Climate Change Quiz for 109 Schools Project

I am proud to have introduced and acuired a Touchscreen Information Kiosk for my organisation. It will be used for the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Climate Change awareness-raising campaigns. After the it was first introduced to the public during the GIS Day 2007 event, it was placed at our organisation entrance for use by staff and visitors. I have heard good report about the use of the kiosk.

The Touchscreen Kiosk content consists of a Climate Change Quiz, a GIS Map, PowerPoint presentation on Climate Change Strategy, video clips on GIS, a brief information about the Department's programmes, and an intro slideshow with the background music.

The Climate Change Quiz on the kiosk has only 10 simple questions prepared for the Grade 12 learners. It is intended to test general knowledge such as what cause Climate change, list few Greenhouse gases, the predictions for the Western Cape region, what actions should be taken by ordinary citizens, what Government is doing about Climate Change, etc.

I believe that my organisation, the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in Cape Town, South Africa is one of the leading regions in the world in terms of being pro-action w.r.t Climate Change strategies and forward planning. The Department has developed the Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy and Action Plan in June 2007. The Department has identified 109 Schools who will be receive the Climate Change Education Programme until October 2008. It is also contributing to Renewable Energy projects in the region.

Barney in Cape Town, South Africa

On Saturday, my wife and I took our son and his friend to see Barney (the original one from the USA) at the CT-ICC in Cape Town.

See some pics...

Happy GIS Day, Western Cape

Yesterday, the 25th October I led my task team from our organisation to host what became a successful GIS Day event. Every year during November, all over the world, most GIS (Geographic Information Systems) users and vendors open up their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of this important technology.

The International GIS Day 2007 will be celebrated on Wednesday, 14 November during Geography Awareness Week.

Our organisation hosted the Departmental GIS Day event whose theme was "GIS Mapping 4 Climate Change" , in October, to kickstart the Climate Change Education and Awareness Programme to 109 target Schools in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.

16 of the 109 Schools attended. Members of various Environmental NGO’s and CBO’s as well as officials from all the Provincial Government Departments attended. CapeNature and the Western Cape Branch of the Geo-information Society of South Africa (WC GISSA) partook in the GIS Day event.

The event started by Drama, Dance and Poetry performance by a Time Theatre Group, followed by the Opening Address by MEC of Environment, Planning and Economic Development, Ms Tasneem Essop. Presentations were made on the Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy and Action Plan, GIS application on Disaster Management.

The School learners afterwards participated in interactive activities with Maptrix, MapAware, GPS Treasure Hunt, and the GIS touchscreen kiosk.

Woolworths and Africon sponsored the catering for the event!

Kiosk with GIS and Climate Change

For the last 12 months I have been motivating to my managers to acquire an information kiosk for branding the Government Department. Today I finally received the kiosk from Dicoll Interactive (service provider based in Johannesburg).

I personally created with the structure and the content for the kiosk which includes the GIS Viewer Map, Climate change Quiz, Videos, Powerpoint presentation, and other text information.

See the kiosk pic...

My article on SDI-Africa newsletter

I have recently submitted an article about "The Sustainability Atlas of the Western Cape 2006" (a project that I co-facilitated)on the SDI-Africa newsletter. You can download the October newsletter at

http://www.gsdi.org/newsletters.asp

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...

Soweto Gospel Choir at Baxter

On Saturday, I was invited by a friend to attend a Concert by the world-renown Soweto Gospel Choir. This group exceeded by expectation. They were so perfect, so organised. No wonder they won an award in Europe. I wish all the South African groups and solo artists may take an example from this group.

It was a bonus for me to be photographed by Cape Times together with ArchBishop Desmond Tutu's office (Cape Times was a sponsor for the main sponsor for the concert). This morning I could not wait to see my pic on the Cape Times newspaper, but to my surprise the newspaper was full of stories of some people who were arrested during the weekend. I guess that's why my pic did not appear on the newspaper. The pic was later emailed to me.


L to R: Myself (Akhona Damane), Mrs Lavinia Brown, Mr Terry Crawford-Brown, and Mr Gilbert Diego (my friend).