Democracy and Development in South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Life Aquatic in Cape Town


L to R: Display of pollution of Cape Town beaches by the
waterfront, seafood watch symbols,  a close up of display
and a map of the plastic in the water. 

Cape Town is a city of paradoxes, especially when it comes to the environment. Many South African espouse the glory of nature and the need for recycling and conservation. But, Cape Town still struggles with recycling and air pollution, as it is a motorized city with poor public transportation infrastructure (WMATA, I will try to stop complaining about your service). Most people travel to work and play by taxi, mini bus, or cars.  One South Africans told me that Cape Town does not have air pollution because of the Cape Doctor, which is a strong south-easterly wind that blows the smug away from South Africa’s coast, but when the doctor is away the smog will play (see below).  
Air pollution haze above Cape Town
As South Africa struggles, like other countries, to become greener, I wanted to highlight one of Cape Town’s educational green initiatives at the Two Oceans Aquarium. This visit is due in thanks to Professor Tumi, Cape Town native, who shared that it was a great place to visit.  And boy, was she right!  Throughout the Two Oceans Aquarium, there were signs, displays and images that stressed the importance of the sea and the need for us to watch for our environmental imprint/impact. I was especially impressed with two educational displays at the aquarium. The first was “For Love of Water (FLOW), which reminded visitors that “we are a mirror image of this composition – our human bodies also comprise 70% water; without water we would die and so would the planet.”[1] These messages were written on the fish tanks to remind us to stay in touch with the ocean. The second display focused on overfishing and over-consumption of fish, which is an important issue that the United States rarely discusses (Unless you have friends, who work at NOAA and talk about Total Allowable Catch limits). The aquarium used the stop light  (or in South Africa, robot signals) colors to indicate to visitors “green” species of seafood.  You can even call or text a number to check to see if a fish you wish to eat is from a healthy population. This display reminded visitors that we are consumers and that we can  “make a huge difference to our ocean resources by choosing to eat seafood that is still plentiful and can cope with today’s fishing pressures.[2]  So think or text (079 499 8795) before you eat!
 
Below is a list of easy green recommendations from the Two Oceans Aquarium:
By saving energy and using more renewable sources of energy, we can reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and help cool the earth and the oceans.
·       Change a light: Replace one normal light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) and save 330kg of carbon dioxide a year. Make sure you dispose of the CFLs safely as they contain mercury which is toxic.
·       Drive less: Walk, cycle, catch a lift or take public transport and save 2.2kg of carbon dioxide for every kilometre you don't drive.
·       Recycle more: Save 5 280kg of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.
·       Check your tires: Keep your tires inflated and improve petrol usage by more than 3%. Every litre of petrol saved keeps 44kg of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
·       Use less hot water: Install low flow showerheads (770kg of CO2 saved per year) and wash your clothes in cold or warm, not hot, water (1 100kg saved per year).
·       Turn off your computer overnight – a standard monitor left on overnight uses enough energy to print 5 300 copies!



[1] Two Oceans Aquarium website: http://www.aquarium.co.za/conservation_research/going_green/
[2] Two Oceans Aquarium website: http://www.aquarium.co.za/conservation_research/going_green/

Sunday, June 3, 2012

HIV is No Longer Sexy


“HIV is no longer sexy,” Fredalene Booysen told our class on our May 25th site visit to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) branch in the township of Khayelitsha. Booysen, TAC’s district manager, was describing how the days of plentiful funding for HIV programming have ended as international funding for HIV has declined.  TAC still continues to distribute antiretrovirals, give out condoms and educate community members on HIV prevention in the township of Khayelitsha, an informal settlement where residents live primarily in self-constructed tin structures. However, TAC has been forced to shut down several of its other branches because of funding constraints. Booysen mentioned that the withdrawal of funding from the Global Fund has been particularly difficult for TAC.

