Simply Green - November 2021 by Independent Media Digital Magazines

PICTURE CHRIS LEBOUTILLIER / PEXELS

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The earth’s burning issue Is this our last chance? ALSO INSIDE THE CLIMATE CRISIS

• THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

FORMER Greenpeace and Amnesty International head, and one of our country’s most beloved environmental and justice activists, Kumi Naidoo, sums it up best when he says we are a minute to midnight when it comes to the climate crisis. Time is not on our side in averting this impending disaster. However, Naidoo, like so many others, is not willing to give up hope that it can be averted. It will, however, take the goodwill of political and business leaders – something that seems to be lacking in some cases. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report this year paints a bleak picture saying it may be the last report before there is no turning back and Cop26 in Glasgow is heralded as the most important one yet – what gets decided there will impact all our futures, and in particular, the poorer nations. Environment and climate change is one of the biggest and most important points on the world’s agenda – and if it’s not, it should be. Climate change denialists will say here we go again trying to instil false fear into humanity but, really, what we at Simply Green would most like to do is instil some hope! Yes, it’s almost impossible to turn back the ticking clock but with amazing, concerted efforts by all leaders in business and government it’s not impossible. It’s not Earth not surviving we have to worry about – she has been here for millennia and will continue to be. It is us, and those with whom we share this planet, and the generations after us, we need to be concerned about. Lobby where you can and never give up hope. It may be a minute to midnight but we still have that minute.

C O N TA C T U S

AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY

PUBLISHER: Vasantha Angamuthu vasantha@africannewsagency.com EDITOR: Vivian Warby vivian.warby@inl.co.za FEATURE WRITER: Terry van der Walt terryvdwalt@inl.co.za DESIGN: Kim Stone kim.stone@inl.co.za PRODUCTION: Renata Ford renata.ford@inl.co.za BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Keshni Odayan keshni.odayan@inl.co.za SALES: Charl Reineke charl@africannewsagency.com GENERAL INQUIRIES: info@anapublishing.com

Warm regards

Vivian Warby

DO JOIN US AT: @simplygreenZA

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P I CT URE JOHANNES PLENIO / PEX EL S

F ROM THE ED ITOR

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SG contents NOVEMBER 2021

LETTER

CONTENTS

UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE

THE CLIMATE CRISIS

SA A LEADING LIGHT IN DUMPING COAL – FAIRLY

THE STORM AHEAD

THE YOUTH

OCEAN PRINCESS

BUILD RESILIENCE TO CHANGE

ARE THE SEASONS CHANGING?

COAL TO GAS SHIFT NOT THE ANSWER

THE UPSIDE TO GOING UNDER

GOOD CITYZENS

ESG

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

SOIL SENSE

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

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C L I M AT E CHANGE

CLIMATE CHANGE is the long-term change of temperature and typical weather patterns in a particular region or the planet as a whole. This may cause weather patterns to be unpredictable. 0 4

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P I CT URE MA X L A R OCHEL L E / U NSPL A SH

Understanding

P I CT URE KR I THI K / U NSPL A SH

P ort ia Mbau in her garden.

UNPREDICTABLE weather patterns mean expected temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on and this makes it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that rely on farming. People in poorer countries will suffer the most as they do not have the money to adapt to climate change. Many farmers in developing countries already have to contend with climates that are too hot. 0 5

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CLIMATE CHANGE has been connected with damaging weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours and winter storms than usual. If nothing is done, scientists think global warming could exceed 4°C, leading to problems from devastating heatwaves, millions losing their homes to rising sea 0 6

levels and irreversible loss of plant and animal species. With further warming, some regions could become uninhabitable, as farmland turns into desert. In other regions, the opposite is happening, with extreme rainfall causing historic flooding – as seen recently in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the US and China.

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P I CT URE A NNI E SPR ATT / U NSPL A SH

IN POLAR REGIONS, rising global temperatures associated with climate change mean ice sheets and glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate from season to season. This contributes to sea levels rising in certain regions of the planet. Exacerbated by expanding ocean waters due to increasing temperatures, the rise in sea levels has begun to damage coastlines with increased flooding and erosion.

P ort ia Mbau in her garden.

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IN A WARMER world, animals will find it harder to find the food and water they need to live. For example, polar bears could die out as the ice they rely on melts away and elephants will struggle to find the 150 to 300 litres of water a day they need. Scientists believe at least 550 species could be lost this century if action is not taken. 0 8

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P I CT URE CHR I S L EB OU TI L L I ER / U NSPL A SH

THE CAUSE of climate change is largely human activities, for example burning fossil fuels, such as gas, oil and coal. Burning these materials releases what is known as greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere causing Earth’s average temperature to rise. This rise is called global warming. The warming of the planet has an impact on climate.

P ort ia Mbau in her garden.

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P I CT URE A L A I N B ONNA R DEA U X / U NSPL A SH

THROUGHOUT Earth’s history, climate has continually changed. When occurring naturally, this is a slow process taking place over hundreds and even thousands of years. The human-influenced climate change that is happening now is occurring at a much faster rate. Temperature rises must slow down if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, scientists say. They say global warming needs to be kept to 1.5°C by 2100. However, unless further action is taken, the planet could warm by more than 2°C by the end of this century.

P I CT URE JOHA NNES PL ENI O E ZU YEV / U NSPL A SH

THE CLIMATE CRISIS This year’s UN Conference of the Parties (Cop26) takes place at one of the most consequential moments in human history writes Kumi Naidoo

KUMI NAIDOO has been the global head of Greenpeace and Amnesty International. He is now a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity and runs a well-known series of podcasts titled Power, People and Planet

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WHAT WE do in the next 10 years will determine humanity’s future – or whether we will have a future at all. Having participated in several climate negotiations, I think it’s important not to put all our eggs in the Glasgow Cop basket. We will almost certainly be disappointed by the gulf between what governments agree and what actually is required. Climate activist Farhana Yamin outlined what is required in her article “A Manifesto for Justice for Cop 26 and Beyond”, when she said, “Glasgow needs to give a boost to global solidarity and the build back better and climate justice agendas. It can do so by correcting power imbalances and putting justice and fairness at the heart of this and all future Cop negotiations.” In the lead-up to the Paris climate negotiations, when I was with Greenpeace, along with other campaigning organisations, we made a conscious decision to talk about “The Road Through Paris”, rather than “The Road to Paris”. Even though we knew we needed to do everything in our power to secure the best possible outcome from that

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transform our global systems – our economic system, our energy system, our transport system, our food system – will require everyone’s participation. Therefore, Cop26 should be seen as a moment to strengthen the growing movement for climate justice around the world, as we have seen with the momentum generated by the Climate Justice Charter Campaign in South Africa. We must continue to push for the best possible outcome from Glasgow. Climate justice is fundamentally an issue of social justice. It is important that we recognise that environmental injustice affects the poor and marginalised the most. We need to ensure that the struggle to address poverty and inequality, and the struggle to address the climate crisis (and the environmental crisis more broadly),

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are recognised as two sides of the same coin. We already know the positions taken by the most powerful countries in the world; these countries seem to be comfortable with the idea of climate apartheid. Although these countries have been largely responsible for creating the problem, they appear incapable of accepting responsibility. Just last week, leaked documents revealed how some wealthy nations are working behind the scenes to slow down efforts to address climate change. The leak reveals Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia are among countries asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels. It also shows some wealthy nations are questioning paying more to poorer states to

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P I CT URE A L A I N PEXEL S / PI XA B AY

flawed negotiating process, we recognised that it was never going to deliver anything close to an ideal outcome, given the disproportionate power of rich countries, the failure to acknowledge the links between climate, gender, race and so on, and the blank refusal to question the economic system that has driven us to the edge of climate destruction. Anyone hoping and praying for an ideal outcome from Cop26 is setting themselves up for disappointment. Nevertheless, we need to use Cop26 to mobilise and build awareness among people who are not part of the negotiations. We must use this event to raise global public consciousness and a sense of greater urgency. The necessary changes to

