Tips to tackle food waste this festive

Food waste, composting, 123rf.com Primedia+ – 19 December 2024 It’s revolting how much food we waste over the festive season. Here’s how YOU can help. Festive vibes often mean gatherings where food takes centre stage and sometimes that means waste is in abundance. To reduce food waste, it’s important to be mindful of its impact…

District Six Museum marks 30 years of memories

Joe Schaffers, whose family was evicted from District Six under apartheid, was at the District Six Museum to mark its 30th birthday. (Matthew Hirsch/GroundUp) Matthew Hirsch – 18 December 2024 Joe Schaffers was born in District Six in Cape Town in 1939 and lived there for nearly 30 years before his family and thousands of…

Between a loaf of bread and a book

Jolyn Phillips. (Photo: Brenda Veldtman) Jolyn Phillips – 19 December 2024 What does the landscape and climate for creative writing and freedom of expression look like in five different African countries today? What are some of the issues that affect writers? This year, PEN Afrikaans is participating in the Right to Write project together with…

Artists earn half the minimum wage, while contributing hundreds of billions to the economy. A “smart fund” on digital devices might help them

Photo by Amauri Mejía on Unsplash By Margaret Heffernan Artists are generally thought of as either starving in a garret (La Bohème and all that) or jammy millionaires producing works valued at eye-watering sums (hello Damien Hirst). But the reality of life in the visual arts is more prosaic and a great deal more worrying,…

Promoting social justice through the transformation of the higher education sector

Through research and partnering with communities, universities can tackle the Southern African region’s problems, such as poverty, climate change and unemployment By Ivor Baatjes – 16 December 2024 The University World News — Africa Education recently highlighted the critical need for South African universities to reinforce their commitment to social justice. Ylva Rodny-Gumede, of the…

“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…