Harvest 2008 showcases conservation in action in the winelands

The Biodiversity & Wine Initiative, a pioneering partnership between the South African wine industry and the conservation sector, has released its long awaited label. The label, which features a sugar bird on a protea, serves to identify and endorse wines which have been produced in accordance with BWI’s conservation requirements.

According to Inge Kotze, BWI project coordinator “By supporting the BWI members displaying this label, you will be making a significant contribution to the long term conservation of critical natural habitats and species in the Western Cape winelands.”

“The month of May marks the launch of this label in celebration of International Biodiversity Day (22 May 2008). At this stage approximately 30 farms are displaying the label, obviously as marketing drive continues this number will increase,” explains Kotze. “The importance of the label is that it empowers consumers to favour wines which are ‘fynbos-friendly’ and contributing to the conservation of our unique Cape Floral region.

The majority of South Africa’s wine region falls within the highly sensitive Cape Floral Kingdom. This conservation initiative in the wine industry, is supported by the Botanical Society of South Africa and The Green Trust (a WWF – Nedbank partnership) works with committed wine farmers to set aside highly threatened natural habitat on their farms for conservation, while also ensuring that these members farm in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner.

Currently, enlisted in BWI are 8 champions, 8 co-operative cellar members and 99 members.

NEWEST CO-OPERATIVE CELLAR MEMBERS: Villiersdorp Cellar and Uitvlucht Co-op Winery.

NEWEST MEMBERS: Wallovale Vineyards, Armajaro Estates, Beaulieu Farm, Simonsig Estate and Muratie Wine Estate.

NEWEST CHAMPION: La Motte is the 8th SA producer to receive champion status.

This brings the total area conserved amongst all the members and champions to 63709 ha which represents some 63% of the total vineyard footprint in the Cape winelands.

For more information on the projects and the conservation stories of participating wine producers, see www.bwi.co.za

hacking for green

kym reckons that so long as people out there are competing to see how green they can be, its all good!

check out the “Hybrid Hackers” video on YouTube:

“Leadership” folly

Upon reading this depressing article in the Washington Post, I had to ask a few questions:

1. Since when did a fence ever stop illegal immigrants?

2. I wonder who received the financial kickback from the ‘fence company’?

3. When will governments and so-called “leaders” (leaders into darkness, I reckon) wake up to the fact that the earth is their livelihood and there is only so much it can take before it loses the ability to support us in the manner many are apparently accustomed?

Washington Post Article:

Environmental Laws to Be Waived for Fence

National Guardsmen weld a section of wall being erected along the international border that separates San Luis, Mexico, and San Luis, Ariz., in this file photo. (Matt York - Associated Press)

Lawmaker Accuses Administration of Abusing Authority to Build Barrier at Mexican Border

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 2, 2008; Page A04

The Bush administration will waive more than 30 environmental and land-management laws in order to finish building 470 miles of border fence in the Southwest by the end of the year, officials said yesterday.

The move, permitted under an exemption granted by Congress, will be the most sweeping use of the administration’s waiver authority since it started building the fence to curb illegal immigration. It will affect environmentally sensitive areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said the agency has no choice but to bypass the standard environment reviews required of the federal government. “Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation,” Chertoff said. “Congress and the American public have been adamant that they want and expect border security. We’re serious about delivering it, and these waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward. At the same time, we value the need for public input on any potential impact of our border infrastructure plans on the environment — and we will continue to solicit it.”

However, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the administration has exceeded what Congress intended when it granted the department added flexibility under the Real ID Act. “Today’s waiver represents an extreme abuse of authority,” he said in a statement. “Waiver authority should only be used as a last resort, not simply because the Department has failed to get the job done through the normal process. It was meant to be an exception, not the rule.”

The use of the waiver authority means that the agency will not have to conduct detailed reviews of how the fence’s components will affect wildlife, water quality and vegetation in the area where it is to be built. Some environmentalists have complained that the fence will disrupt the migrations of various species, including imperiled ones such as jaguars.