We already know the positions taken by the most powerful countries in the world; these countries seem to be comfortable with the idea of climate apartheid

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International cautioned that even the perception of conflicts of interest is enough to undermine public confidence and threaten progress towards making the urgently needed progress in these negotiations. It is critical that Sharma takes steps to make sure his and future Cop presidencies can tackle the climate crisis by eliminating corruption and undue influence at Cop26. But don’t hold your breath. Even though the $100 billion a year commitment made at Cop15 in Copenhagen was already fought for and won in 2009, we see no sense of urgency to ensure those resources are being made available

to poor countries, many of whose emissions are negligible compared to the emissions of those countries that have built their economies on dirty energy. By the time countries reach the actual face-to-face negotiations, a lot of positions will be already locked in. That is not to say that a surge in global public mobilisation in the remaining days before the Cop26 cannot shift things in a more positive direction, so all efforts should be encouraged and supported. At the same time, we should not be naive about the limitations of a process that has failed to deliver in almost three decades of

But, sadly, this happens all the time: governments saying one thing to appease the public but doing another to support the fossil fuel industry which sometimes appears to own these governments

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move to greener technologies. This “lobbying” raises questions for the Cop26 climate summit. I wish we could say that we are surprised. But, sadly, this happens all the time: governments saying one thing to appease the public but doing another to support the fossil fuel industry – an industry that sometimes appears to own and control these governments. Should we have needed any proof? This has happened throughout recent history and is the reason we are in such dire straits in terms of the oncoming climate catastrophe. In a letter to Alok Sharma, the Cop26 president, Transparency

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P I CT URE F R EDR I KA CA R L SSON, CA L L U M SHAW / U NSPL A SH

Global Net Zero; adapting climate strategy to support communities in need; providing financial support to tackle climate change and governments working together with business and local communities to bring about change. This might suggest decisionmaking is heading in the right direction but the UK government has a track record of saying one thing then acting differently. We need to bear in mind the rich nations failed the “Covid test” by hoarding vaccines and putting

their citizens’ short-term interests above the interests of people elsewhere, so we would be foolish to take their word as a guarantee. These actions, and their past behaviour at previous climate negotiations, confirm that global economic apartheid is alive and well. History will judge those nations that go into these climate negotiations protecting the economic interests of a handful of powerful stakeholders and the South African government should not be exempt from that scrutiny.

History will judge those nations that go into these climate negotiations protecting the economic interests of a handful of powerful stakeholders

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P I CT URE COL I N L L OYD / U NSPL A SH

negotiations. For example, when George Bush, a climate change denialist, was president of the US, we lost close to eight years of progress. President Barack Obama was only marginally better. What we must recognise is that the writing is on the wall insofar as the crisis is now in plain sight. All countries are going to be saying the right things, including that we have to act now. For instance, Sharma, the UK government-appointed president of Cop26, has proposed four main aims for the summit:

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SA A LEADING LIGHT IN DUMPING COAL – FAIRLY The country’s energy transition has significant ramifications for Africa and the world

S BY SALIEM FAKIR executive director of the African Climate Foundation. The ACF is the first African-led strategic climate change grant-making foundation on the continent established to provide a mechanism through which philanthropies can contribute to Africa’s efforts to address climate change .

OUTH AFRICA is influencing a new form of climate diplomacy – one that realises energy transitions are not necessarily negative to a country’s growth and development. In fact, South Africa’s pioneering work on the Just Energy Transition Transaction (Jett), which is being led by Eskom, holds significant opportunities for alternative and increased investment around clean energy solutions. This not only helps resolve South Africa’s carbon intensity but avoids the future penalisation of the economy as the world increasingly decarbonises. Carbon-intense industries 1 7

that are contributing to pollution will be penalised, whereas industries that promote lowcarbon activities and are aligned with decarbonisation goals will be incentivised. Trends such as the European Green Deal and China’s longterm decarbonisation plans, including its announcement at the UN General Assembly that it will no longer fund new coal projects outside of China, is a significant development. South Africa’s continued use of coal is increasingly looking like a bad idea. The proposed Jett, supported by the Cabinet, is one way to find a pathway to reduce its dependence on coal and expand its energy mix to cleaner solutions in a way that allows the

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country to attract investment in the clean energy sector. This path to a cleaner and greener future must also avoid the negative impacts on coalrelated employment and supply chains as the transition out of coal will eventually lead to job losses in mining and supply. Although these jobs will be lost in the longer term, the process can be managed effectively until then to avoid a drastic impact on the sector. South Africa’s climate diplomacy must be different, as we’re finding ourselves in a world where climate issues are not just an environmental concern but increasingly becoming a mainstream economic and development issue – especially for

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P I CT URE A L A I N THOMA S R I CHTER / U NSPL A SH

South Africa’s work on climate change is unique because it brings a strong just transition lens to the policy discussions. It is the only country to do so in such a systematic way

the African continent. There is a huge interest in South Africa’s Jett initiative, especially since the Cabinet approved the submission of the country’s 4th Biennial Update Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which provides an update on the country’s efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. South Africa’s nationally determined contributions make commitments to bring forward (by a decade or so) the reduction of carbon emissions. To achieve this, the major change will have to come from the energy sector.

n September, the country received an international delegation from the UK, Germany, France, the US and the EU which lead to the government announcing that South Africa would seek to establish a partnership between advanced economies willing to support its transition out of coal. If the agreement is finalised in the coming year, South Africa stands the chance of using cheaper 1 8

sources of funds for both new, clean energy sources and for a fair transition by giving support to those who will be displaced due to a coal exit. We need to recognise the excellent supportive role of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), set up earlier this year, to the South African government on just transitions. The PCC’s main role is advisory but it also has the crucial task of coordinating South Africa’s efforts on dealing with a broad range of climate issues. The three critical areas are to facilitate the setting of a more ambitious emissions reduction trajectory; to support the finalisation of Eskom’s just energy transition transaction and to help reach a broader consensus with key stakeholders on South Africa’s just transition. The implications of this are significant and many have not grasped the tectonic shifts that are happening in the climate space in South Africa which are often not visible to the public. Recent developments signal that South Africa’s presence in the

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climate negotiations and climate diplomacy is reaching a point where it will be a leading country among emerging economies focusing on broader climate issues. South Africa’s work on climate change is unique because it brings a strong just transition lens to the policy discussions. It is the only country to do so in such a systematic way.

his has significant lessons for similar energy transitions and for other parts of the continent. A contextual example is Namibia’s Green Hydrogen programme, which is going to receive an immense amount of attention in the next couple of years. There are also many oil and gas-heavy African countries that are considering a potential transition out of the commodities. As South Africa leads its just energy transition programme, it will gain the necessary experience to mature to the next level and this experience will be valuable to other countries.

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THE STORM AHEAD The Fourth Industrial Revolution gives us an opportunity to to use technology to transform traditional sectors and systems to address climate change

PARTICULARLY damning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, released in August, presented a grim prognosis for the planet. We find ourselves in a situation where climate change has already done irreversible damage to the planet. In response to the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said this was nothing less than “a code red for humanity... the alarm bells are

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deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable”. The flooding in parts of Germany and in New York around the release of the report, coupled with wildfires and unprecedented temperatures across the world, have certainly been a tangible and visceral indication of this. This research emerges as we enter a new era – the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Not only do we have more access to information than ever before, but we also see a confluence of cyber, physical

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BY PROFESSOR TSHILIDZI MARWALA, vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg. He is the author of books such as Closing the Gap: The Fourth Industrial Revolution in Africa and Leading in the 21st Century.

