adapting to global warming: permaculture in south africa

8/12/2019 Adapting to Global Warming: Permaculture in South Africa

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Adapting to Climate Change

Step by Step

Stories of Change


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Stepping Up to SustainabilityStories of ChangeVolume 2, 2012

Stepping Up to SustainabilityStories of Change from across South Africa

This book is a collection of real life Stories of Change where South Africanshave stepped up to sustainability.

Are you trying to live more sustainably? Do you have a change story toshare? Whatever steps you are taking towards sustainability, share them bye-mailing your Story of Change to us at [email protected]

In 2010, WESSA, with support from USAID, launched the Stepping Up toSustainability concept, incorporating the Sustainability Commons. Each

of these Commons includes a range of sustainability technologies thatsupport more sustainable lifestyle choices. They include reducing, sortingand managing waste better, installing renewable technologies, conservingand teaching about water management, as well as, providing experientialcourses on biodiversity.

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Contents

Cleaning up our community wetland and dam 3No more dumping and burning! 4Teacher and community permaculture expert 5Cooking on a Clay Stove 6Janines Waste Reduction 7Waste minimization in the fashion industry: Forgotten Cotton 8Cleaning up Mpophomeni township 9

Rock on with the Rocket Stove 10Building a clay stove and saving an African rock python 11Re-using grey water 12Drinking water from a Rain Catcher 13Rainwater harvesting does not have to be big and expensive 14Sustainability projects at home 15See-through recycling 17

Rosas small changes add up 18The Birchesa sustainable living pre-primary school 19A garden of inspiration 20Taking Action! 21Saving water at our school 22Lighting up our life for free 23Cooking the Climate Smart Way 24

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Cleaning up our community wetland and dam

As a young boy, I looked after livestock. We used to play near dams and rivers, andthrow stones, bottles and plastic into them.

One day we all went for a swim and I was badly cut by a glass bottle.

I later become a teacher and in 2011 and 2012, attended two very interesting water

conferences. Two of the sayings I remember clearly from these conferences werechange starts with you and practice what you preach.

After the conferences, ourschool decided to involve thecommunity in a clean-up.There is a dam and wetland

nearby and in the past, likemyself when I was a child,community membersincluding our learners werethrowing waste into the water.I highlighted the importanceof looking after the dam and

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Phindile from Remade Greens Recyclingtranslates into Siswati while facilitating the

training for the staff members on how to sort

waste into the correct categories.

No more dumping and burning!

My name is Jetje Japhet and I live at EdenNature Reserve which is outside Nelspruit.

There are 23 houses on the reserve and weused to have a dump where all the housesdumped and burnt their waste. This was

not environmentally friendly. We neededanother solution to dispose of our waste.

After a chance meeting at a charityevent, I asked Louise if she would be ableto come and train all the domestic workerson how to sort the waste into categories.

After the training I arranged with a serviceprovider to collect our sorted waste.

Since May 2012, we have raised nearly R4000 and sent around 7 000kg of waste forrecycling.

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Nomonde Ntsundwana gives a lesson aboutthe orange- fleshed sweet potato.

Teacher and community permaculture expert

I first met Nomonde Ntsundwana four yearsago at Canzibe Primary, which is one of ourABB sponsored Eco-Schools situated inMotherwell township.

She had started a school garden to supportthe schools nutrition scheme.

The school garden came second in a localmunicipal competition and, as a prize, theywere given an Orange-Fleshed Sweet PotatoNursery by the Agricultural Research Council.

This was the start of many more things tocome!

I could see that Nomonde had an extreme passion for gardening, coupled with acharisma for getting others interested in gardening. The school garden flourished!

Through a grant from the British Council, WESSA rolled out the sweet potato cultivars togardens in 10 other Eco-Schools and also to two community gardens with Nomonde


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Filario Guieya cooking on his

clay stove

Cooking on a Clay Stove

I work and live on Boondocks Nature Reserve wherethere is no electricity. I have a solar powered cell phonecharger and a lighting unit which I use every day.

I have been cooking on an open fire for the last fiveyears and decided to build myself a clay stove which

can take two pots.

I have been watching Miss Williamson cook using herclay stove and she kept asking me when I was going tobuild one. After seeing the evidence of how well itworked, I decided to build one.

It works very well and I could have kicked myself for notbuilding one sooner! Its saves so much wood! This is such

a benefit as I collect wood every day to cook with and now I only need to collect smallamounts.