About ten years ago, TAC was a major force in challenging the South African government’s harmful HIV policies under former president Thabo Mbeki and ensuring access to antiretroviral drugs for South Africans, especially for HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent mother to child transmission. Booysen and other staff described how TAC is now in a time of transition. While the organization still maintains a watchful eye on the South African government and is ready to protest if necessary, staff recognize that they’ve mostly won their fight against the South African government for access to antiretrovirals (although stock outs and shortages still remain a problem).  TAC has also increasingly been called upon to provide community support in areas outside of its mandate, responding to xenophobic attacks and advocating both for the LGBT community and survivors of gender-based violence in recent years. TAC has the difficult task of trying to continue the support it provides to communities like Khayelitsha and define its mission while also dealing with very serious funding problems. At present, TAC is reluctant to accept funding for its work from the South African government in order to retain its independence and ability to work as a government watchdog group, and is focusing fundraising efforts on small funds from individual donors. 

Friday, June 1, 2012

Encountering The Great White Shark


Coming close to nature, understand more about mother earth (and sea) and being exposed to the wonderful world of animals were among the motivations for my excursion to South Africa. So far, we have seen a number of exotic South African animals, such as baboons, penguins, ostrich and antelopes. Along our road trips, we have also encountered signs about whale watching and shark alert….There are a lot of things that we need to explore around here!!! South Africa, especially Cape Town is also famously known for its offering of a variety of extreme sports. So with the desire to test myself in one of the country’s most extreme activities, and at the same time, satisfy my desire to expose to one of the most-feared creatures, I decided to go diving with the Great White Shark.

We embarked on a trip to the town of Gansbaai at 4:30 am in the morning. From there, we would be taken to Dyer Island, one of the places in the world where there is the densest population of the great white sharks. Warmly welcomed to after a 2 hour ride, with a continental breakfast, I thought to myself: “Eat, eat, eat all you can!!! …before you become the breakfast of the great white.” As soon as the sun started rising, and after a safety orientation, we were ready to go.

15 minutes, a fast but rough and bumpy ride (during which we were entertained by a tactful crew member’s show of feeding the hauk!) took us to the middle of the ocean. The crew began using all tactics to attract the white sharks to our boat: from scented trail (of ocean water mixing with tuna’s head) to the interesting thumb on the boat to lure them. We volunteered to be the first group of divers! ”Down Down, to the right”, a crew member, responsible for luring the shark with his tuna baits, commanded! Down we went, and were absolutely amazed by the “beauty” of the great white shark. Encountering the amazing creature in its own habitat was like a “dream come true” for me. 18ft in length, grey on top, and white underbelly, perfect camouflage body features with little black eyes and its sly grin, I thought the white shark was an "adorable" creature. Despite being “adorable”, a sly grin on his face communicated to me: “I know what you’re up to, seal people!This time…I’m getting you!”.


One of the most interesting thing we learnt about the white shark is that they have the special ability of power sensing. They can sense electrical fields that radiate from living creatures. The signals from their prey were sent to the shark’s brain and it would be able to determine, who’s panicking….Weak animals, of course are easy prey…This fact has resulted in Sia’s denial for her second dive with the great white.  Ana and I, however were happy about our second dive, thanks to our “intimate experience” with the great white. He came closer to us, and abruptly, for the first time, during our whole trip, was able to completely grasp the bait. Our crew members were “fishing” the shark as colleagues recalled from their view from above. As for us, underneath the water, it was an unforgettable experience. Never before has the shark been so close to us. We were able to see it jaws, its fins almost inside our cage. And in my head, I did think that “if only I could feel it right now…"Yes, it was not wise, but I was truly amazed by its beauty (Of course, not that beauty if my hand was bitten off)..

 I was guilty at first at the thought of playing around with nature for our extreme pleasure, but the experience also taught me that such activity in fact helps preserve this endangered animal more than harming them. To me, it also has a special meaning as the White Shark Project had a social purpose. It wasn’t a cheap adventure, but I felt better knowing that a portion of my investment would go into activities for poor children in township of South Africa.

Giving human the opportunity to be closer to nature, through the brand of “responsible tourism” is another success of SA in selling its beauty to visitors.