Being Green

South Africa’s Marion Island is being overrun by more than a million house mice. And as the growing population runs out of their normal food, they’re increasingly turning to the island’s seabirds as an alternative source of nourishment. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Dr Anton Wolfaardt of Mouse-Free Marion about its project to rid the island of the rodents.

Scientists and officials gathered in Cape Town last week to discuss what they know about the rabies outbreak in Cape Fur Seals and what to do about it. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to one of the delegates, Dr Tess Gridley, co-director of Sea Search, which is a collective of marine mammal scientists, who told her that selective vaccination of seals got underway on Thur...

As the Olympic Games get underway in Paris on 26 July, the Worldwide Fund for Nature has launched a video campaign urging people to focus on the world records we don’t want to break. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to James Reeler, Senior Manager: Climate Action at the WWF South Africa about what it hopes to achieve with the campaign.

Trees and plants make life better in a city, including improving air quality, providing homes to birds and insects, and cooling our streets. A recent heat-mapping campaign as part of the World Bank’s City Resilience Programme and the National Treasury’s Cities Support Programme found large temperature differences in parts of the city with densely-packed buildings and no trees, compared to leafier...

An urban greening trend that is gaining momentum around the world for its environmental benefits is something called a Miyawaki pocket forest. The concept was developed in the 1970s by Japanese botanist, Dr Akira Miyawaki. Now Aghmad Gamieldien, founder of Mzanzi Organics, has created five of them in Cape Town. He joins Glynis Crook on this week’s edition of Being Green.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Prof Peter Ryan, emeritus professor at UCT’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, who co-authored a study which found that colourful plastics degrade to form microplastics faster than those with plain colours.

Electronic waste is the fastest-growing solid waste stream in the world. In 2022, a record 62 million tonnes were produced globally, up 82% from 2010. But less than one quarter of the year’s e-waste mass was documented as having been properly collected and recycled. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Keith Anderson, CEO of the e-Waste Association of South Africa (e-WASA)...

In this week’s Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Pavs Pillay, behaviour change lead and WWF-SASSI manager, about the initiative’s new report, “The hidden costs of your seafood”, which focuses on the crucial role played by retailers and suppliers of seafood in ensuring responsible and sustainable fishing practices are implemented.

In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook continues her discussion with Wild Survivors founder, Francesca Mahoney, about elephants in Tanzania, and how their fear of bees is being harnessed to protect farms and help communities along the animal’s migratory corridors. To find out more, go to: www.wildsurvivors.org

In this week’s Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Francesca Mahoney, founder of Wild Survivors, an organisation that works to create a sustainable solution to the conflict between elephants and humans along the animal’s migratory corridors in northern Tanzania. To find out more, go to: www.wildsurvivors.org

A study published recently by the British Antarctic Survey raised concerns about the record low levels of sea ice around Antarctica. Scientists found that in 2023 – compared to an average winter – the maximum extent of the Antarctic Sea covered by ice, shrank by over two million square kilometres. It found that these historically low levels were a one-in-2,000-year event without climate change but...

Plastic waste is poorly managed along coastal zones in West Africa, and Tanzania is no exception. But as the public becomes more aware of the problem, there are an increasing number of initiatives to deal with the problem, and opportunities to recycle. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Alexis Cronin, co-founder of Dunia, a sustainable design company based in Arusha, tha...

The powerful El Nino weather phenomenon, a big contributor to last year’s record-breaking global temperatures, has faded. Its opposite, La Nina, is expected to emerge in the next few months. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook asks Dr Christopher Jack, deputy director of UCT’s Climate System Analysis Group, what impact it is likely to have.

Wood vinegar, a by-product of charcoal production, has been used in agriculture for over two thousand years, both as a growth booster for plants and a natural pesticide. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Ralf Dedig, the owner of Namibian company, Makarra Wood Vinegar, about the benefits of the product.

Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant on earth, and products made from this grass are highly eco-friendly. Among its many benefits to the environment is the fact that it absorbs twice as much carbon dioxide as trees and generates an impressive amount of oxygen. Glynis Crook caught up with Go Bamboo, a company that imports bamboo toilet paper, kitchen towels, and facial tissues at the recent Organic...

Two bird conservation organisations, BirdLife South Africa and Sanccob, are taking the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment to court over what they see as a flawed plan to protect the endangered African Penguin. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook asks Sanccob’s head of conservation, Nicky Stander, what motivated them to do this.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Nileta Knoetzen, co-founder of Malmesbury-based company, Growing Paper, which not only hand-manufactures paper from paper waste, but also infuses it with seeds so you can “plant” it after use.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to World Travel Market Africa sales manager, Penny Fraser, and marketing manager, Olivia Gradridge, about how seriously the tourism industry is taking the negative impact it makes on the environment.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Heather Wares of the Two Oceans Aquarium about the incredible work done by its foundation in the field of ocean research and conservation and the beach clean-up it is holding at Surfers’ Corner, Muizenburg, on Saturday morning. Time: 9h-12h. Bring along gloves and a bucket to collect the trash.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Honest Chocolate co-owner, Anthony Gird, about their efforts to make their products sustainable and environmentally friendly and how climate change is impacting cocoa bean production. To find out more about their chocolate and workshops, visit their website: honestchocolate.co.za

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Greenpop’s Zoe Gauld-Angelucci about the organisation’s incredible urban greening and forest restoration projects and the Reforest Fest is it holding in the Overberg on the Easter weekend.

In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Victor Sterling, co-owner of Delheim Wine Estate, about the importance of soil quality and the farm’s practice of planting cover crops between the vine rows.

Reminder to not waste water as dam levels drop below two-thirds About a week ago, the Western Cape Department of Water and Sanitation reminded residents of the need to be cautious about the amount of water they use. This as dam levels in the region collectively stood at 65.8 per cent. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to climate scientist, Dr Peter Johnston, who says that usage has inc...

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Shani Judes, director of the Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival which takes place from 1-14 March. It features a host of events focusing on ocean conservation, including a beach clean-up, documentaries, and a charity auction of surfboards painted by South African artists. Find out more on www.wavescape.co.za

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Christiaan Gildenhuys, a postgraduate student in Stellenbosch University’s Department of Botany and Zoology, who has co-written a paper about the 400-year-old history of oaks in the Cape, and why they are now becoming a problem.