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cities and protect biodiversity and human well-being. New and cleaner technologies in transport, communication, power generation, agriculture and manufacturing must be developed and shared widely to mitigate the effects of climate change. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI) has been used by crop researchers to breed plants for the changing climate. Using AI techniques, the breeders can rapidly assess which plants grow the fastest in a particular climate or how to produce an optimum combination of genes, given the context. It has been encouraging to see formidable developments emerge from within the

African continent, particularly as climate scientists have long warned it will be hardest hit by climate change. In South Africa, Airlitix is using AI and machinelearning software in drones to automate greenhouse management processes. It has the capacity to collect temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide data, as well as analyse soil quality and crop health. In Kenya, The Third Eye project uses RGB and nearinfrared cameras mounted on drones to survey and diagnose plants for pests and diseases; water stress and nutrient deficiencies. Elsewhere, the use of cleaner power sources, such as renewable energy and

smart grids can be adopted. In Morocco, the world’s largest concentrated solar facility has been created to help attain the country’s objective of 52% renewable energy by 2030. AI-enabled electric cars and shared transport could have a similar impact. Though the term “industrial revolution” has historically been synonymous with environmental damage, we are poised with a unique opportunity to subvert this narrative by harnessing technology to create a green economy. As Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, poignantly asks, “How well we can harness new technologies in order so they can serve and not harm humanity?”

In Kenya, The Third Eye project uses RGB and near-infrared cameras mounted on drones to survey and diagnose plants for pests and diseases, water stress and nutrient deficiencies

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P I CT URE JOSH W I THER S / U NSPL A SH

and biological technologies which no longer exist only in labs but impact us every day. Our attention cannot just be on embracing the 4IR if we are not also scrutinising sustainability issues. How do we harness 4IR technologies so that development is not dependent on exhausting finite resources and increasing emissions? Science and innovation can facilitate development, mainly when our global challenges include water shortages, food insecurity and deep inequities. Here, we have a unique opportunity to leverage technology to help transform traditional sectors and systems to address climate change; deliver food and water security; build sustainable

P I CT URE S SU PPL I ED, MA R KU S DI STEL R ATH / PEXEL S

THE YOUTH Open Dialogues on Climate Change is an international project which brings together stakeholders to create a meaningful dialogue on the climate crisis. This has been done on a regional, national and international level, with a final summing up event at Cop26 in Glasgow. The regional body responsible for initiating the dialogues in Africa is the African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development. Our writer Dominic Naidoo spoke to the team who put together the inaugural Open Dialogues on Climate Change event for South Africa. This is who they are and what they had to say.

BY DOMINIC NAIDOO

SHAMIELA REID Reid has a background in environmental science, sociology and gender studies and is the Country coordinator for the 16th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth. “Young people are key stakeholders in South Africa’s climate change response and just energy transition. They will not only inherit the decisions taken today but also implement them going forward.”

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ASHLIN NAIDOO “In every action I made throughout my daily life I always thought of the natural environment – it was like a whisper in the back of my mind. As I progressed through varsity and into the workplace, this whisper turned into a prominent voice. Now I am adamant about seeing significant action taken by our world leaders to fight climate change. The most severe impacts of climate change will be experienced by the next generation, through no fault of their own. “I am eager to get involved,” Naidoo continues, “and embed myself in the climate action movement that is shaping the world. Climate change is a global problem, however, solutions to this global problem cannot have a “one size fits all” approach. This further highlights the need for knowledge sharing among problem solvers as creative and innovative solutions will not only be derived from, but also be tailored to, a country’s socio-political environment. “Climate change requires a robust knowledge base that has longevity. Thus, today’s youth needs to take responsibility for the previous generation’s mistakes and develop all relevant skills to deal with this global problem at a local level and be the leaders of today.”

DEANNTHA KANNIAH “Leave the world a better place than you found it.“ “This quote by Lord Robert Baden-Powell pushed me through my environmental science degree and led me into researching solar technology for rural development and its role in tackling climate change. I joined the Open Dialogues on Climate Change (ODCC) because it is a platform for our youth to voice their concerns and share ideas on how to mitigate the impacts of climate change. I encourage those who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves to join.” Kanniah became involved in climate change activism after learning about and understanding the extent and severity of the impacts of climate change. “It felt like it was my responsibility to make good on the BadenPowell quote that had stayed with me from an early age. I joined because I felt compelled to be doing something more meaningful and proactive after completing my Master’s,” she says. “It is especially important for youth to be involved because we have a dual role in the fight against climate change. “The first is that we are the generation that has the greatest ability and potential to change the course of our future by changing energy behaviours and adopting measures which have already been identified to mitigate the impacts of climate change. “Our second role is that we are the generation that will inherit the decision-making processes related to climate change from our current leaders. So, why not start making a difference now and let our voices be heard?”

LESEGO THINANE Thinane holds a BA in international relations and is a research activist with a focus on gender and development. She works towards ensuring that some of the population is not left out of building a better and more just society. “It is important that young people place themselves at the centre of climate recovery and the sustainability of our circular economy. Activism is more involved with me than I am with it. The need to be active in steering our social standing comes from being impacted by decisions made on our behalf. “Being a part of formulating the engagement at the ODCC, and how

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it will happen, is most intriguing. Young people are usually called in to just have a little input in such discussions, so this was a fantastic opportunity to be behind the scenes and creating the kind of dialogue that focuses on the thoughts, concerns and solutions of young people. “The youth has already inherited our emitted environment as it stands. It is important that they bring their energetic and innovative solutions to problems that affect them. Mitigation for our climate can only be successful and sustainable through young people.”

SHAVONA MOODLEY Moodley is an earth scientist with a specialisation in hydrology. She says that “the ODCC promotes inclusivity in environmental decision making, which I strongly advocate. Climate change has an impact on us all, therefore, we should all be given the opportunity to contribute to positive climate action. Education and awareness created through climate change dialogues is a step towards a more sustainable future.” Being involved in climate activism was something Moodley was naturally inclined to. “I watched a documentary on global warming when I was younger and instantly knew this was something I needed to create awareness of.” After her studies in environmental earth science, Shavona began working in environmental consulting which was a completely different ballgame. “I saw, first-hand, the disconnection between those working in the environmental sector and communities are to the actual environment itself. I think that a bottom-up approach to all environmental issues is key to making a change. “When people are educated on climate change or given the opportunity to work on solutions, they become more connected to the environment. They are equipped to make the necessary changes and can identify environmental injustices on their own. I joined the team because the ODCC is an amazing platform which promotes inclusivity. It facilitates this bottomup approach and gives people who, unfortunately, don’t usually have a voice, the opportunity to join the conversation.” The climate change conversation isn’t only for governments and scientists, she says. “We need to know we have a responsibility and that we play an extremely important role in mitigating climate change. Values of sustainability need to be instilled in the youth to ensure that the fight against climate change is continued with greater momentum.”

RYSHAN RAMLALL Ramlall has been interested in environmental issues since a very young age. Ramlall, like Moodley, studied environmental and earth sciences and holds a Master’s degree specialising in hydrology. Although he has always preferred the scientific approach to solving the climate crisis, Ramlall soon came to realise that politics is both the biggest hurdle and the best pathway to achieving positive climate action. “I believe this is a good opportunity for enabling conversation between decision-makers and those who will be affected the most if radical climate change persists. The people who are in power and responsible for making important decisions will probably not be alive in 20 to 30 years when the worst effects of the current rate of climate change will be felt. Therefore, they don’t have as much to lose from continuing to make bad decisions. “Young people are the ones who inherited a system geared towards increasing environmental degradation and, for many years, we have been excluded from decision making. While it is unfortunate that we inherited this bad state of affairs, we have no choice but to stand together and convince those in power to make decisions that will reduce degradation and radical climate change. By the time we inherit political and strategic power on this planet, it will be too late to make changes.”