I can even bake bread. All I do, after making the fire and having enough coals, is closethe entrance-way and the stove top openings with some corrugated iron and then I

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Janine (in black top) and fellow educators at aWESSA Climate Change mitigation workshop

Janines Waste Reduction

Janine Brown, an educator at MalabarPrimary, has started recycling.

Instead of throwing away wastegenerated in her household, the familycollect it to be used again, which has apositive effect on the environment.

The positive effect is twofold. Firstly, re-using materials means less waste inlandfills.

Secondly, recycled materials typicallyhave lower embodied energymeaningthey needed less energy to manufacture.This reduces the production of climate-

altering greenhouse gases.

Janine and her husband, also an educator, have seen an appreciable effect on theamount of waste they throw away. Instead of putting out three bags for collection

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Cleaning Up Mpophomeni township

My name is Andile Vilakazi and I identifiedwaste hot spots in Mpophomeni township.

These were waste dumping sites whichhave been running for several years.

I decided to run a clean-up campaignwhich was held in collaboration with theKwaZulu-Natal Museum, the Department ofEnvironmental Affairs, Friends for Life andthe Mpophomeni community.

I realised that all of us often have anegative mindset towards the environmentso we started the clean-up day with anawareness campaign and discussed the

causes of this environmental crisis.

The activity made people realise that they can separate waste and make money out

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Rock On with the Rocket Stove

With fracking now causing environmental damage in ourcountry, we have a serious concern about the use of gas forour cooking. We learnt that the rocket stove is anappropriate technology being used around the world tocook using small amounts of firewood so we wanted to try it.

We built one out of cob (mud and straw) which worked finebut it was big and couldnt be moved.

We then received two rocket stoves as a donation from theUSAID funded Stepping Up to Sustainability project. Thestoves are easy to pick up and carry as they are compactand insulated.

To test them, I enlisted our 8 year old son who took greatdelight in feeding the fire as he cooked our dinner! We took one of the rocket stovescamping where there was very little firewood. It cooked our food quickly using onlytwigs and it smoked very little.

We then had a visitor who used the rocket stove to make some of her meals - she found

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Mandla and his clay stove.

Building a clay stove and saving an

African rock python

My name is Mandla Mdluli and I am an intern at theSANBI environmental centre in Nelspruit.

I attended the Environmental Educator Course lastyear where I learned about cooking in a clay stoveand how energy efficient they are.

We conducted a cooking practical and I saw formyself how well it worked. I went home and

immediately built one for our family. We use it all the

time.

During the course I also learned about the importance of snakes. Previously, I would kill

any snake found at home, especially when I found them in the chickens cage. Not

long after the course, I found a python amongst the chickens and I remembered thediscussion we had had during the course.

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Re-using grey water

Grey water is waste water from baths, showers, and washing machines. It is not waterthat has come into contact with faeces either from the toilet or from washing nappies.Grey water may contain traces of dirt, food, grease, hair and certain householdcleaning products. Grey water may look dirty, but it is a safe and even beneficialsource of irrigation water in a yard. If released into rivers and dams, the nutrients in grey

water become pollutants, but to plants they are valuable fertilizers.

Through training at Nedbank, I was able to learnmore about sustainability and learn how topractice it. I started seeing things in a moremeaningful way and taking care of a lot ofthings. Because of this, I wish to say thank you to

WESSA and Nedbank.

During this training, I started thinking about re-using grey water. I started using laundry andbath water for the plants and fruits in mygarden. I have also realised that we can benefitmore if we train ourselves and our community to try and save water and re-use it wherepossible.


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Biopelo receiving her rain catcher, nicelyfolded up in a convenient carry bag, from

Suzanne Erasmus.

Drinking water from a Rain Catcher

Biopelo Sekooa attended a presentation heldat the Galeshewe Library in Kimberley,Northern Cape.

Apart from receiving a Wonderbag

sponsored by Flamingo Casino, she alsoreceived a Rain Catcher through a luckydraw, sponsored by USAID and Invented.

This appliance looks like an upside-down tent,and just like a tent, you can errect it in yourgarden with tent pegs and ropes to make it

sturdy!

The rain catcher comes in very handy in theNorthern Cape as this is a dry province. When

it does rain, you need to collect as much water as possible!

When it rains, the rain catcher collects the water into a clear bottle and the water can

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Me and my low-cost rainwatertank with no tap.

Rainwater harvesting does not have

to be big and expensive

When people hear about rainwater harvesting, theyoften think about great big 5 000 litre green plastic orferro cement tanks.

