CHOOSE BIODEGRADABLE BASKETS OVER PLASTIC

 

Baskets and Hats made from plants are biodegradable

It's 12:45 pm in the hot Cape Town summer, I decided to take a walk in the streets of Claremont.

As I get to corner Second Avenue and Harvey street I saw this woman sitting, In front of her is an assortment of baskets from winnowing baskets, laundry baskets to what looked like handbags.

I was so amazed to see such beautifully handcrafted work.

"How much is this one," I said as I pointed at a beautiful small basket I intended to buy for my wife?

"R200!" The lady answered happily as I later discovered that I was her first customer.

The environmental consciousness in me was quickly unleashed as I started comparing the advantages, prices, beauty, durability, and not forgetting the eco-friendliness between the bamboo handwoven baskets and the plastic ones I had recently seen being sold at a local shop

I realized that the biodegradable basket had many advantages over the plastic one I mean from an environmentalist's perspective.

Beautifully handcrafted baskets 

These craftsmen and women do not only weave baskets but they can weave anything from clothing storage cabinets, chairs, sun hats, and doormats from plant bark, reeds, bamboo stems, and other plants.

"I am from Zimbabwe and we learned to craft these baskets at a very young age as that was our source of income," said the lady who told me that her name was Winnet.

I asked her if she knew that her products were not just wonderful but also environmentally friendly and good for the planet as compared to their plastic competitors?

Her answers were no and I explained to her why I preferred her products as compared to the plastic ones.

1. Not much fuel or energy is wasted in manufacturing those baskets, meaning less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

2. After use they can be nicely destroyed and added into the soil where they will gradually decompose and become part of the soil where they came from

A DISASTER IN WAITING FOR HARARE RESIDENTS

 

Homeless people exposed to environmental health hazards

By Environmental Correspondent

Harare-Zimbabwe

Poor waste management by the City of Harare has seen the Copacabana bus terminus looking like a newly established landfill.

All sorts of waste can be seen scattered all over the place with the few skip bins available reaching over their carrying capacity and over spilling.

"They don't collect waste here, We last saw them a long time ago, The bins are full and overflowing as you can see my brother". said one commuter who pleaded for anonymity.

The political showdown between the Zanu-PF-led national government and the opposition MDC-Alliance which controls Harare's local government business is being blamed for all this irresponsible behavior.

The two political rivals are focusing on exposing each other at the expense of ratepayers and creating a big health hazard in the process.

Mixed waste causing an offensive smell in Harare

Poor waste management in urban areas normally results in the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid.

One opposition politician, Jacob Ngarivhume who leads Transform Zimbabwe has been denied permission to do voluntary clean up work in the city's high-density suburbs including the highly populated Mbare.

Police cited covid 19 regulations in denying Ngarivhume a permit to clean the area which is so disturbing as we have seen certain people being allowed to gather thousands of people for no good reason than just being cheered up and praised.

Residents, commuters and environmental and human rights activists are appealing to the responsible authorities to put their political games on pause and focus on serious governance business if they need to be voted back into office in the upcoming local government by elections and the watershed 2023 Harmonised elections.

Creative Prince turns trash into treasure

 

Prince Baureni -Making new things from recycled material.

As environmental activists are amplifying the Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Rethink and Recycle 5R message, A young creative entrepreneur Prince Baureni has taken the message seriously and is putting it into practice.

Baureni with some of his products.

The 23-year-old Zimbabwean-born young man from Mpumalanga, Siyabuswa area is doing wonders in the upholstery and shoe-making industry.

"I am into recycling, I use old materials to make new designs like household furniture," Prince told this reporter.

"I started this work in 2019," he said.

"Nobody taught me to start this creativity, The situation in my mother's house was the source of inspiration." 

"My mother couldn't afford to buy sofas/(couches) for her house and that problem became a blessing in disguise as that inspired me to go look for old tires and steel so that I can make couches for my mom". explained Baureni.

Creativity:Reusing of old tyres

Prince uses tires, steel ropes, bolts and nuts, wood, empty oil drums, and fabric to make these comfy stools, chairs, and sofas.

" My customers are very satisfied by my products and are always happy because of the good quality and durability of my products," he said.

"Besides reusing, repairing, and recycling these materials that could have been in some landfill filling up much-needed space, Prince also employs and trains local community members from his area and imparts his skills to them during the process.

Just like any other business big or small, Baureni's business isn't spared from challenges.

" Some of the challenges I am facing includes not having a stable supply of material and a good, free and safe place to work from".

In conclusion, he said" I would like to encourage others who would love to venture into this kind of business of creativity that they must never give up, Rome wasn't built in a single day, One customer is better than none. Put your God-given talent and creativity to good use and take care of it.

Those who need to get in touch with Baureni for either supporting his business or learn his artistic skills can reach out to him on

Cell:064 032 5647

Email:baureniprince570@gmail.com

WHY ORGANIC FARMING?

 

WHY ORGANIC FARMING

A maize field where organic manure is used.

The use of chemicals in farming has caused a lot of environmental and human health problems for a long time

Why we must advocate for organic farming?

Organic farming means growing crops using fertilizers that are organically made.

These fertilizers include compost manure (a decomposed mixture of plant and animal matter), green manure, and bone meal.

To make this type of farming work properly "Crop rotation" needs to be practiced.

A good example is rotating cereal crops like corn or maize with legume crops like groundnuts or beans.

The reason is legumes have got a unique way of fixing nitrogen into the soil using their root structures called nodules.

This means that the next crop to be planted where a legume was planted last season will have enough nitrogen.

Organic manure is simple and cheap to produce.

There are a lot of ways to produce this kind of manure

One such way can be found here https://envirosocafrica.blogspot.com/2021/11/way-to-go-for-new-rural-homes.html?m=0

Organically grown food is way healthy than one grown using chemicals and genetically modified.

It is also important to note that chemicals particularly pesticides and herbicides used in agriculture have got a serious negative effects on the environment and human health.

To give a good illustration of what happens I will use a food chain.

So this is what happens with chemicals from the container to your body as the final consumer of food grown using chemicals and genetically modified.

Chemical Container------->Plant------>Human Body 

The chemicals that we apply in our fields end up in our bodies.

How?

We are the final consumer of those crops that we spray with pesticides, not all the chemical is eaten by pests some remains on the plant, some get washed off by rain and if it's in large volumes ends up in water sources, fish consumes the chemical and stays in their bodies, human beings catch the fish for consumption and ingest the chemical through eating them.

As the last consumer human beings are the most affected.

It sounds scary and dangerous but honestly speaking it is the proverbial "testing of our own medicine"