Miracles of Hope

I have recently returned from a trip to Johannesburg where I attended the SAB Environmental Journalist Awards 2005 ceremony. It was a great experience as I was able to hook up once again with Dr Ian Player. I also networked like crazy in order to get the book known to as many people as possible. Johannesburg was hot, dusty and busy as it most often is and when I arrived back in Cape Town I was reminded why I love it so much down here. Not that I don’t also love Johannesburg - especially some special people, the jacaranda trees in October, the beautiful gardens and the frenetic pace!

Yesterday 05/05/05 (which also happened to be my birthday) I received an order for 50 books from the City of Cape Town (Environmental Management) for the SABC Careers, Education & Training Faire. This effectively means that the City of Cape Town has taken the book and its precepts so seriously that they are giving it to teachers to read. Everyone who has read the book and to whom I have spoken, has commented that every child should read it - hopefully this generous and far-sighted gesture will start the ball rolling in this direction. Certainly it has been written with upcoming generations in mind as they will be the custodians of the future! Well done to the City of Cape Town for taking the initiative!

There has recently been a hoo-ha in the South African media about escaping radiation at the old Pelindaba plant. I have been to this site. It is dreary, derelict and depressing with an atmosphere of neglect and decay so it is no great surprise that only a rusty old fence and a dilapitated cover protect the public from escaping radiation. When will the powers that be wake up to the power of the rebellious atom?

Because a vast amount of energy is needed to thaw ice, glaciers and icecaps act as an energy barrier against the planet overheating. They also act as vast mirrors reflecting a significant proportion, as much as 70 per cent of the Sun’s heat, back into space. For this reason it is of great concern that soot from millions of open fires of Indian women cooking their family meals is wafting into the atmosphere to fall out on Arctic ice thousands of kilometers away. Minute soot particles warm up the air. They also darken the surface of the ice when they fall out in the Arctic causing the darker surface to absorb more sunlight, which causes the ice to melt faster.

I looked at the Sunday Times non-fiction bestseller list for this past week and am sorry to say that it consisted of vitamin bibles, cookery books and not much else of substance. It is rather frustrating because I have the distinct feeling that people are fiddling while Rome has begun to burn! There are of course people out there who are aware of the global situation but they seem to be in the small minority. The challenge will be to wake up the slumbering masses!! Hopefully the book will play its part.