While these are good, they need lots of space, heavyduty raised platforms to support five tons of water and, ofcourse, quite a bit of cash. Having smaller and morenumerous containers such as this reused and refurbishedbarrel, which cost R100, is an option with manyadvantages.

They are easy to place in convenient places undergutters. You can grow plants on a frame next to them. Making a support base to get abit of water pressure is pretty easy. They fill up fast with a little rain. They can beconnected in series. They are useful to teach about volume.

The one in the picture is one of five that I have tucked away here and there. They havebeen full and empty many times. Each of these holds more than 200 litres which is quite

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We are slowly replacing kikuyu lawn withindigenous grasses and plants.

Sustainability projects at home

Over the past 18 months since we moved into our house, I have enjoyed the process oftrying to make our home more environmentally sustainable.

This started with ripping up some of the2 800m2of kikuyu green desert lawnwhich I have been replacing with

indigenous grasses, bulbs and shrubs.

It has been such a reward to watch thisbiodiversity hotspot grow. It is an

ongoing project of expansion with theultimate goal of re-converting most ofthe garden to indigenous with multiple

benefits including aesthetic,biodiversity, low maintenance andbeing water-wise.

Alongside the indigenous garden, Ihave started a vegetable garden usingorganic and permaculture principles.

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The chickens are free to roam during the day andhave a safe house at night!

During winter, we use all the privet wood (invasives) that we cut down in a very efficientwood burning fireplace to keep warm.

To save energy and water when it comes to clothes washing, I use ceramic wash balls,which means you dont have to rinse the washing (no soap) and therefore moreenergy is saved as the usual washing cycle can be shortened. This also means the greywater generated doesnt contain any soap and I often use this on the garden during

the drier months.

Recently, I liberated 5 hens from the egg-laying auschwitz farm up the road where

chickens live their entire lives in a space thesize of an A4 page! It has been wonderful tofeel like I have the ability to change thesituation for some of our fellow abusedearthlings even if only 5. There is no pressure

for them to lay and they now have freereign of the garden.

Plans for the future include building a pondto include a wetland and home for frogs.

Eventually getting off the grid is our ultimate

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See-through recycling

Who knew that recycling would be such fun! You know when you say the wordrecycle to people, they always think that its a long process in terms of doing it yourself

but, hey, its not!

People do not notice that when they are throwing away their rubbish theres valuable

stuff in there.

That was me. I threw everything out in one black bag and never noticed that therewere valuable and useful things inside. Making the stuff we throw away more visible incontainers will remind us of what goes where. Separating materials is one of the bigchallenges. Simple containers with a see-through section should help people get theright idea.

We complain about having dirty streets and a polluted community not realising thatsome of the garbage we throw away ends up in our streets

Be your own boss and start changing your own lifeits so much fun you wont evennotice that you are doing it.

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Separate bins for waste and organic

matter make composting easy.

Rosas small changes add up

Rosa, who works at the Nelson MandelaMetropolitan University, has committed to makingchanges in her life. These changes are her way ofresponding to the challenges posed by climatechange.

At work, she uses the stairs to get to her office,rather than using the elevator. She also switchesher PC and printer off at the wall. Both of these

changes save energy, and reduce Rosas carbon

footprint.

When I spoke to her about these changes, shecommented that they had become habits for her,

and that taking the stairs also has the benefit of keeping her fit! She is going to continuewith these practices.

At home, she committed to switching the geyser on only at night for about two hours.Since her marriage, however, she has dropped this change. This is for two reasons - thefirst is that it is too much hassle. The second one is enlightening - on researching the

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The Birches - a sustainable living pre-primary school

The six-year olds did an exercise pretending that theschool grounds was an island in the sea with no adults,electricity, incoming water services or any help to survive- for the rest of their lives!

They had to work out how they would survive! Indeed

they did as there are food gardens, chickens, eggs,various recycling areas, harvested rain which flushestoilets, a homemade solar water heater and grey watersystems.

There is even aLegotla (the Tree of

Democracy) wherechildren can sit in a

circle on logs (from an alien tree that was cut down)to speak about rules and govern themselves.

The children are involved in early Morning Markets,selling eggs and home produce and take complete

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A garden of inspirationMr Alfred Ninzi is the caretaker at Dumani PrimarySchool in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth.

His main duties include tending to school facilities andguarding the gate, but since he received trainingfrom USAID and WESSA on permaculture gardening,

Mr Ninzi has started a vegetable garden at the schoolthat helps to feed the children.

Mr Ninzi mulches, he uses organic liquid fertilizer, hehas changed the beds to implement the principles ofcrop rotation and companion planting and he isusing several techniques of rain water harvesting. He

uses no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides in thegarden.