Two environmental advocacy organizations, Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, have filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the waiver provision. Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife’s president, said yesterday’s announcement bolsters his group’s argument.

“Thanks to this action by the Bush administration, the border is in a sense more lawless now than when Americans first started moving West,” Schlickeisen said in a statement. “Laws ensuring clean water and clean air for us and our children — dismissed. Laws protecting wildlife, land, rivers, streams and places of cultural significance — just a bother to the Bush administration. Laws giving American citizens a voice in the process — gone. Clearly this is out of control.”

James L. Connaughton, who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said his aides have been working with the Department of Homeland Security to assess the environmental impact of the fence construction even if it does not meet the strict requirements of the law.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Connaughton said the administration is trying “to comply to the extent possible while meeting the deadline” for the fence’s construction.

Eco-Prison

kym hopes that this will become a rule rather than an exception . . .
wouldn’t it be nice if our prisons in South Africa could miraculously be self sufficient AND actulaly rehabilitate offenders.

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Here’s an island prison that’s about as distant in principle from Alcatraz as is it in location. Bastoey Island, about 45 miles south of Oslo, hosts some of Norway’s worst offenders in what is effectively an eco-village working holiday camp.

Instead of the traditional barred cells, prisoners, including murderers, rapists, drug dealers and thieves, live in separate, unlocked houses on the island. Although only one and a half miles from the mainland, prisoners are reluctant to escape, lest they get returned to the typical maximum security unit and lose the privilege of serving their time where they’re learning valuable skills, as well as gaining respect for themselves, each other, and the environment.

The island prison uses solar panels, is almost self-sufficient with food from its own organic garden, and operates a strict recycling system. This is an interesting experiment in eco-therapy — where reconnecting offenders with nature may well also help develop a noble sense of purpose, that in turn helps them reconnect with society.

[ Source: celsias ]

Patrick Moore was in South Africa recently on a whirl wind tour touting nuclear as the only solution to our power shortages . . .

I attended one of his presentations and found his use of statistics very one sided and narrow (climate change is not only about carbon output) and I would have thought as an ecologist he would understand the interconnectedness of ‘things’. What I disliked the most about his presentations was his continuous need to slander the greenies to make himself seem so right. If he was so keen to move from the “politics of confrontation” to the “politics of consensus” and if he wanted to be “fighting for something” rather than against something, then perhaps he needs to consider remaining consistent and leave Greenpeace and the anti-nuclear pundits and the greenies alone and rather work on what he is fighting for.

The press release from Earthlife Africa below says much more about the character of Dr Patrick Moore, including the questioning of hie co-founder status of Greenpeace which he shouts out about all over the world. If he has such issues with Greenpeace, then why proclaim so loudly that you were once a part of it?

I believe it is time Dr Moore moved on and honestly faced up to who he is now:- a pro nuclear lobbyist, with little doubt, paid handsomely by the Nuclear Industry. Lets not be deceived by loud claims of environmental friendliness, the great-green-gravy-train it seems has started rolling.

where does fear take us . . .

I read a quote posted on The Antidote this morning about the irrationality of ALL humans (agreed). The quote went on to declare that we are merely separated by our fear or lack thereof to change. This fear factor set me wondering where I stood in this question of the impact of change and how I personally react to change. I find myself proclaiming that I am a great fan of change, that I jump at new experiences and seem to have made a very unsuccessful career of job hopping. And yet . . . I also find that I have succumbed to the numbing fear of truly stepping out of this self imposed, tarnished box.

Is this duplicity within us all? Do we all believe we want to strive to make the world a better place, but are not quite prepared to put our foot out of this more-is-better, every-man-for-himself society we currently find ourselves wrapped up in?

What fear do we need to face and overcome before we can take up the challenge of practicing the ‘greenness” that we preach? Do we all as human beings, in our irrationality, have the ability to become a mover? A shaker?

I hope so, because never mind taking the road less travelled, in our 11th hour on our little planet, we currently need a whole new road.