosphereMagaliesberg Biosphere
Have your say and share your inputs into the new Provincial Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for Eden and the Central Karoo.Objectives: - To promote awareness of Western Cape Government Provincial Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) project - To obtain your opinions and input on key issues, challenges, threats and priorities pertaining to conservation and sustainable use of the Western Cape Province’s biodiversity especially in your region. - To take stock, with your assistance, of key biodiversity programs, projects and initiatives that are currently underway in your institution.
The first meeting took place on 26 February, but for those organisations and individuals who still wish to contribute may do so until 19 March 2015.Please direct submissions through Vernon Gibbs Halls [email protected] to the Consultant Ms Khungeka Njobe of Kay Ann Consulting
Keep up with the public participation processes now commencing regarding “fracking” …www. http://karoospace.co.za/ Article :- Falcon Part 1: Aberdeen 6 February 2015, Friday afternoon“Heat and Anger in AberdeenIn the late afternoon of Friday 6 February 2015, the parking bays outside Aberdeen’s Library Hall were full.Inside, spinning ceiling fans barely kept the air moving and there was a simmering anger among the people who had come to listen to would-be shale gas frackers Falcon Oil &Gas.”This makes fascinating reading! http://karoospace.co.za/karoo-fracking-locked-gates-loaded-shotguns/
It's not just in the Karoo that fracking is being considered... source: http://karoospace.co.za/karoo-shale-gas-economics-q-saliem…/
At international level......From Oxford Today, University of Oxford UK …....,
Fracking: Safer than you thinkDr Joe Cartwright was appointed the Shell Professor of Earth Sciences at Oxford in 2012. He worked for Shell International as an exploration geophysicist, was at Imperial College as a Senior Lecturer until 1999, and was appointed Honorary Professor of the Institut Français du Petrole in 1998. The Shell Professor of Earth Sciences at Oxford throws down the gauntlet in defence of a practice that hasprovoked intense opposition.Read the case for fracking, by the Shell Professor of Earth Sciences
This article first appeared in the Michaelmas 2014 issue of Oxford Today
Fracking: Too risky by farDr Jeremy Leggett, author of The Energy of Nations, is founder and chairman of Solarcentury and founder and chairman of SolarAid, a solar lighting charity set up with five per cent of Solarcentury’s annual profits, itself parent to a social venture, SunnyMoney, that is the top-sellingretailer of solar lights in Africa. He is an Entrepreneur of the Year at the New Energy Awards. Dr Jeremy Leggett, author of The Energy of Nations and Entrepreneur of the Year at the New EnergyAwards, makes the case against a technology that’s been presented as a rich new source for fossil fuel.http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/features/fracking-too-risky-far
See http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/604/124723.html#more which has a link http://www.wwf.org.za/media_room/publications/?13341/Framework-to-assess-the-economic-reality-of-shale-gas-in-South-Africa to the full report dated 12 Feb 2015.
The 60 page full report by Saliem Fakir is at http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/framing_the_economics_of_shale_gas_in_south_africa__report_web.pdf . It stresses the importance of
1. the geology;
2. gas pipeline infrastructure (which is extensive in the USA but nonexistent in most of SA, including those parts considered by some to be promising for hydraulic fracturing);
3. water resources (in Colorado and most other water stressed parts of the USA Hydraulic Fracturing is forbidden);
4. the business model used, which caused many US fracking companies (including Shell) to operate at massive losses;
The Story of Stuff, originally released in December 2007, is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the Stuff inyour life forever.
Where does all our stuff come from? Where does it all go? Should we be worried?The consumerist 'throw away middle class' is the furnace driving modern society'sunsustainable and increasingly precarious existence. This video makes it clear as day:change is needed in how we value our things and find value in our lives. Pay less attention to those ads and more on the things that truly matter, like family and a healthyenvironment.
http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/
Assistance to landowners with Invasive Alien Plants
“Landowners need all the assistance available to curb the spread of Invasive Alien Plants on their properties” says Luami Zondagh of the Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI), “to this end a limited amount of herbicide is now being made available to landowners who apply.”
How do landowners apply? “Landowners who actively eradicate and control IAP’s on their properties qualify for herbicide assistance through the Working for Water Herbicide Assistance Programme,” says Luami.
Landowners who are interested can contact Natural Infrastructure Services (basedat Far Hills Country Hotel) and lodge a request, followed by a simple administrative process involving providing details about the size of their property
CommercialsCommercials
and the volume of clearing that will be done.
The herbicide assistance programme is managed by Natural Infrastructure Services (the local Working forWater Programme implementing agents) in collaboration with the George Herald. Says Cobus Meiring of NIS “Private landowners are the foot-soldiers in the battle against invasive alienplants to win back our natural ecosystems. Government does not have the funds or resources to tacklethis problem alone – private landowners play a crucial role in eradicating invasive alien plants.
If you would like to find out how to apply for herbicide,please contact Luami Zondagh at:[email protected] or Tel: 044 889 0030
As always, feel free to forward to others. And as always, all errors are entirely mine!If you wish to unsubscribe – just let me know.
Regards,Christine Ridge-Schnaufer
Honorary Secretary, WESSA Eden Tel: 044-873-4203 Fax: 086 646 [email protected] a www.wessa.org.za http://www.facebook.com/wessa.eden