His garden consists of onions, comfrey, cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, broccoli,spinach, tomatoes and mealies. All of these go either to the school kitchen or to theteachers and pupils.

Before the course, Mr Zinzi had no garden, but now he has the school garden and has


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Laizer Milazi dishing up food cooked

in the clay stove

Taking Action!

My name is Laizer Milazi and I am an educator at

Vulamehlo Combined School in Kabokweni. I havealways been interested in the environment.

I was fortunate enough to attend the USAID fundedEnvironmental Educators Course held in Nelspruitlast year.

One of the sessions was to prepare an Eco-Mealwhere we cooked on a clay stove. I was amazed athow fuel efficient it was.

I asked Louise to come and show us how to buildone at our school and she did. Together with

learners, we built the stove and conducted a cooking practical. This was incrediblyvaluable as the learners saw how well it worked, compared to the porridge that wascooked on the open fire.

The learners said they would also build one at home for their mothers!


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Saving water at our school

My name is Nozuko and I am a teacher at Mthatha Community Junior SecondarySchool. I teach mathematics, natural sciences and technology in the senior phase.

Mthatha Community Junior Secondary school is a very big school with 37 teachers,1 300 learners and six non-teaching staff. The school is about 3 km away from thecentral part of town. In the district, I am the leader-teacher for maths in circuit 3 andalso an examiner of mathematics.

My school participates in the Eco-Schools programme that is being implemented byWESSAs East London office. I am the co-ordinator of this programme at our school. InJuly 2012, I applied for an Environmental Educators Course which was held in Port St.Johns. That was an eye-opener for me as I became aware of various environmentalissues that I hadnt previouslyconsidered important. Thats where change started

because I was introduced to so many things. The course brought changes to my lifeand to my workplace.

When I got back to my school, I decided it was time to implement all that I had learnton the course. I chose water as my environmental issue to address in my school. It wasnot easy because this work had to introduce change to the whole school. The thingthat helped me a lot was the idea of team work.


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Lighting up our life for free

USAID workshop participants from alocal CBO called Philisa Abafazi werevery impressed by the low-tech litre oflight bottle bulb installed in WESSAWestern Capesrickety shed.

They have committed toincorporating this cheap lightingsystem that requires a cooldrinkbottle, some water, a cap of Jik, alittle silicone, a piece of scrapcorrugated iron and, of course, asmall, temporary, hole in the roof.

The idea is rapidly gaining popularity in areas where cramped conditions make windowlighting unreliable.


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Cooking the Climate Smart Way

Morgan Griffiths, WESSA EP Conservation Officer, has been testing the efficiency andpracticality of a new type of cookeran induction cooker.

Induction cookers work by generating a high frequencyelectro-magnetic field which induces a type of magnetism

into the base of the pot which in turn produces heat. Thisheat cooks the food.

The stove produces the energy and the pot produces theheat. Since it does not have to heat up a stove top first toheat up the pot, which in turn would heat up the food, it ismuch more efficient than ordinary stoves. The pot and

cooker plate directly underneath the pot get hot from thehot food, but the plate cools rapidly when the cooker is

turned off or if the pot is lifted off the plate, which makes for a much safer appliance. Itslimitation is that it only works with steel pots.

Morgan has found that he is able to cook his foodin about two-thirds of the time his convential


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Busisiwe and the worm farm

My name is Prudence Ndlela but I like to be calledBusisiwe.

I am an educator at Inkhanyeti Primary School nearWhite River in the Lowveld.

I attended the Level 5 USAID-funded EnvironmentalEducators Course in July last year at the BotanicalGardens in Nelspruit where Felicity Weir gave us a

demonstration and talk about worm farms.

I simply fell in love with the idea as we produce a lot of organic waste from our feeding

schemes at school.

Felicity was kind enough to give me some worms and I went and bought a geyser trayand started our worm farm at school.

I have three learners that help me feed and care forthe worms. They also harvest the tea once a week for


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Making my own hay boxes

Hazel Clark has found that making and using her ownhay boxes has been very cost effective and efficient.

All you do is take a box, fill it with hay and then placeyour pot (after bringing it to the boil) into the hay.

Your food will continue to cook and never burn. This iswhere the idea of the hot box came from.

Another way of insulating your pots is to wrap them in a duvet. This works just as well!

Saving water at homeMishka writes ... When you are the smallest child in a family , itshard to get everyoneelse influenced by you but it seems in the matter of saving water, I have rubbed off myhabits onto them!

