“Despite 100-year life spans, there is not much sign of 100-year thinking”. How we should amplify our imagination about longer lives

Photo by Marisa Howenstine on Unsplash Long but easy-to-read and thought-packed essay from Geoff Mulgan, writing for Demos Helsinki, on the great opportunities in longer life-spans – would that we were imaginative enough to seize them. Cross-post below: This piece is about one of the greatest questions of our time: how to make most of the…

Urban food garden in Bellville: transforming lives through sustainable agriculture and job creation

The Greater Tygerberg Partnership’s urban food garden in Bellville was designed to provide employment opportunities, supply soup kitchens and provide people with access to sustainable food sources. (Photo: Abigail Baard) By Abigail Baard – 17 December 2024 Urban food gardens not only supply food to the communities in which they are situated, they also help…

Greenpeace Africa on fossil fuels

As I look ahead to 2025, one thing is for sure, the continued burning of fossil fuels has to end now. Africa contributes only 4% of global greenhouse emissions, yet experiences 90% of the impacts of the climate crisis. I don’t know about you, but I feel like this injustice is an absolute disgrace. By 2030, 118 million Africans could face extreme poverty because of the…

Looking for mushroom spawns?

(From a poster on the CTT Food Growers Initiative Facebookpage): Hi. I received medicinal mushroom spawn from Mushrush but have too many for myself as they come in a large bag. These are the spawn I have : Maitake Shitake Turkey Tail Reishi If you are a mushroom grower interested in free spawn and willing to…

🛣️Before you head off for the holidays…

King Price Insurance’s claims patterns for break-ins and robberies from 2021 to 2023 show a clear spike over the festive season – it might be Ke Dezemba but this is no time to neglect your home security measures. Wynand van Vuuren, client experience partner at King Price, offered these reminders for the festive season: 🔒Boost…

Unprecedented lawsuit against ultra-processed food companies — Big Food on trial

American citizen Bryce Martinez filed a lawsuit in December 2024, targeting the world’s biggest food companies for allegedly intentionally engineering food to be more addictive, including Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, and Nestlé. (Photos: Wikipedia) Adèle Sulcas – 13 December 2024 The evidence on the harmful effects of UPFs on human health has grown dramatically in recent…

Turning Cape Town’s vacant land into indigenous gardens

Ismail Johnson and Nora Unruh are seen at the new indigenous garden at Dryden Street Primary in Salt River. (Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp) Matthew Hirsch – 11 December 2024 Vacant plots of land in Cape Town are being turned into indigenous gardens thanks to a collaboration between South African organisations and a German work exchange programme. As…