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OCEAN PRINCESS A woman who grew up in Soweto, far from the sea tells us about her journey to becoming a custodian of the ocean

ANDILE NDHLOVU is the founder of The Black Mermaid Foundation, an organisation seeking to expose young people to the ocean. As a diversity and inclusion consultant, she works to reshape narratives through storytelling. She is a fellow of NEWF, a year-long programme targeting emerging and first-time natural-history film-makers in Africa. Recently, she was selected to be a Jackson Wild 2021 Fellow – an initiative dedicated to elevating diverse and creative perspectives of storytellers for the conservation, protection and restoration of the natural world. Ndhlovu is a change agent through her work in the NEWF foundation, in public speaking and on her weekly podcast. This is her story. I grew up in a landlocked Soweto, a good six hours from the nearest ocean. Much closer to home was a pristine pool that would cost you 50c to enter. I remember the many times we’d ask my mother for money to go swimming with the other kids and this 50c, which seems such a small amount today, would weigh in our hearts as we watched those who could afford to go. I was 28 when I had my first opportunity to see beneath the surface of the ocean. I was in awe at the number of fish I saw – and the blue. The ocean floor

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seemed like a stage, lit from below with the most perfect lights. I swallowed this awe into my belly as I dived in with a snorkel – I was finally home. In the years that followed, I learned how to scuba dive and free dive – new and exciting ways to explore the ocean. The idea that I, a girl from Soweto, who grew up nowhere near the ocean, can stand here today and teach others about exploration of the sea is the wildest thing. I would travel once or twice a year to the sea to go scuba diving and needed to see as much as I could in the short period I was there. This meant it took a while before I understood the deeper intricacies of this wildly resilient system – a system that, despite its resilience, is seeing its sanctity failed by humans. Eventually, as I became a more regular visitor, I started to see the problems. I would see fishing line snaking across coral beds, a tiger shark with a massive hook in its mouth, a seal whose body was wrapped in fishing line. And then I noticed bleaching of coral in small sports of my favourite dive spot. The rate of destruction of our oceans is not equal. As the world has sought to provide for those of the First World, and those who are the most privileged, there has been a continuous debate about the questions of how much is too much and when is enough enough? In a sense, ocean conservation is a privileged narrative. To worry about

BELOW AND BELOW RIGHT: Zandile Ndhlovu, founder of The Black Mermaid Foundation, which teaches young people about the ocean.

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The ocean floor seemed like a stage, lit from below with the most perfect lights. I swallowed this awe into my belly as I dived in with a snorkel – I was finally home.

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conserving the oceans while people are starving is difficult. But all is interconnected, so how do we, as Africans, bring African solutions to the table? How do we try to protect our oceans, while creating access to them so the global majority can understand what is being spoken of when conservation is placed on the table? What does it mean when local ocean-facing communities become key stakeholders in this conservation discussion? How do we acknowledge 2 0 2 1

P I CT URE JA CKI B R U NI QU EL

African conservation efforts and collaborate from this rich knowledge source against hitand-miss helicopter approaches?

The Black Mermaid Foundation exposes young people to the sea and teaches them about conservation through storytelling.

We need to build a connection with the oceans and all that lives within them, ensuring local communities are consulted. Second, we need to create a currency where these communities benefit from this incredible resource. We’ve heard many things about what we can do to reduce single-use plastic. In addition to this we need to support spaces of innovation around reducing, reusing and recycling plastic products. And, most importantly, we need to empower local ocean-facing communities when we travel. We need to avoid finger-pointing. It is so easy to take the moral high ground. Whatever choices we make, we first need to be conscious of what we are doing and then lead with empathy. We need to understand that just because we can afford expensive items that are inaccessible to the greater population, this doesn’t make us better than them. We need to be consistently aware of our own privilege and question how we expand and make these options accessible to the greater majority too. The water has always been a joyous space for me. I remember the trips to Aventura resort in Mpumalanga, where we could splash in the shallows to our hearts’ content. Those days, that came by once or twice a year, were gold. Then would come the memorable September 1 when we would wear our costumes and descend from our homes carrying buckets filled with water, as we ushered in spring, relishing the buckets of water flooding our tiny bodies. This was the closest many got to water adventures. A beautiful moment travelling through my memory. 2 7

PI CT UR E PI E R NI R AND A RA

W H AT D O W E D O ?

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There is an urgent need for cities to prepare for natural disasters and protect the poor from their effects

BUILD RESILIENCE TO CHANGE

The fact that a sophisticated city like New York was unprepared for the flash floods that hit it recently is a wake-up call.

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P I CT URE HENK KR U GER A F R I CA N NEW S A GENCY ( A NA )

THE FLOOD disaster in New York City earlier this year was a big wake-up call for the world – we are not ready for the intensity and increasing number of natural disasters that will be coming at us like a “freight train”. “If one of the richest countries, such as America, and one of the richest cities in the world, such as New York City, isn’t ready for the flash flood that hit it… It’s clear the world has to wake up. We need to improve the resilience of our cities urgently. As it is right now, we are not ready,” says distinguished Professor Guy Midgley from the School of Climate Studies at Stellenbosch University.

cities, got through a drought and managed to avert a Day Zero by “the skin of its teeth and with some thanks to donations of water from privately owned agricultural dams”. “Cape Town – which has one of the best developed hydrological supply systems in Africa… just scraped by… but we did learn a lot and, hopefully, this is being used to make us more resilient in future,” says Midgley.

to get out and so are forced to stay and be exposed to the elements. “Climate change is a poverty issue... it’s about inequality and how that inequality brings about exposure to the elements. With poverty and a lack of resources to help you bounce back, natural disasters are devastating.” So, how does South Africa – and the world – become more resilient to the

Drought affects farmers, which has a knock-on effect on the food supply chain.

ew York’s mayor Bill de Blasio, when declaring a state of disaster earlier this year, described the flash floods, as “a historic weather event with record-breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads”. Midgley, who works with ecosystems’ responses to climate change, says developing countries have long suffered from the effects of extreme weather conditions but it is a “game-changer”now that it is hitting richer countries.

inevitable natural disasters? It is certainly not all doom and gloom, says Midgley. “What we learned through Covid from the government is that they can make resources available that support the economy and people. We will come back from Covid and, when we do, we need to ensure we do it in a way that does not increase environmental issues and that the government invests resources in preventing exposure of the poorest of the poor to disasters – think housing and infrastructure.”

Protesters demand the end to fossil fuel use to bring down emissions.

From hurricanes to floods and fires, locust swarms and cyclones, in Europe, the Far East, Africa and America, no one seems immune to the effects of climate change. The recent floods in Germany also caught them off guard and flat-footed. Even Cape Town, one of Africa’s richest 2 9

And it is the poor who continue to feel climate change the most, says Midgley. “People in New Orleans who stay behind in response to a hurricane, for instance, do it not because they want to but because they can’t afford to leave – they can’t afford accommodation and petrol

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e also need to build back better after disasters. “We do need to look in the areas of urban and infrastructure design, and how to use natural systems to build resilience, and when we build back after a disaster to build back better.” Midgley believes if COP26 in Scotland is successful, and they can get most countries behind low-cost renewable energies, “we could see at first a peaking in global temperature followed by a cooling period”. It is necessary to find ways for the world to adapt to that time when it goes into an overshoot. 2 0 2 1

ARE THE SEASONS CHANGING? BY DOMINIC NAIDOO

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Weather is different from climate and we are seeing very slight changes at the edges of seasons. However, to avert a climate crisis, say experts, changes are needed on a scale way beyond what the average household can do

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P I CT URE S JER EMY THOMA S, NOA A , JOSHU A EA R L E / U NSPL A SH / PEXEL S

ESPITE it having been winter, the last week of August saw uncharacteristically cold weather in parts of South Africa, with snow and ice in areas that had not seen them in decades. Are these extreme weather phenomena caused by a changing climate or are they just freak incidents? Social media has been abuzz with questions and opinions about shifting seasons – that winter is lasting longer than it should and the beginning of spring is later every year. However, interestingly, a new study by researchers at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, found that in fact, summers are getting longer and winters shorter. Using historical daily climate data from 1952 to 2011 to produce the study, researchers found that, on average, global summers have gone from 78 days in 1952 to 95 days in 2011. At the same time, on average, spring has contracted from 124 to 115 days; autumn from 87 to 76 days and winter from 76 to 73 days. Numerous studies have already shown changes in the seasons cause

