Richmond Hill Music Festival

The students od NMMU need your help during the Richmond Hill Music Festival

Humour in Greenwashing

A funny way of seeing greenwashing:

Here are the lyrics of the song:

Photo Clip Greenwashing Tryo

We want the green (6x) washing

we want towers, airbus, diesel / mandarins all seasons / extensive travels in the sky / high-tech at home / new technology / we want to say sorry and / relieve our minds / we want Argentine beef, / Gammon at every meal / and in the kitchen / we want sugar, we want fat / we want more expensive / we want better / we always want a little addition / we want the sea, / we want summer / even in winter you want to sunbathe /

we want the green (6x) washing / that is we have the deceitful marketing / we want the green (6x) washing / on the pebbles in the sand / we want the white sand beaches / internet for our laptops / we want all fulltime network / unnecessary  network / large concrete exchangers / and friends always reachable / one. wants balls and ghettos /

we want the green (6x) washing / that is we have the pinnochio Marketing / we want the green (6x) washing / we want water still flowing / and wrinkles dug a little less / we want youth powder / we want snow in summer/ tall buildings in the sun / pharaonniques of monuments / we want all the same everywhere / beyond wi-fi digital / we want the green (6x) washing / that is we have the pinnochio Marketing /

we want the green (6x) washing / we want to phosphate-free detergents / all organic shampoo / Forestry 4×4 / Coal in our cosmetics / the greener than green “whiter than white” abusive slogans / ecological mascaras while they were shoot nuclear / we want the green (6x) washing /

we want the green (6x) washing / we want to say sorry, to relieve his mind / we want the green (6x) washing / we want the sea is to the summer you want to sunbathe / we want the green (6x) washing / we want balls and ghettos / we want the green (6x) washing / that is we have / we want the green (6x) washing

 

 

«Raise your voice, not the sea level »

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY ^{5th June 2014}

World Environment Day started in 1972 and is now one of the main tools for the UN to raise worldwide awareness of the environment. During that day, organizations all over the world organize events to raise awareness about climate change and hope that the actions they try to implement will keep going all year round. On this day, the aim is to celebrate globally for positive environmental action.

The United Nations Environment Program in 2014 is focusing, on the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that are particularly vulnerable to climate change and rise in sea level but have found a way to deal with it, such as Trinidad & Tobago, Samoa…In Kolkata, the authorities vowed to reduce waste of water, to plant more trees and to reduce waste. Students started to measure pollution.  The Barbados, where the WED 2014 was hosted, is the leader in solar energy. They also were the first Small Island Developing State to host the WED.

On this day, as in the previous years, the Alliance Française of Port Elizabeth through Indalo  launched Green Focus 2014, an event that will last until 21^st June  – the day of the Richmond Hill Music Festival. During the two and a half weeks, several events will be held (please see Indalo poster).  On the 5^th of June, Indalo began the Alliance’s  green accreditation through its partner Green Leaf Environmental Standard. On the 7^th of June, architect Tony Moors of  Moors, Milne and Kievit Architects (the former treasurer of Eastern Cape Institute of Architects – ECIA for many years) opened the exhibition called “100% Paris” at 12:00 at the Alliance Française gallery. That exhibition shows how the architects in Paris like other capital cities in the world are dealing with the societal challenges of: collective and social housing, mix-use, creation of public spaces, reclaiming of brown sites, the quest of energy efficiency in cities etc. On June 11^th, an event called “Autour de…” will be presented. This event will be dedicated to our partners; representatives from Green Leaf and Greencycle will present their work to the Alliance Française and public. Following these two talks, Irma Weyers from Karoo Kwezi will conduct a workshop on recycled objects.

We wish you all a good environment month and we hope that the efforts you make right now will continue during the year. And remember “Raise your voice, not the sea level!”

Green Focus 2014

Our poster for the event

Easter Weekend in Cape Town: Where Recycling is Possible.

During Easter Weekend, the Indalo team visited to Cape Town to get to know the city a little better. We were surprised on seeing the recycling bins in the city as we hadn’t seen them in Port Elizabeth; a nice change. We were able to easily recycle our waste just like the inhabitants of Cape Town.

Recycling bins in Cape Town can be found in different places around the city: in the bus station, in the train station, on Long Market Street… Even the Tourism Center is involved in the effort to recycle the waste as they encourage the service to the tourists and to their employees.

The city is indeed “greener” in many other areas too. It is an inspiration and we hope it spreads all over South Africa.

Water shortage

A message sent by the metro forwarded to us by the Nelson Mandela Business Chamber:

“Since the electricity outage that was experienced about two weeks ago at the Nooitgedagt Water Treatment Works and the Elandsjagt Water Treatment Works the NMBM has been struggling to recover from the water shortage.

To date, the designed storage capacity of the distribution reservoirs have been coping with supplying water to the citizens of the NMBM. This is with the exception of Despatch, which has experienced problems during this time.

The fact that problems were experienced on two of the major supply systems has caused the delay filling the supply reservoirs simultaneously. In addition, emergency repairs to the canal system that supplies water to the Scheepersvlakte Dam (DWA) near Addo for the Nooitgedaght Water Treatment Works has caused a disruption of the water supply. This has resulted in a drastic drop in the level of Grassridge reservoir which supplies the Despatch reservoirs. Whilst every effort  is made to ensure that water disruptions are kept to a minimum, consumers in the Uitenhage and Despatch areas are the most affected.

As the water supply system of the NMBM is an integrated system, the affected areas are being supplied with water from the other sources and therefore the whole system is stressed. All citizens are therefore urged to use water sparingly. Consumers are asked not to fill additional water containers during this time as this puts an immediate strain on the supply system.

Water-intensive businesses and industries are asked to cut their water usage. Contractors are requested to use recycled water for construction purposes.”

Home, a movie by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

An amazing movie about the earth and the consequences of our actions

Equality for Women is Progress for All Exhibition

Our exhibition Equality for Women is Progress for All has been donated to the library at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and is the subject of an article in the Herald this week. This exhibition was dedicated to the work of prof Janet Cherry and to some poems from Lelethu “Poetic Souls” Mahambehlala.

The articles can be found on the following pictures:

Student Website

Our website dedicated to students’ work can be found by clicking here.

You will be able to find information about their schools, the work they did with us and also some of the events we organized. On that website, you can also find some work from artists linving in Port Elizabeth that were willing to get involved in the Indalo Project.

Stickers

We are trying to get everyone entering the Alliance involved in Helping Indalo. In order to do that we have peut little remainders close to switches or taps. People going out of the different rooms will see them and will remember all the small gestures that can help reduce our carbon footprint.