We first began by switching from bucket-bathing to showering as it saves a seriously


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Washing dishes with less water!

It started when we went for a school trip to Bush Pigs in South Africa. During our stay, wewere taught about conservation and other important things like recycling.

While we were at Bush Pigs we went for mini excursions, where we learnt even more!

On our way to Camp Hedgehog, which is one of the camps, we found out about the

trees and plants we came across as we walked and how they have adapted to theenvironment.

We also learnt about the creatures that live in these plants and we had a taste ofMopane worms, known as Phane worms here in Botswana.

Before we started our walk to Camp Hedgehog, one of the staff members told us about

the owls they look after!

At Camp Hedgehog, we were shown some of planet Earths water statistics howmuch fresh water there is in the world and how this fresh water is used.

At Bush Pigs, we went to another camp called Camp Gemsbok or as we called it,Camp Heaven!! At Camp Heaven, we went for a game drive where we saw and learnt


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Towards a more sustainable lifefamily influence

and impact and my long walk to a moresustainable lifestyle

My dad always says that meat is the bestvegetable one can eat, therefore, when Iwas a child, my daily diet contained a lot of

meat. Especially in the form of salami, ham,liver sausage and other meat products withour beloved German bread, which we eatat least twice a day - when the sun risesand sets and often in-between!

While I think of it now, I can still remember

how naturally I ate my bread withsausages. I particularly loved the special children products, which had a funny animalface on it or the shape of an animal. What can I say? Although not a full consumer yet,I was already being manipulated in terms of my consumer habits!

I can still remember how I, as a young girl, loved the smell of roasted chicken, how Iloved to pick up pieces of the soft, white and tasty flesh with my fingers, which I licked


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daily life experience. Therefore it is much easier to avoid the connection of theindividual consumer habit and the consequences of our food production. Although I

am not one of those animals that will end up on somebodys plate, I think that animalswho are farmed for food productionhave lives that are not as happy and healthy aswe would like to think.

So how does my family, and my dad in particular, cope with my new ways? I would saythey have got used to it, although they dont understand me properly. My father,whom I really love, still thinks he might die of iron deficiency if he doesnt eat meat

every day. I have to admit, that there is no lunch or dinner that passes, during which myfather tells me once again, that I eat Hasenfutter (food for rabbits).

My personal conclusion out of my experience is therefore, that the change to a moresustainable life is not easily done. It needs opportunities, knowledge, a strong mind anda lot of good humour. But ... it is a lot of fun and worth achieving!

________________________________________________________

Compiled by Maike Kster


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No more dumping in our river!

My name is Phumsile Sambo and I am a LifeSciences educator at Khumbula High School inKabokweni in Mpumalanga. I also went to KhumbulaHigh School myself as a learner!

As I teach learners about the environment, it madesense to start implementing environmental projectsin our school. The first one was to restore the beautyback into our school.

I had been working with Louise for four years, so I asked her to help us source water-wise plants, which she did and we planted a water-wise garden.

I had also been attending many environmental workshops and it was then that thepotential consequences of global warming and climate change really hit me,especially around the water issues we will experience.

I knew immediately that I had to do something in my own community.


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Methane for cooking, not for climate heat

Inspired by a visit to an industrial composter which alsoproduces methane in a batch digestor for waterheating, participants on the WESSA Western CapeEnvironmental Leadership Course have decided to dolikewise and build a simple digestor with a refurbishedplastic drum.

They are sourcing the bits of pipe, burner and truck tyretube for storage necessary for this project to work.

The final product, running on a mixture of cow dung,grass cuttings and kitchen waste, will become part of

the regions Sustainability Commons.

We hope to get three hours of burning time out ofeach batch of gas!


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Reducing water wastage

After my trip to Bush Pigs, I wanted to change the way water was being used in mycommunity. So, when I arrived home, I formed a group. The group was to educatepeople about water wastage, what influences water wastage and the different waysof re-using water.

Water shortages are one of the main problems facing Botswana. Most people inBotswana have no idea of how important water is and, as a result, water in Botswana iswasted. Many people in Botswana do not realise that every drop counts. It is not only

Botswana which has this problem of wasting water, other countries also have thisproblem.

The aims were to:

form a group of people who will help in educating others about water;

give people ideas of how to use water again and again (you can use the wateryou wash your dishes in, to water plants);

teach people why we need to reduce water wastage.What have I accomplished?I named my group in a way that would show people that we are serious about the way


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Vegetable gardens

In 2011 our school beginwe registered 134 learnersfrom pre-school to grade 8. The school is in old farmbuildings on a farm called Veeplaats at Masemola.

