"Cap your Carbon"! Happy World Environment Day, South Africa!

Happy World Environment Day to all! Today the world is celebrating the WED by encouraging people from all nations and all walks of life to TAKE ACTION against the greatest threat of all, the global Climate Change. The UN theme for 2008 is "Kick the CO2 habit! Towards a low carbon economy!" In that, everyone is encouraged to put a ceiling to their business-as-usual, carbon-intensive lifestyle and pursue a low-carbon lifestyle.

Our organisation is celebrating the day by encouraging the employees to play "Climate Change Quiz" on a Touchscreen Kiosk (that I personally masterminded). The Quiz has ten questions ranging from what the definition of CC to what actions the Provincial Government of the Western Cape is taking, to personal actions that individuals should adopt.

The prize for the winners is a cap (a tight-fitting headdress...see picture below) with the label "CAP YOUR CARBON". The cap was introduced by the Provincial Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Tasneen Essop during her Budget Speech in the Legislative House, encouraging the Legislative members to calculate their Carbon Footprints in order to necessary steps in reducing their footprint. The Carbon Foorprint of all the senior managers in my organisation has been calculated.

The Cap...


The employees queueing to participate in the CC Quiz...


I personally want to challenge, YOU (the reader) to calculate your Carbon Footprint, and then examine what small and big changes you may need to make in your everyday lifestyle.

Happy WED!

Short course: Sustainable Development and Climate Change, 25-28 September

There is no place where one can say "I know it all". That is why I have motivated to attend this free course, sponsored by C3D, at the Energy Research Centre at UCT (University of Cape Town), South Africa.

This course is being facilitated by Professor Mohan Munasinghe, who is a Vice Chairperson of the UN's InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Mohan is the founder of an NGO called MIND (Munasinghe Institute of Development). Himself, together with the UCT Professors, have facilited the various sesssions. The course was focusing on applying a sustainable development framework to the problem of Climate Change. We also learnt a brilliant model/matrix called AIM (Action Impact Matrix) which was used in Climate Change application.

The course is worth attending...

See the picture of the class group together with Professor Mohan Munasinghe...

MSc GeoInformatics programme

I am so excited that I am commencing with my M Sc studies. I have just been awarded a good bursary. I will bestudying courses in GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Environmental Economics, Sustainable Livelihood, and Climate Change. I intend to do a research in GIS and Climate Change focusing in the African continent.

Now, I have started participating in a course offered by Stanford University (the second best University in the work, which is based in the United States). Through the course we will interact and share our knowledge and experiences in Environmental issues with 2 more other African institutions (Tanzania and Uganda), together with Stanford University.

I am looking forward to this amazing opportunity.

National GIS conference presentation: Sustainability Atlas

Yesterday, I made a joint presentation with Ms Elizabeth Hicken on the topic "CASE STUDY: The Sustainability Atlas of the Western Cape 2006". The Atlas is an information tool that has been developed using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to make out the local municipalities of Western Cape of South Africa, according to some 5 themes under Sustainable Development which includes Human Settlement, Socio-Economics, Natural Resources and Tourism, Biodiversity and Agriculture, and Energy and Climate.

At the end of this national conference, I was informed by the organisers that our presentation was voted by some delegates as the best presentation of the conference. (This is yet to be confirmed). I was also approached by an editor for PositionIT magazine, who requests for a news article from me.

I had a real good time during this 2-day conference on the 3rd and 4th April 2007. We also had lovely views of the beach from the Monkey Valley in Noordhoek in Cape Town (Southern Peninsula).

WC Premier's address

Standing by my colleagues, Shy Mngxekeza and Simphiwe Vanqa, is myself (on the right). We were watching on as the police force were matching just before the Western Cape Premier Rasool made his opening address for the Provincial Legislative.

See photo (courtesy of Andre van der Merwe, my colleague).

First Table Mountain hike

It was a cold Saturday morning on the 9th December 2006 when my wife (Ntombi) and I (accompanied by a friend, Birgit Andrich) walked up the famous Table Mountain. Using the Platteklip gorge we took 1 hour 35 minutes (instead of 2 hours) to get to the top of the Cape Town's famous landmark.






Even though it was windy and cold on top, we enjoyed ourselves. It was like we were dreaming. Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula is very beautiful. The Mother City is truly the place to visit before one dies!





After spending about 30 min near the upper cable station, we walk down. The cable car was not operating because of the strong wind. I want to share some of our picture we took during the hike. I believe this is the beginning of Ntombi and I's hiking hobby.