No event
31 Oct
October 2011 – special event hosted by SAFCEI
Lessons for South Africa: the role of renewables as Germany prepares for a nuclear-free future
Experiences of a German Wind turbine consultant and manufacturer
Jürgen Fuhrländer has been in the wind energy business in Germany since 1984, manufacturing, installing and maintaining wind turbines. His business has now expanded to include the manufacture of photo-voltaics and renewable energy storage systems.
He is visiting Cape Town as the guest of SAFCEI, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute.
Visit SAFCEI (Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute)
17 Oct
October 2011
The times they are a-changing
We are honoured this month to have two extraordinary speakers who will share some of their insight and deeper wisdom. There is an urgent necessity to take stock of how we have arrived at this place in order to be different on the way forward. Do the volatile financial markets reflect our deeper human condition and are they a measure of things to come? What does the Occupy Wall Street movement really signify?
David Le Page, journalist, Buddhist
David’s talk is about “Buddhist economics and sustainability – how invisible religions have created a visible crisis for life on Earth” – and offer some insights for change. David is a freelance sustainability journalist, Buddhist and communications officer for the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI). Visit Site.
Anthony Black, Professor and Senior Research Fellow, UCT
Anthony’s talk is about “Growth, development and climate change”. His main fields of expertise are development economics and trade and industrial policy and, more recently, the issue of economic development and climate change. He has acted as an advisor to the Department of Trade and Industry and as a consultant to the Government of Mozambique as well as to a number of organisations including the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the International Development Centre of Japan. His publications include a book on South Africa’s automotive policy as well as articles and chapters on the automotive industry, trade issues, regional integration, industrial policy, employment and foreign direct investment.
19 Sep
September 2011
Creating Community – what a bioprocess engineer is learning about life, tameness and our attempts at ‘sustainability’
Bernelle Verster, water maverick
Bernelle believes that an integrated approach to education, waste management (a subsection of ‘sustainabilit’) and economic viability is achievable. As curator of TEDxCapeTown, she enjoys creating cooperative relationships between entrepreneurs, philosophers, creatives, academics and other beautiful people and exposing them to Ideas Worth Spreading. Together with public participation events like TEDx, she believes social entrepreneurship can be used to create positive change in the paradigms prevalent in society today.
She is particularly interested in the resources-in-transition (otherwise known as waste) in dirty water and is working hard to create ‘wastewater biorefineries’. She is currently doing her PhD at the Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research (CeBER) at the University of Cape Town, rethinking the engineering industry with the help of Biomimicry. Bernelle is for love of water – she is known as the Water Maverick. Visit Site
15 Aug
August 2011
Going Beyond Sustainability – in search of appropriate solutions for a Regenerative Built Environment
Andy Horn, Eco Design Architects
Eco Design Architects has become an Award winning practice specializing in green building design, natural building construction and specialist training & facilitation workshops. Andy will talk about his vision of moving beyond sustainability to an approach where net positive effects are designed into systems to regenerate our habitat.
Andy qualified at the University of Cape Town. He worked in various practices and gained hands-on experience on the construction sites of a number of earth building projects. In 1997 he worked with Craterre – EAG the International centre for Earth Construction on a Centre for the Alliance Francaise and attended a course they offered on earth construction techniques. In 1998 he wrote and presented at South Africa’s first Sustainability in the Built Environment Conference, a Manifesto for Green Architecture – 6 broad principles for a greener architecture, whilst establishing ECO DESIGN – Architects & Consultants.
Andy Horn is widely recognised for his pioneering work in the field of green building in the South African Context, integrated systems thinking & ecological design. In 2004 he won a Sustainable Building Best Practice Award for Africa and in 2005 was awarded the Silver medal in the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction in the Africa and the Middle East region.
In 2007 he was short-listed for a Daimer Chryler Award for excellence in Architecture. He has attracted a wide range of clients including governmental, institutional and NGO based clients, the resort and leisure market as well as residential & owner builder clientele.
He also lectures and writes and has been widely published and exhibited both locally and internationally. Among other projects he is currently busy with a heritage revitalization project in the historic town of Mamre for the City of Cape Town. Visit Site