Alien plants which were planted in the past by farmerswho used the buildings were numerous and

outnumbered indigenous trees. In fact, very fewindigenous trees had survived.

We had to remove the alien trees by cutting them out. They became wood for fire. Weexplained to everyone why we were removing the trees as many people, including thelearners, were surprised that the alien trees were being removed.

As the area became clean and empty, we had to think of what to do next. We startedby planting 20 indigenous trees and demarcating an area for a vegetable garden.

Next, we started preparing the vegetable garden area. We started quite ambitiouslyand demarcated a very big area! We planted spinach, tomatoes and carrots. Thegarden soon became full of healthy vegetables and learners and parents were able tobuy vegetables very cheaply. As the vegetables grew, there was a need for more


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Plastic bricks

When I first encountered the idea of plastic bricks, I wasunsure it would work. My friend explained to me that washingthe plastic and then stuffing it into milk/Coca Cola/waterbottles, also cleaned, was the way to treat all yourunrecyclable trash. I thought it was a bit silly. But after trying itfor a week, I was convinced. In that week I had no use for my

garbage bin. Soft plastic, polystyrene, pill dispensers, milksachets and more all went into the brick and after 4 weeks I

still had not filled my garbage bin! I started to forget on whichday the trash man came.

After filling a few bricks, stuffed down with a stick to compactit as much as possible, I sent it to a wonderful project in

Greyton. Trash 2 Treasureuses these bricks to buildcommunity buildings and projects.

Using chicken wire to build a cage in the shape of a wall, the bricks are laid in verticalpositions. This is then covered with cement or clay. Finally, a very cheap building iserected. The plastic is not in contact with humans so cannot leach into their directenvironment.


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Mrs Mathai putting up the

community recycling station.

Taking every opportunity

My name is Mrs Mathai and I am an educator at SakhileHigh School in the Lowveld. Our learners come from verydisadvantaged communities. It is always very difficult toraise funds to send learners on educational tours.

When the opportunity came to start a recycling

campaign at school, I jumped at it as I knew we couldfundraise through this.

After we received training on how to separate waste, thelearners, Mrs Masego my colleague and I started to

collect waste.

We entered the clean-up and recycle event and won 1 stplace. We received R5 000and together with our recycling earnings, we were able to take learners to visit theSterkfontein Caves.

What was bothering me still was that there was a lot of dumping taking place in thecommunity so I funded and designed some recycling information boards and thelearners helped me to build a recycling station in the community where the dumping


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Keeping cool with the sun: chill out!

We love our new chef at home. She makes quick andeasy left-overs, she keeps our food from going off, sherefreshes on a hot day, she even feeds the dog. Best

of all, we dont pay her. She works off the sun..........its

our refrigerator!

In February 2013, we received her as a donationthrough the USAID funded Stepping Up toSustainability project.

Given that we are running an off-grid SustainabilityCommons and hosting many visitors, she saves usmuch time in cooking and is a great way to

demonstrate how the suns power and this 12-volt technology work together.

Up until receiving the fridge, we could only keep our things cool by putting a damptowel around them or in a container in water.

We tried building a charcoal fridge but we didnt get the design right so it didnt work.

Frequently, our food went rotten in the heat. It was difficult to keep left-overs which


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Nature Conservation

Mr Winston Khuzwayo is a member of KwaCele-Nhlangwini Community Trust.

They have a large area which they want toconvert into a nature reserve because theyhave indentified potential environmentalprojects.

The KwaCele farms are part of theircommunity heritage.

It is important that farm rehabilitation anddegradation reversal becomes a priority sothat those who are using the farms leave a

legacy for future generations.

The following places need to be identified and restored:

Land with clay reserves used to make traditional containers


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Clare preparing locally produced organicsnacks for Bridging the Gap.

Bridging the gap!

My name is Clare and I live in Cape Town.Once a month, I run an event calledBridging the Gap, in a community hall, onthe property where I live.

The event is based on sharing information by

using local resources. Together westrengthen a local economy with assets, skills,action projects and knowledge. The eventfunctions as an incubation hub. It runs from6pm to 9pm every 14thof the month.

Local producers in sustainability are invited to

share information on their products. NGO'swith local action projects and performers are welcome too.

I invite guest speakers to provide talks. So far, we have had the African Centre of Bio-Safety talk on Genetically Modified Foods, an earth artist talk on indigenous gardengrowing and food production, and a herbalist vet. Otherwise, an educational film isshown with a discussion forum afterwards.