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significant environmental and health risks, says lead study author Yuping Guan, a physical oceanographer. “For example, birds are shifting their migration patterns and plants are emerging and flowering at different times. These phenological changes can create mismatches between animals and their food sources, disrupting ecological communities.” Added to that a longer summer and shorter winter can also lead to more extreme weather events—some of which we’ve already witnessed first hand. This is one of the major factors most climate experts agree on – we are going to have more extreme weather events such as snow, drought, tornadoes and storms in areas where these are not the norm. However, Dr Alistair Clulow, a meteorologist – or weather expert – based at the University of KwaZuluNatal, says weather is not an exact science. “It is difficult to predict the weather for the next five days let alone the next 20 years.” Mention climate and the first question that comes to most people’s mind is: “Is the planet getting hotter?” “The earth is getting warmer on

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average but climate change is much more than that. “Regarding our seasons, they are dictated by the earth’s position relative to the sun,and that’s not going to change. But what is changing are global weather patterns. Zones are shifting, causing some areas to get warmer and others to get colder and some to be windier.” While the seasons might not change, alterations could be seen towards the edges of them. “For example, changing rainfall patterns may mean that rains start a little later in some areas or earlier in others. Plants may start flowering earlier or later as a result of changing weather patterns.” All of this would have an effect on environments – think of migration of species – and also farming and agriculture and could affect crops. Clulow says there is no doubt that carbon dioxide-releasing activities, such as power generation, deforestation and factory farming, have contributed significantly to our planet warming. While things like switching off the lights when leaving a room and installing a geyser timer can definitely help, changes are also needed on a scale way beyond what the average household can do. The government needs to step in and make changes to how we generate electricity and how people move about. “We really need to start investing in alternative energy, such as solar, and improve our transport systems, as too many people travel to work alone in their vehicles. “If we had efficient trains and bus systems, people would be more likely to leave their cars at home. “Creating safer, bike-friendly cities would encourage people to ride to work if they live close by. This would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, reduce traffic and keep people healthy while also saving money on fuel and vehicle maintenance,” Clulow says.

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COAL TO GAS SHIFT NOT THE ANSWER

Phasing out coal and boosting the use of renewables and sustainable carbon sources is the way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, writes Tjasa Bole-Rentel

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P I CT URE S DEXTER F ER NA NDES, A L B ERT HYSENI / U NSPL A SH

AS SHOULD not be factored into our climate commitments. With coal now globally acknowledged as a sunset industry, the next frontier of the fight to save our climate will take place in the oil and gas sectors, writes Tjasa Bole-Rentel. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5˚C, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak now and then be drastically decreased by the mid- century. To achieve this, we must make a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. Yet, an emerging and problematic narrative is that natural gas might help us achieve the goal of netzero carbon emissions by 2050. In a recent interview, South Africa’s environment minister Barbara Creecy described gas as “an important transition enabler” because its emissions are half those of coal. However, she also pointed out infrastructure associated with gas might effectively be a stranded asset by mid-century – a mere 30 years hence. Creecy’s remarks came in the same week that Sasol announced

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its revised target for emissions – a reduction of 30% by 2030 (up from the much-criticised earlier figure of 10%). At first glance, Sasol’s announcement appears to be a major step forward for the energy and chemical company and some clever wording evoked the Paris Agreement – without claiming that its revised emission reduction target is in line with the global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Insufficient details from Sasol’s updated strategy make it hard to judge the relative contribution of these newly announced mitigation measures. But, in the words of chief executive Fleetwood Grobler, the reduction target will be achieved through a “mix of energy and process efficiencies, investments in renewables and a shift to incremental natural gas as a transition feedstock for our Southern African value chain”. This “coal to gas” shift is a far cry from what is needed to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, particularly in southern Africa where, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on

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Climate Change, we potentially face more extreme impacts with every fraction of a degree of global warming, due to our geographic location. To allow for a 50% probability of limiting warming to 1.5 °C, oil and gas production must decline globally by 3% each year until 2050 with most regions needing to reach peak production now or during the next decade. By 2040, global gas use needs to be halved. Because of this, any major investments in developing new gas fields in Mozambique and/ or infrastructure for gas import via pipeline or LNG terminals, will make it impossible for South Africa to deliver an emission reduction trajectory in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Alternatively, these investments will be subject to considerations of much shorter lifespans, making them likely to end up as the stranded assets the minister warned against. For Sasol to achieve its net-zero target by 2050, while consuming large amounts of fossil gas, would require a very large amount of carbon offsets in the

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form of removals or implementing large-scale carbon capture and storage at Secunda (currently the world’s largest single-site emitting plant) and Sasolberg. Considering the relatively high cost of both these options, it would be interesting to compare them to the scenario where Sasol’s business model pivots to 100% emission-free, or even emissionnegative, technology. These options exist and would build on Sasol’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology, which is well suited to playing a meaningful role in a low-carbon future. Sasol already has a key competitive advantage as a producer of green hydrogen and/ or green hydrocarbons, if a suitable source of green carbon can be introduced to its operations. While it is true that, at the point of combustion, gas causes lower emissions than coal per unit of energy produced, a fair comparison must account for the total climate impact of gas, including fugitive emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas. Fossil-based methane has a global warming potential 29.8 times that of CO2 over a 100-year period and it can escape into the atmosphere at many points in the supply chain.

These emissions are not unavoidable. They take place due to insufficient monitoring and lack of financial incentives to address the leaks and have routinely been under-estimated by industry and governments. Specific to South Africa, a proposed 3 500km national gas pipeline would have to be flared every 187km to avoid methane leakage. If operated as historically, emissions from existing and proposed gas infrastructure would exceed the carbon budget associated with a temperature rise within a 1.5°C trajectory. The climate science is clear – oil and gas fields need to have much shorter life spans to make sure the world has a meaningful chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C and any new investments in gas fields, and any related infrastructure that facilitates gas use, stands in the way of the common objective to avoid a worsening climate crisis. Credible decarbonisation plans for Sasol must involve an accelerated phasing out of coal and ramping up of the use of renewables and sustainable carbon sources. And, let’s be clear, fossil gas does not fall into this category. Any path other than this would simply be a case of more hot air.

The climate science is clear – oil and gas fields need to have much shorter life spans to make sure the world has a meaningful chance of limiting warming

TJASA BOLE-RENTEL is the Bioenergy programme manager at WWF South Africa.

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P I CT URE S R EU TER S

BY VIVIAN WARBY

Inside Coober Pedy, the underground town

Could subterranean cities that are built beneath those we live in help prevent mass climate migration and allow humans to adapt to the environment? Yes, say some experts.

THE UPSIDE TO

GOING UNDER BOBBY B takes his evening supper alone in his 42m² home.The temperature inside is a comfortable 23°C – the same as it is beyond his home’s walls. His dinner comes from the hydroponic plant close by, and he will later meet his friends for a drink in one of the town’s drinking pods. It’s been years since Bobby ventured out of his town to “that other place” – the one above ground where his grandparents were born. These days the temperature above ground is way in excess of 70°C and vast tracts of land are uninhabitable. The underground city – Rucidifus – in which Bobby lives is the norm in the year 2100. His story could well be part of a cli-fi book

– a new literary genre based on climate fiction – in which Bobby and billions of future climate refugees would live in underground cities as part of their attempt to find ways to adapt to dramatic climate change. Cli-fi is in part a dystopian (and if you’re keen on some hope – utopian) fiction take on what could happen if extreme weather conditions are not prevented. But it is also not as far-fetched as we might hope. Recently, the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted that earth’s atmosphere and the seas are warming at rates unprecedented in

Coober Pedy - an underground town in the Australian outback built to avoid soaring temperatures looks like a martian wasteland when you approach it, but underground its alive with thousands of people.

