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)

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.

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

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

Dr Francois du Plessis, GreenCape

Francois, CEO of GreenCape, will give an update on what’s happening in the Province. The GreenCape Initiative is a Sector Development Agency established by the Western Cape Provincial government and The City of Cape Town. The GreenCape Initiative was established to unlock the manufacturing and employment potential in the Green Economy in the Western Cape. Through partnerships with WESGRO, Provincial Government and academia, The GreenCape Initiative provides a platform to build a competitive business infrastructure in the Western Cape. Visit Site

PETER BEKKER will be hosting this months Greendrinks at the Mill and has opted to explore what happens when energy gets really expensive…

We have all heard how we will not be able to continue using oil the way we do. But what will the effects of this be? How will our daily life be different from how it is now once the cost of oil based products is many times higher than it is now, say at $3000 per barrel? There are many things we take for granted which will not be the same, and three guest speakers will be talking for a few minutes each to sketch what may happen in such a scenario.

Janet Botes, EcoJunki

Janet will talk about the creation of art without oil based materials. Ecojunki is an open movement and platform that focus on sustainable living, and aims at raising awareness for environmental justice, conservation and rehabilitation. Visit Site

Natalie Reid, Earthshine foods

Natalie will tell us which foods are entirely dependant on cheap fossil fuel, and how we might get our nutrition in the future. Visit Site

Andrew Wheeldon, Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN)

A passionate cyclist, Andrew is director of the Bicycle Empowerment Network. Andrew will be sharing his vision of transport in Cape Town. Visit Site

The energy story will not go away. This month we are giving the floor to Earthlife to hear their strong convictions against the continuation and development of Nuclear Power. This is topical for South Africa as we approach the finalisation of an Environmental Impact study relating to a proposed new nuclear facility near Cape St. Francis. The direct cost of the Japanese Nuclear calamity is estimated at $100 billion.

The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster – 25 years after Chernobyl. What do we know about Fukushima and what does it mean for South Africa?

Gray Maguire has been involved in socio-environmental justice causes since 2003 when he was working in Tanzania. He subsequently did a degree in development studies while still working in much of the rest of Southern Africa and later did a six month hitch-hiking expedition through 14 countries investigating community based development strategies. He started an environmental management consultancy called Green Earth Consulting in 2008 as well as a Public Benefit Organisation called the Nomad African Trust. He’s presently in the middle of a post graduate degree in environmental management and while being a freelance sustainability consultant also serves as branch secretary for Earthlife Africa Cape Town.

“EarthlifeAfrica is an environmental and social justice NGO that has been active on these kinds of issues since the 80′s. We have been standing in opposition to governments nuclear ambitions for most of that time and were successful in our campaign to stop the Pebble-bed modular reactor.”

Visit Site

We give the platform this month to the magicians of society. The unsung heroes and heroines who use materials to breathe meaning and awareness into our daily encounters. They are the interpreters and “symbolisers” of society. We celebrate art and artists who are speaking to us about our external (and internal?) landscapes.

STRIJDOM VAN DER MERWE

The local doyen of land art talks on the role land art can and is playing in making the public more aware of green issues.
Visit Site

JULIA TEALE

Julia, of the Spencer Street Studios, is working on an art installation with her students as an awareness piece in support of the movement against fracking in the Karoo. The work is a collaboration with her students and will be burned on completion. Visit Site

JANET BOTES

is a visual landscape artist who works in a variety of techniques and materials, is inspired not only by the beauty of the natural landscape; but she also aims to create art and projects that raise awareness of environmental issues and in particular environmental justice. she is founding member of the Ecojunki network. Visit Site | Visit Site

So we want to search for ancient sunlight trapped in the rocks of the Karoo? Maybe we need to reflect on what’s driving this need for energy and the extent to which we are all a part of it. Is Shell just doing it for us?

Renowned hydrogeologist, environmentalist and mountaineer, Roger Diamond, will share some of his insights as to what’s proposed, what’s likely to happen and what the implications are.

Then for those who want to stay on we will show the documentary “Gaslands”.

The campaign against drilling for shale in the Karoo picks up pace…