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Compost hot-water shower

WESSA EP Conservation Officer, MorganGriffiths, helps run a boys summer camp

each January, called the Annual HermanusCamp. Celebrating its 104thannual camp, it isone of the oldest youth organisations in theworld (www.hermanuscamp.co.za).

The Annual Hermanus Camp has traditionallynot had hot-water showersthe hot summersmaking them unnecessary. This year,however, a group of the adult leaders,including Ricki Allardice, Murray Bridgman, DrOllie Raynham and Morgan, developed a

hot-water shower utilising the heat generated in a compost pile. They laid a 50m coil ofblack water pipe through thick layers of compost. The piping was led off from amunicipal potable water line, and connected to a shower mixer.

The organic process whereby vegetation decays to form compost generates heat as aby-product which we used to warm the water. Within a few hours of developing thecompost pile, about 100 litres of water in the piping had heated up to 50C! We werethen able to enjoy really hot showers - enough hot water for 5 of us! It would take


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Successful permaculture garden workshop

Andile Vilakazi conducted a three- daypermaculture workshop in Mpophomenitownship.

This happened after he had attended a USAIDfunded Stepping Up to Sustainability course at

WESSAs Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve, justoutside Howick.

Andile realised that people can easily grow theirown vegetables at home.

His workshop started with some theory behind

gardening and permaculture, followed by a practical hands-on session whereparticipants made compost heaps, liquid manure and started a vegetable garden.

Today the participants are all running their own gardens successfully and making cashout of their work!

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Making a Plan!

My name is Melter Mbiba and I am a foundation phase educatorat Tsembaletfu Primary School in Kabokweni in the Lowveld.

It is a very large school with more than 1 000 learners. Manylearners are from very poor homes and often dont have enoughfood to eat.

Our school is also a no-fee school and we struggle to haveenough desks and chairs for learners. We also have severe water

shortages and relied on the water delivery trucks to supply water. This has affected ourvegetable garden and sanitation at school.

After attending many environmental workshops, I was fortunate enough to attend the

Level 5 USAID funded Environmental Educators Course in Nelspruit last year. It was timenow for action!! I asked learners to bring water from home in 2 litre bottles so we couldsustain our garden. A sponsor offered to install two Jojo tanks to harvest rain water and Idecided to make desk tops and chairs by re-using old frames, using a type of paper-mache for the desk tops and plastic for the chairs. I then decided to implement variouspermaculture techniques at school like the pyramid vegetable garden and doorstepgardens. I did the doorstep garden as I really wanted the learners to realise how


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Making a pledge and introducing recycling

In 2010, Sadeeka Salie encouraged her school, Uitenhage High School, to register as anEco-School. She then started an Eco-Club at her school.

The club has been participating in various projects such as supporting penguinrehabilitation efforts and anti-rhino poaching initiatives.

They have undertaken litter clean-ups and are planting trees. Sadeeka has alsoattended various workshops held for our Eco-Schools teachers.

In April, she attended the USAID Windfarm Workshop which focused on energy issues.She completed the Stepping Up to Sustainability pledge where she committed herselfto introducing recycling at the school.

She then contacted the Waste Trade Company, which partners with WESSA, forassistance and started with recycling paper at the school.

On 7 September, she visited the Waste Trade Company recycling site with her Eco-Clubmembers where they had an informative visit, learning about how the company goesabout recycling cardboard, paper, glass and plastics.


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Conserving water

Water conservation is a critical concern for people across the globe. While I was atBush Pigs EE Centre, the staff motivated me to write about conserving water and why itis so important.

According to the United Nations, more than one out of six people in the world lack

access to safe drinking water, and more than two out of six lack adequate sanitation.

As the global population continues to rise, the resulting increase in demand for cleanwater will put enormous strain on the environment and some experts predict that theglobal wars of the next generation will be fought not over fossil fuels but over water.

Three-fourths of the Earths surface is covered by water. 97% of the Earths water is in the

oceans and is too salty to drink. Of the remaining 3% that is fresh water, 2% is frozen inpolar ice caps, glaciers and icebergs, leaving just 1% available for human use.

Droughts and shortages are especially prevalent in the American West and havereached critical levels in sub-Saharan Africa.

What can we do? Well, we can start by repairing leaky taps and other outlets, installinglow-pressure shower heads and low-flow toilets, taking shorter showers, running


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Sarah shows off a home-madewetland.