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London is one of the cities developing underground spaces to alleviate population and environmental pressures.

human history and that some consequences are irrevocable. Even if we put in a big planetary effort to stop the worst impacts of climate change, some currently inhabitable parts of the world could gradually become so hot that people would be unable to live there. Some believe this IPCC report will be the last to be published while we still have a chance of averting the worst of climate breakdown. Bobby’s underground life could, on one hand, be what the future might indeed look like if we do nothing to stop CO² emissions and runaway climate change. On the other hand, underground cities, as one alternative of adapting habitats to deal with extreme weather conditions and overcrowding, are already getting attention from governments and planners. Subterranean cities are not new and date back to 1800BC when – in the Cappadocia region of modern-day Turkey which was constantly being hit by extreme weather and the threat of war – people dug an entire city, Derinkuyu, in which to live. More recently in 2010, Helsinki, Finland, took the subterranean approach. The local authority approved an Underground Master Plan which was completed in 2019 and which considers the underground as a part of the city itself. It covers the city’s entire 214km² – combining energy conservation and shelter from the long, cold winters, 3 6

among other things. Many other cities around the world, such as in Paris, Moscow, Montreal, London, Singapore and Beijing, are developing underground spaces to alleviate population and environmental pressures. One of the most famous underground towns is the opal-mining town of Coober Pedy – meaning “white man’s hole” in a local Aboriginal language – in South Australia, founded in 1915. It has below-ground homes in which a large portion of its residents live. And these trenches and caves were built so people could escape the unbearable desert heat that can reach up to 50°C. Futurist Belinda Silbert believes Coober Pedy is the perfect synthesis the world requires for a sustainable future. “They are using tech to live off the grid and also utilising nature and working with what the environment gave them instead of adapting the environment to themselves.” This, she says, will become important for the future. Some experts say that as soon as 2069 – a mere 47 years away (so when children born this year are middle aged) – underground cities could have complete self-contained travel and ecosystems where hydroponic farming systems with artificial light are used to grow the city’s own food supply. In London this is already, in part, a reality. A former World War II air raid shelter

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P I CT URE S EU GENE DESHKO / U NSPL A SH

beneath Clapham Common is the world’s first underground farm, hydroponically growing salad rocket, garlic chives, wasabi mustard, fennel, pink stem radish and purple radish which it sells to big retail stores. Li Huanqing, a research fellow at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, who made underground urbanisation the focus of her doctoral thesis, says most cities are planning multifunctional underground spaces that will be occupied by shopping malls and public thoroughfares to free up more surface land for housing, green space and recreation. So, while It’s technically possible to build underground living spaces for people, “there are a lot of things you can put underground first”, says Huanqing. The move underground for living space will bring up a number of questions too, the main one being who actually owns the land below the surface – the state or private individuals? And will it become the reserve of rich people who are already building doomsday bunkers underground to be safe from an apocalypse scenario, or will it be an equitable space for all to live in? Registered professional urban and regional planner Pravin Amar says some cities, including some in South Africa, already have people living underground informally, not a result of planning but as a result of planning failure. Like informal housing on the surface, underground informal housing comes with its own set of problems, including overcrowding in badly ventilated areas. Amar says if underground cities were ever to be viable in future, the prospect would need government buy-in. “For now, governments in some parts around the world are not even getting the basics of planning on the ground right, how are they going to get it right underground where it is more sensitive and complicated?” Another question is: Will people be willing to live underground? Severe claustrophobics – thought to be about 7% of the world’s population – will take a lot of convincing. And the rest of us? Maybe not right now but, says Silbert, certainly the children being born today will be able to adapt to it. “We will see the rise of a new generation unlike anything else even conceived of who will accept change at a more rapid rate than our generation. And they will have a strong awareness that we will face extinction unless we take drastic measures.” She adds: “If technology and culture can support us in space, they could definitely support us inside our own planet.”

P I CT URE S B OU DHAYA N B A R DHA N / U NSPL A SH

CRUCIAL ADAPTATIONS BY VIVIAN WARBY

WE HAVE made incursions into territories not meant for us, this century will make that clear, says wellknown futurist Belinda Silbert. She believes adaptation to the environment, and not trying to adapt the environment to us, plus a mix of tech and sustainable energy, will be vital. In her predictions on what alternative living conditions could look like given the climate change trajectory, Silbert believes while we are looking at terraforming on other planets, we will also begin to look at doing this on Earth. Silbert talks of synthetic islands, genetically modified trees that can grow fast to provide much needed CO² in the air and also about floating homes. Underground cities, such as Coober Pedy, are also on her list of possible future scenarios. “There in the middle of nowhere and completely off the grid, using wind and solar power and technology, the residents have made a life. It is not a Luddite set up at all – they have all the tech they need including high speed internet via satellite.” Old methods of building will again receive the spotlight as we go back to basics and see things through new eyes, tweaking them for a new world. In Africa, mud huts, for example, have worked for so many centuries, and “we should not ignore methods such as these that have been used effectively before.” It will become clear that “we cannot build in places where we are not supposed to be – millions of people will be displaced by rising sea levels, earthquakes, and other disasters”. To mitigate this Silbert predicts an increase in the building of synthetic islands such as in Dubai – but not for luxury living but out of necessity. “Plastic waste can be used to form these islands and new forests can be planted - not natural but terraforming ones… We do not need to go to new planets to do this, we can do it right here in areas not at risk of rising sea levels and other natural disasters. “Genetically modified seeds can also be used to plant tropical forests where trees – through GM – grow 100 times more rapidly than the ones we have. These trees won’t necessarily be fruit bearing but will be used to help restore the climate.” She also foresees floating cities - with people not looking for real estate on earth but on ships. “While once the domain of the rich, it will become a more prevalent with boats having superior tech so that they can be adapted into submarine mode “Cruise liners that are ideal incubators of the Covid virus can be adapted as permanent living spaces and huge cruise liners could become independent cities of their own: self sufficient with no risk of cross contamination.” We are also likely to continue to see visionary architects teaming up with urban planners to come up with living solutions to looming climate change conditions.

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Futurist Belinda Silbert Predicts genetically modified forests will be grown to help the climate.

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CityZen aims to help communities to convert waste into financial opportunities by activities such as picking up litter on the streets, upcycling clothes and turning organic waste into compost. Co-founder Najen Naidoo tells us about the organisation

ITYZEN is a community organisation and registered NPO, striving to create cleaner, greener and safer cities for ourselves and our families. We started the organisation in Rivonia, in Johannesburg, in 2018 and we are now expanding to other suburbs. The aim was to build actively engaged communities looking to reduce crime through the creation of employment, while uplifting their neighbourhoods. As part of our commitment to climate change, CityZen’s focus is to ensure that as much waste as possible is converted into financial opportunities. To this end, our latest project involves upcycling clothes, sorting general waste and minimising what goes to landfill by turning food waste into compost. Our clothing recycling initiative takes donated clothes out of the “new” economy giving them a second wearing. Working with Rotary Morningside and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, clothes are donated, sorted and repaired by unemployed women from the inner city of Jozi, who select what they would like to resell. Proceeds go towards income for the women, as well as expanding the programme and providing business education and other skills. CityZen’s waste management project hauls about 20 tons of waste off the streets of Sandton a week. Our team sorts the waste to create additional income. We sort waste within the communities we operate in and convert this into more revenue-generating opportunities through collaboration with our recycling partners. Once we have minimised our impact on the landfill we are hoping to get corporate support and extend our facilities to all reclaimers to provide a safe space to process the recycling. We also dispose of a huge amount of organic waste each day from vendors, street kitchens and the surroundings. Our next goal is to turn this waste into compost to be used at our experimental community farms to help the homeless learn how to feed themselves and expand their gardening skills. Excess compost will be used in community gardens or sold into the community as extra income for the beneficiaries.

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LEFT: Co-founders of CityZen Najen Naidoo and the late Daniel Hunt. ABOVE: People work at Braamfonteinspruit in Joburg. CityZen helps to keep rivers and green spaces clean. Vendor and street kitchen waste builds up rapidly and cleaning up twice a week, and supplying vendors and kitchens with bags, helps to keep greenbelts usable for residents. BELOW LEFT: The CityZen crew covers about 25km of road a day picking litter off the streets.

