Being Green

In this last edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to esteemed climate scientist, Prof Francois Engelbrecht, Director of Wits University’s Global Change Institute, about US President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders back-tracking on climate commitments, and the impact it might have for the rest of us.

Kenya’s Lake Naivasha is famous for its flamingos and hippos. But it is being invaded by water hyacinths which are threatening the livelihoods of local fishermen. The alien weed is a huge problem in South Africa as well, the most invasive plant species in our freshwater ecosystems. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Joseph Nguthiru, founder of the Kenyan start-up HyaPak Ecotech, which has developed a way to turn the invasive plant into a bioplastic. Website -https://hyapak.com/

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Professor Guy Midgley, director of Stellenbosch University’s School for Climate Studies, about the role played by climate change in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Morgan Griffiths, senior manager for advocacy at the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), about recent conflicting reports on the quality of Cape Town’s coastal waters.

Towards the end of last year, scientists from the European Union said 2024 was set to be the world's hottest since records began. Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service also showed that extraordinarily high temperatures would persist into at least the first few months of 2025. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to UCT climate scientist, Dr Peter Johnston, about the year that was.

Christmas is done and dusted for another year. But what to do with all those leftovers? The amount of food thrown away by South African households soars over the festive season, ending up in landfills where it releases harmful methane gas, a major contributor to global warming. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to British celebrity chef Jameson Stocks, who has a very personal reason for hating food waste.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook together with World Wide Fund for Nature, South Africa’s Senior manager, Circular Economy, Lorren de Kock, offer some tips to make your Christmas celebrations more environmentally friendly.

Early morning swimming in the cold water of our tidal pools has become quite a craze here in Cape Town. And with so many of them along our coast, we are spoiled for choice. But these inter-tidal pools are also home to a diverse number of sea creatures. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to writer, photographer, and open water swimmer Serai Dowling about her book, “A Guide to the Tidal Pools of the Western Cape”.

It’s estimated that about 600 million people across Africa still lack access to electricity which is fundamental for economic development. GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry, believes off-grid solar energy could help provide electricity to over 40 per cent of them. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to its Executive Director, Sarah Malm.

Developing nations have blasted the last-minute finance deal reached at the United Nations COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan. They say the $300 billion in annual climate finance that rich countries have agreed to provide by 2035 is too little and too late. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Olivia Rumble, director of Climate Legal and an expert on climate finance.

There has been worrying news from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its latest Red List shows that birds make up a staggering 12 per cent of the world’s threatened species. In Being Green this week, Glynis Crook speaks to Birdlife South Africa’s Dr Kirsten Day about which birds are the most at risk.

Delegates from almost 200 nations are attending this year’s United Nations climate conference which is widely being described as the "climate finance COP". The main task for countries is to broker a deal that ensures up to trillions of dollars in financing for climate projects in poorer states around the world. Glynis Crook discusses the first week of COP29 with Professor Francois Engelbrecht, Director of Wits University’s Global Change Institute.

Climate activists have described Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential elections as a major blow to global climate action. The results were announced just days ahead of the crucial COP29 conference which gets underway in Azerbaijan on 11 November. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Llewellyn Leonard, a professor of environmental science at the University of South Africa, about the implications.

It is just a few days before the United States elections. With Democrat candidate Kamala Harris pretty much neck-and-neck with the Republican’s Donald Trump, the outcome could go either way. But what impact will it have on the global fight against climate change? Harris describes global warming an “existential threat” while Trump has dismissed it as a “hoax”. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to former US diplomat and Associate Editor of the Daily Maverick, Brooks Spector.

The World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF’s) latest Living Planet Index shows that the average size of monitored wildlife populations has declined by 73 per cent in the 50 years from 1970 to 2020. A decline in wildlife populations is like an early warning system for the loss of healthy ecosystems. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to WWF South Africa programme head, Dr Deon Nel, about possible solutions and the need to live in harmony with nature.

Cape Nature says the illegal trade in succulent plants is the most pervasive wildlife crime in the Western Cape, pushing many unique species to the brink of extinction. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Leon Muller, a conservation manager for Cape Nature in the West Coast area, about the problem.

In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to freelance botanist and fynbos specialist, Rupert Koopman, about the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and efforts to revive it.

Vergenoegd Löw is one of the oldest farms in the Cape and makes award-winning wines, but it is also a beacon of sustainable agriculture and eco-friendly practices. And it just happens to have a very cute flock of ducks running about the vineyards. They act as chief “pest control officers”, making sure the farm is free of snails, slugs, and other damaging insects. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to the farm’s managing director, Corius Visser.

Conservationists are questioning Namibia’s plan to cull over 700 wild animals, including hippos, impalas, wildebeest, zebras, and 83 elephants. The environment ministry says the plan is to distribute the meat to people struggling to feed their families amid one of the country’s worst droughts in recent history. But critics suggest the cull is largely a political decision - coming ahead of the November elections - and that the logic behind it is flawed. Glynis Crook discusses the plan with wildlife investigative journalist and academic, Adam Cruise, in this week’s edition of Being Green.

Spring officially arrives this weekend and for many, this time of the year means a reaction to the increased pollen in the air. Some bad news from researchers and doctors is that climate change is not only worsening the symptoms of seasonal allergies, but also making them last longer. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to allergist, Dr Adrian Morris. You can find more on his website: www.allergyclinic.co.za