A low-cost way to clean up grey water

The average South African produces about 50 litresof grey water per day from showers, baths andhand basins. Thats a lot of water and most of it

goes into overloaded sewerage systems, stormwater drains or streams, rivers and wetlands.

It is our water, however, and we should look after itonce we have pulled the plug. One way is to makea small wetland near the grey water outlet from thebathroom. Use small locally indigenous wetlandplants like lilies, rushes, sedges and reeds as much aspossible. You can enclose the bottom of yourwetland in plastic and bricks if you want and put in

layers of stones and white sand to help in filtering if you want to or just let the plantsmake their own habitat.

Maintenance will include making sure that the pipes from the bathroom are clearedevery now and then and that plants are trimmed as they grow fast absorbing all thenutrients in your water.

You could also pipe the cleaned water to specific plants or let it just drain away into the


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Solar cooked foodtoo hot tohandle!

Making a home-made solar stove

This is a high-tech solar stove which costs thousandsof rands. The stove consists of a plastic box, a built- inmirror for the reflection of the sun, two glass panesthat are built inside the box lid, but with a gapbetween each other so that the air cant escape

and in order for insulation to take place.

The positioning of the solar stove is important - it mustbe in a position directly with the sun to catch asmuch sunlight as possible. Then you can put theingredients of a meal in the pot and place it insidethe box, so that the food can cook without gas or

electricity, only with the energy of the sun.

With the solar stove, the process is sustainable and energy saving. It is, however, tooexpensive for most people. Most South Africans have to be satisfied with their gas orelectric stoves or making fires for their meals, which is cheaper than the solar stove, butis not sustainable and uses energy which costs money.


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Impression of interior of the proposed skillscentre/shop/restaurant/conference centre

Jonathans Thesis for Change

Jonathan Roux, a final yeararchitecture student at NelsonMandela MetropolitanUniversity, is passionate aboutreducing waste and makingecologically friendly choices

through architecture.

At the moment he is workingon his thesis, which is focussedon this issue.

At his proposed skills centre

located at the Fountain Roadintersection between the communities of Walmer and Gqeberha, Port Elizabeth,Jonathan is aiming to up-cycle waste products: using waste to make products, as wellas to educate members of both communities about sustainability through building andabout reducing over-consumption.

Examples of items to be made from waste include frames for light fittings, plastic light


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Nomawande Wara Nkontso-Menes story

My life and the lives of my learners changed when I was able to integrateenvironmental education within the curriculum in my classes. I wanted my learners togrow and become responsible citizens.

My school environment changed and there were no alien plants around the school.

In my school, we have an Eco Committee which includes learners, parents andteachers. We have also introduced Eco-Clubs where every issue affecting the school isdiscussed and learners and teachers join in freely.

The Natural Science and Technology teachers, together with our learners, have comeup with a plan to do recycling with tins, plastics and papers. With tins, we make cars,with plastics, we make plastic mats and clothes. In Arts and Culture, we do paper

moulding. We have also made a rule of no littering in our school environment!

We mow our school lawns regularly and try and keep our environment clean.We have a vegetable garden where children can learn how to grow vegetables. Wehave used the WESSA environmental calendar where we observe environmental daysand weeks like Arbor Week. During Arbor Week, we planted trees and used the wastefrom the kitchen as fertilizer for the garden.


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I wish all the educators could attend this Environmental Educators Course so as to be

where I am today. I am now able to organise excursions around my school surroundingsso that my learners can visit the beach, the wetlands and Silaka, to see how toconserve nature in general.

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Compiled byNomawande Wara Nkontso-Mene


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Free light for my room!

This is Duncan Griffiths. He has a covered verandah at hishouse which is great on hot days but in winter, his room isdark.

He did not want to keep lights on in the daytime because of

the cost and the carbon, so when he saw another housesuggested by WESSA staff, with see-through tiles being usedas roof windows, he thought what a great idea and foundout where to get them.

They are quite expensive, but with the help of familymembers, he bought enough to give all the bedroom

windows on the stoep some extra day light.

Now hes looking for extra ways to save money and the environment and telling hisfriends to catch a wake-up and get greener in how they live and what they buy.

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WESSA Share-Net resources to support adapting to climate change

Sustainable Technologies: People, Products and Practices. A handbookfor deliberating climate change adaptation and ecosystem restoration.

Health Gardening

Knowing and Growing Muthi Plants

Household Environmental Management

Eating for the Earth: A selection of vegetarian recipes

Puzzling Climate Change: A start-up pack of pictures


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Share your sustainable living photosTake photos of sustainability practices or technologies and share them.

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adapting to global warming: permaculture in south africa

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