FIVE TIPS TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE IN YOUR COMMUNITY 1 Sort your waste. It’s valuable and helps to create jobs.Try to formalise a working relationship with your local organisations, like CityZen. 2 Stop donating to beggars. We’re unintentionally approving of their begging and robbing them of an opportunity to earn a dignified living. 3 Get together with your community and pay people to help clean the neighbourhood. 4 Most people just want to make an honest living but don’t know where to start. We work with street vendors, pay them a weekly incentive and supply them with equipment. 5 Create an inclusive community. We are all Africans at the end of the day trying to make our way in the world. Work together to come up with mutually beneficial solutions to everyday problems. Website: www.city-zen.co.za IG and FB: cityzenza

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P I CT URE S SU PPL I ED, VI CTOR / U NSPL A SH

GOOD CITYZENS

P I CT URE S COTTONB R O / PEXEL S

ESG A sustainable way to do business

BY MARTIN HESSE

ILLENNIALS have played a big role in the global trend towards more environmentally and socially supportive, sustainable ways of doing business, but there are now multiple drivers behind its increasing momentum. In a presentation on investing based on ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria at the recent Investment Forum 2021, Claire Hedley, executive director of the alternative investment and manager selection division of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said the trend towards sustainability was underpinned by humanity’s need to address two of the biggest challenges of our time: climate change and social inequality. Three dynamics are at play, Hedley said. They are:

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1. Changing preferences: The impetus originally came from millennials, she said, “who wanted to live, invest and purchase differently”. “But there increasingly widespread changes in thinking about what we wear, what we buy, what we eat, and that’s having a big impact on the consumer market broadly.” It’s not only consumers, Hedley said. “There’s a shift in how workers engage with their employers – people want to work for companies that have value, that have representation in the community and that look after their workforce. “There’s a shift in companies themselves, which are setting ESG targets along supply chains. We’ve also seen asset managers engaging more collaboratively with the companies they invest in and there’s changing regulation.” 2. Growing consequences: The negative consequences of inaction are becoming far more apparent, Hedley said. Physical climate risks – fires, floods, rising temperatures – are creating “a sense of urgency that we haven’t seen before”. Increased connectedness through social media is driving awareness of these issues.

3. Improved economics, efficiency, innovation and growth: ESG issues are forging greater efficiencies and technological innovation and for this reason there is a strong case for investing in ESG-focused companies. Investors are waking up to ESG. Hedley said almost $3 billion flowed into ESG investments last year, bringing total assets globally, across about 3 000 ESG funds, to about $1.5 trillion. ESG issues are also top of mind for corporations, with a “real shift” from being at the periphery of company strategy to being central to it. In two years, there has been a 28% increase in signatories to the UN Principles for Responsible Investing and, last year, a survey of Nasdaq companies found 70% of them had highlighted ESG developments in letters to shareholders. The social factor has come to the fore during the pandemic, Hedley said. Social considerations, previously seen as a “nice to have”, have become a core operational value affecting a company’s bottom line. “Companies have really had to focus on the health and safety of their workers to get through the pandemic.” 4 0

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ESG INVESTING 1.0 VS 2.0 Hedley said ESG investing has traditionally entailed scoring companies on environmental, social and governance criteria, and then selecting those that score highly, or screening out those that do not. However, this is a somewhat superficial approach because the data itself is superficial. For instance, a company might tick the box on a question about whether it had a health-care policy but there would be no indication of how beneficial that policy was for employees. “We need companies to publish more data, so investors can focus on areas of that data that are most material to the company or industry they are analysing. And the areas will be different for different companies or sectors – for example, an engineering company will be different from a financial company. “With increasing data, we need to focus on those data points that matter more for the investment that we’re making,” Hedley said. Premal Ranchod, head of ESG research at Alexander Forbes Investments, says the ESG movement had spawned the practice of “green washing”, which investors must guard against. N O V E M B E R

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P I CT URE MA R KU S SPI SKE / U NSPL A SH

“Green washing has been used to call out practices that seek to appear ‘green’ or responsible but, on deeper assessment, are not entirely so. “When companies manipulate financial statements to deflect from poor performance, it is referred to as ‘window dressing’ – hiding the true state of a company from shareholders, lenders and stakeholders. “In the same way, when the conduct of business has environmental consequences, there could be a propensity to highlight the positive aspects (which might in isolation be true) but ignore the total effect on the environment or climate. “Humans are naturally wired to focus on the positives and hence there’s a risk of a bias that impacts investment outcomes and share prices. It becomes more of a risk when a broad economic theme, such as sustainability or climate change, becomes topical.” What can investment professionals do to recognise and combat green washing? A strong analyst, Ranchod says, would consider the following: 1. Focus on the evidence, not the narrative or crafty product marketing. 2. Understand the company, its operations, history and the sector within which it operates. 3. Make sure the ESG assessment appreciates financially material risks that are applicable to the entity and sector. 4. Spot selective disclosure practices or generic reporting in integrated reports of companies. “Companies have been found to cherry-pick the ESG risks they wish to show their progress towards but report thinly on other matters,” Ranchod says. 5. Identify symbolic actions, via marketing or reporting, which draw attention to minor matters without meaningful action. For example, a global fashion company could donate to charities but not address unfair labour practices in its supply chain. Click here to listen to a podcast in which Premal Ranchod chats to Martin Hesse about ESG.

P I CT URE NI CK F EW I NGS / U NSPL A SH / CU A N THOMA S

CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

My journey to becoming an environmental educator tackling plastic and pollution BY YANGA GCEYA

Yanga Gceya at a storytelling and book handout event.

ANGA GCEYA is a senior account manager, at Soapbox South Africa, a behavioural design agency, and environmental educator for Captain Fanplastic This is his story... The novelist Paulo Coelho put it best: “Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.” This makes me think about the shift my career has taken from a media communications enthusiast to becoming a keen advocate for environmental education as a friendly pirate – Captain Fanplastic.

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WANT TO DO YOUR BIT FOR CHANGE?

Why not challenge yourself with the Captain’s 5Rs from our learning module the “Waste Warrior” at home or at the office or at school to see how you can reduce your consumption? See how much change you can make in a week, a month or year. REFUSE to buy anything made of plastic or wrapped in plastic. REDUCE the amount of waste you produce and plastic you use. REUSE “waste’ as much as you can; give it a second life. REPURPOSE plastic – turn it into something that is useful. For example, what could you make in a DIY project with young ones? RECYCLE plastic PET bottles, paper and tin cans, because they can become new products. Find recycle bins/banks near you.

Fanplastic. I believe our method of imparting this education is what sets us apart. Storytelling, games and action are part of every child, every person, so we need to tap into the emotions in everyone to imagine a world without drastic climate change and to live a life that is harmonious with the environment through elements of reality and fiction. Being an environmental educator for this grass-roots project that tackles the problem of plastic and pollution is a full-circle activity for me – much of the knowledge we impart is what I, growing up, hadn’t realised. It is a wonderful attempt to avoid the

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Imistakes of the past in a bid to intercept the ticking time bomb of climate change. The intersectionality of this programme – that inspires youngsters to see climate change, conservation, reading and games along with long-term behaviour change in the same light – has created a mind shift in me too. This has been quite a journey of discovery – of the self, purpose and passion for people and the planet. While we contribute to sustainable development goals through our education programme, my hope is everyone will adopt the #NoTrashButTreasure mindset. I often liken that goal to past programmes that have worked, such as the famous“Zap it 2 0 2 1

P I CT URE TA NVI SHA R MA / U NSPL A SH

Yanga Gceya reads to pupils at Seamount Primary in Milnerton, Cape Town.

Ruben Hazelzet explains to pupils at Seamount Primary School how trash is sorted.

