Fun With A Purpose

Hi All

I’m a huge fan of the Mother City Living blog. You can find out all sorts of interesting “green things” tucked away in its pages. Today’s post is about talks held in Newlands called Green Drinks.  It sounds like fun (with a purpose), you may want to check it out…  Click here for the Green Drinks page on the Josephine Mill website.

Chez

 

Total Trash. (or rather, Viewing Garbage!) While You Were Sleeping Presents A Must See Documentary…

Hello Everybody

I get tons of newsletters in my inbox daily. I usually scan read most, but this one caught my attention and thought I’d share it with you:

“Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home, a feature documentary about the environmental impact of the huge amount of rubbish we produce in our households every day, will be shown at the Labia on Orange cinema in Cape Town on Sunday 16 August at 6:15pm, on Monday 17 August at 8:30pm and on Tuesday 18 August at 8:30pm.

Concerned for the future of his new baby boy Sebastian, writer and director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. From the plastic bags they use to the water they drink out of bottles, from the air pollution they create when transporting the kids around to using lights at Christmas, the McDonalds discover that for every action there is a reaction that affects them and the entire planet.

“Household waste is a huge factor in the degradation of our environment. There is an unspoken and ongoing acceptance of extraneous packaging, for instance, mostly in the name of branding, resulting in tons and tons of garbage that we really can do without and this is visually portrayed in the film,” Nisker explains.

“Society is tired of waiting for slow moving politicians and corporations to implement change, but the truth is we don’t need to wait. From the bottom up, the time has come to change our own worlds starting at home and to send a message to the polluters that we have all chosen a green path. Viewing Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home empowers audiences to make those changes, now, by making simple lifestyle choices,” says Nisker.

Everyday life under a microscope has never been so revealing. By the end of this trashy odyssey, you are truly inspired to revolutionise your lifestyle for the sake of future generations.

The screenings will be followed by a facilitated audience discussion. Tickets are R20 and can be reserved by calling The Labia at 021 424 5927. Reserving tickets is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment.

This event is presented by The Labia and While You Were Sleeping, a Cape Town-based non-profit film collective committed to bringing progressive, non-mainstream documentaries with important social and environmental messages to South African audiences.”

Contacts:
The Labia:
021 424 5927
 

While You Were Sleeping:
Andreas Späth
084 772 1056
Andreas_Spath@yahoo.com
www.whileyouweresleeping.wordpress.com

Maybe I’ll see you there!

Chez

A Love Song for Groot Winterhoek – by Aaron (Raymond Ackerman Academy Participant)

This place drums with no beat,
humming with a gentle wind.
Stretching to a seeming eternity,
this is my affection back to thee.

Black emissions and ignorant beings
on a daily hustle are far from here.
No time restrictions what would be
an urban crime, is a piece of bliss for me.
Never have I felt this at home.
Never have I felt this at peace.

Creation from human hands emulate
the beauty touched by he who
transcends life. This crisp sweet
air renews me. This is my
love song to thee.

It’s sNOw Joke!!

Snow on the mountain overlooking basecamp.Can you feel the icy air blowing off the mountain top? Brrr!

Sunlit Snowy Peaks... cold, but beautiful!

For the last three weeks, Educo Africa office staff members have been whingeing about the bad weather. (It is not unusual to spot somebody at No. 7 Dalegarth Road wearing a blanket and hot water bottle as part of their permanent office attire – I won’t mention myself here!)  No wonder then, when our programme staff returned from the mountains this week, all they could talk about was the COLD. This is somewhat unusual as they are used to being in the mountains in bad weather, so it must have been FREEZING!

In our Monday Morning Meeting today, we heard stories of frozen water bottles, ice-packed tents and bivvy bags, and strange weather-induced hairstyles!…  Perhaps when our staff members have fully defrosted themselves, some will tell you the tales of the icy wonderland and the heroic participants who braved the elements as they endeavoured to push themselves beyond their wildest, coldest, adventurous imagining. But as exciting as it sounds, I’m sure all are particularly thrilled to be back home around WARM, friendly colleagues where it’s nice and toasty!

(At least nice and toasty wrapped up in my blankie!)

WARM regards

Chez

 

Bottled Water – To Drink, Or Not To Drink… That SHOULD Be Our Question!

Have you heard that a town in Australia is banning the sale of all bottled water? To find out more, read this article that I found on IOL. This has made me sit up and think.

Bottled water in comparison to local tap water has a much higher carbon footprint . This is due to the manufacturing of the bottles that hold them, and the fact that they have to be transported from its source to your local store.

Now you may, like me, actually taste the subtle differences between water from different sources.  I prefer water that has a slightly higher acidity than water that is too alkaline based – I find it fresher on the tongue. If I were to taste test in order to compare some bottled water to my local (household) tap water, I am afraid that the bottled water wins hands down.  However, as I am well aware, the water that comes out of my tap is perfectly safe and more earth-friendly. I can’t bear the thought of my carelessly large carbon footprint crossing my mind with every guilty sip of bottled water. So what should I do?

Firstly, I could investigate the water at each tap in my current household. I discovered, in my childhood, that different taps in our house let out different tasting water. (My favourite was the kitchen tap during winter, and our front garden hose – all year round!) Even though I’ve grown up now, perhaps I don’t only have to drink water that comes out of my kitchen tap…

I could go to my father’s house and fill up my empty 5-litre water bottles with water from that heavenly garden hose, making use of the many empty bottles standing around in our garage. (I could also TAKE my bottles meant for recycling TO the recycling bin!!)

I could buy bottled water that comes in glass bottles (much better to recycle) – but they are a bit pricey and I don’t particularly like their taste anyway.  Instead, I could buy a water filtering  jug and filter the water that comes out of my tap, or even have a water filter fitted to my kitchen tap itself. (I love those!)

But now for the convenience of having that bottled water in your handbag for those thirsty moments beyond your garden gate… I’ve heard that the plastic that our bottled water comes in shouldn’t be used over and over again, as it may become harmful. Here’s one article (of a gazillion) to read about plastic bottles, that I found on About.Com. I think the answer may be to purchase some stylish stainless steel water bottles of different capacity to have in my handbag and on my office desk.

I’m going to try something different – I’m going on a non-bottled-water diet starting NOW. Why not join me and see how well we do? I really DO want to be friendly with the earth!

I am beginning to believe that even the smallest measure counts - that the little I do every day will have an impact on our climate and the state that I leave the planet in once I’m gone. Some may say that I suffer from a misguided self-importance – I say, we are ALL that important! If every one of us went on a non-bottled-water diet for just a week, imagine how much we could reduce the carbon footprint!

Well, that’s my piece for today. I salute the Australians for attempting to change the status quo, and wish them all the best in their endeavour.

Chez

for Educo Africa