MORE ABOUT US: Captain Fanplastic was developed in the Zibi bin” campaign. THIS MINDSET aims to convince us all that not all plastic is trash and, used in the right way, it can be valuable. With the recent launch of our The Legend of Captain Fanplastic song, with songstress Zolani Mahola – “The One Who Sings” – and gifted composer, Alessandro Gigli, we are about to open this conversation about climate change for every child. Moreover, in line with the education we hope to achieve, we have translated our first book into Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaans – with more languages to come – to make sure no one is left behind in the fight against climate change. 4 3

Buy our books at our in-house sustainability webshop: https://www. schoolofsd.com/shop/products/ Want to help us? We are always looking to take this programme further, through collaboration, partnerships and sponsorships, into schools by corporates. You can get in touch with me at info@ captainfanplastic.com Find out more info about the programme here: Facebook: (@Captian Fanplastic) https://www.facebook.com/ captainfanplastic Instagram: (@Captain_Fanplastic) https://www.instagram.com/captain_ fanplastic/

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by our School of Sustainable Development, started by Soapbox South Africa – a social design agency in marketing and behaviour change. Captain Fanplastic is an environmental literacy programme with an emphasis on environmental education for primary school children globally using storytelling, gamified learning and action cleanups to instil a mindset about plastic – a #NoTrashbutTreasure mindset. 2 0 2 1

Louis Fourie gives his plants their weekly spray of micro-organisms which nourish the soil and the vegetables.

SOIL SENSE Louis Fourie runs soil-building courses at his semi-off-grid smallholding in the Eastern Cape. He believes that healthy soil is the key to avoiding food scarcity

FAR LEFT: The seating area at Louis Fourie’s homestead. CENTRE: Thriving broccoli in Fourie’s garden. LEFT: Chickens living their best lives, scratching for food and showing chicks how it’s done.

LIMATE CHANGE, food security and the need to find better and more sustainable ways to nurture and heal ourselves, and our Blue Planet are top of mind as Cop26 grapples with meeting emission targets. Louis Fourie, who runs a permaculture soil-building course at his home in Magwa Falls, in the Eastern Cape, believes if we start by nourishing the soil, we could have abundance and avoid a food emergency. Terry van der Walt got his hands dirty for this report. A trip to Magwa Falls, inland of Port Grosvenor and Port St Johns, does not make for an easy journey, but as Fourie says, once you are there, “it’s difficult to leave”. I went down to attend a soilbuilding course at Fourie’s semi-off-grid homestead, a short walk from the head of the mighty Magwa Falls, which cascade into a gorge. Staying at, and learning about, a living permaculture smallholding, where everything has a use, and nothing goes to waste, right down to the contents of Louis’s “bio loo with a view”, provided me with a sense of how delicate the balance is when you dig 20cm down into the topsoil which sustains life on our planet. Monoculture farming, fertilisers and

chemicals, overgrazing and mining have a huge impact on the health of our soil. It should be loamy, moist and teeming with micro-organisms, fungi and earthworms – a veritable superhighway that moves minerals and moisture to where they’re needed. “Build your soil and the plants will do the rest on their own,” says Fourie, a statement you’ll hear him make often, as he guides us through his permaculture garden, where everything is a delicate balance of nature, where everything gets used, and almost everything goes back into the soil. Fourie, who has lived on his land for 15 years, has turned his place into a living, working model of homestead gardening. He explains that micro-organisms, tiny specks you can’t see with the naked eye, are the building blocks of our soil and, with effort, we can help speed up the process of its renewal. These beneficial indigenous organisms can be sprayed on crops and fruit trees once a week to boost the plants and the soil. The micro-organisms that go to the roots, get starch in return from the plant. Another advantage is that they are so small, they hide inside in the crevices on leaves, feeding on bad micro-organisms which can affect the health of the plants. 4 4

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“Nature is a very powerful tool. It will fix itself. So, even if you just mulch and keep the damp and moisture there, nature will come in and fix the soil, bring in the micro-organisms that will make compost; the earthworms will come and start to break it down into worm wee. “Nature is doing this automatically, over time, all the time. “If we can speed it up with different types of home-made fungal brew, it will be more than helpful and nutritious for the soil. “You must grow the soil. You can’t grow the plants; the plants grow themselves,” he says. Fourie has a few dozen chickens, whose lives are blissfully spent in “chicken tractors”. Wire passages alongside fenced fields “herd” them to designated fields where they can scratch, super-charging the soil with micro-organisms and helping to get it ready for planting. Having trees – the bearers of water – in fields is important. They provide shade, and hiding places for chickens when raptors soar above, and provide the right conditions for shrubs, vines, herbs and crops to grow. Fourie, who been experimenting with compost-making, says it is a trial-anderror process. He says it is not the end of the world N O V E M B E R

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if your compost heap goes anaerobic (when it doesn’t get enough oxygen). All you need to do is open it up to dry out and let the chickens feast in there. A walk through his greenhouse tunnel bears testimony to the process. Onions, brinjals, strawberries, cabbages, and much more, flourish, nestled in layers of straw. Constantly visited by chickens, worms and micro-organisms, they thrive. Fourie’s soil-building course includes playing his Go Grow educational gardening board game. Very quickly we learned the importance of mulch, compost and worm farms and why these elements needed to be in our deck of game cards before we could acquire seed cards. It can get pretty competitive, and just when you think you’re the farmer of the year because you sold your harvest, up comes a card that tells you another crop has been destroyed by goggas. Fourie is hoping to get Go Grow into schools so children can learn about growing food in a sustainable way. The game, suitable for young and old, shows in a simple way what you need to do, and look out for, when you embark on your journey to Go Grow. To book your place at the next Magwa Falls Soil-building course contact Louis Fourie at 083 268 5611 or go to www. louisatmagwafalls.co.za.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION ...and coming up with something that can make a difference in reducing carbon emissions when heating a room or cooking food was a challenge Louis Fourie jumped at six years ago. Terry van der Walt reports. LIVING semi off the grid in an isolated spot at the top of Magwa Falls in Eastern Cape, where it can get pretty cold, Louis Fourie had to come up with a plan. “Heating our homes and cooking food are fundamental to our lives, yet the processes are costly to the environment. With normal fires, the heat goes all over the place and up the chimney,” he says. Fourie came up with a plan and has tweaked his design over the years, building a prototype which is ready to go into production. The Little Big Stove can heat up a room and its horizontal steel plate, that feeds into the chimney, provides ample space for two large pots to heat on. Because the draw is so strong, there is very little smoke in the room, and the ash is also minimal, with most going out the chimney. The wattle-and-daub rondavel where Fourie has installed one is where visitors relax and prepare meals and feeding chopped wood into the stove’s chute becomes

LEFT: Glowing and making the rondavel well warm, the Little Big Stove lives up to its reputation. CENTRE: The finished product which is to go into production soon. RIGHT: With ample room for two large pots, the cooking surface is ideal for making meals.

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second nature to them. “It worked out so well – and it was too big for me to keep for myself. It is almost like a gift for the world; an invention for the world. However, to patent it is simply not possible – there are other similar ones out there. “It is a marvellous thing that can help society. It can help farmers; people in low-income groups and high-income groups.” In developing the prototype, Fourie and his team did tests and found by burning just 26 mielie cobs they could cook a pot of pap. In a normal fire the heat goes up and sideways but with The Little Big Stove the heat is concentrated as it is drawn up the chimney, not before jetting flames into the horizontal chamber where food is cooked, coffee is boiled. The stove is fuel efficient, eco-friendly and adaptable, and can be fitted with a water heater. To find out more about the Little Big Stove visit www.louisatmagwafalls.co.za.

Simply Green - November 2021

Articles inside

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

SOIL SENSE

CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

ESG - A sustainable way to do business

GOOD CITYZENS

CRUCIAL ADAPTATIONS

THE UPSIDE TO GOING UNDER

COAL TO GAS SHIFT - NOT THE ANSWER

ARE THE SEASONS CHANGING?

BUILD RESILIENCE TO CHANGE

Ocean Princess

The YOUTH

THE STORM AHEAD

SA - A LEADING LIGHT IN DUMPING COAL – FAIRLY

THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Understanding Climate change

FROM THE EDITOR