Let’s Go Green!

The Durban University of technology’s Journalism Programme held a community engagement day, themed “Green climate” on Wednesday 25 May 2011 at their Arthur Smith hall. Amongst the guest speakers were Miss Gabriella Sofia Peppas manger of the “Green hub” an eco-tourism information centre in the uMngeni area next to the uMngeni River which was built in preparation for the FIFA 2010 soccer world cup which was held in Durban. This “Green Hub” provides a base for visitors and residents learning more about Durban’s outdoor attractions and to book nature based activities and accommodation around Durban and KwaZulu-Natal. The aim is to encourage the residents of Durban to explore the municipality’s biodiversity and building an appreciation for the need to conserve and protect this diversity of life. Peppas spoke about the range of changes and positive contributions the green Hub has had on Durban and the community at large, explaining the activities that are available and the goals of the Project, she made examples such as their youth canoeing training and other outdoor programs that are available for underprivileged children. It is with such programmes that people are made aware of the beauty of nature and thus motivating the need to preserve it.

Whilst on the topic of preservation and appreciation speaking on behalf of the Kwa Zulu Natal subsistence fishers’ forum was Desmond D’sa from the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDECA)who went on to speak about how subsistence fishing in Durban is prevailing, mentioning its pros and cons.  D’sa said that; “To tell subsistence fishers to stop fishing would be like telling them to go die, since fishing is how they are able to survive and provide for their families”. He mentioned that though we need the environment to survive we must look after it so that it looks after us back, over fishing should never be an option and mentioned how surfers and fishers should work together at making sure that the sea life is preserved and respected. To finish it off was Imagine Durban’s- Amanda Botes who spoke about how the municipality in the future sees Durban an eco-friendly city that is well looked after by its residence, she spoke of little things going a long way like making sure we don’t Litter, Always put our waste in a bin and help  recycle our waste.

Durban is primarily an African City, rich with contrasts and honoured traditions. Subtropical beaches and vast undeveloped landscapes provide the environment for great urban development with more traditional rural lifestyles. Because of such diversity, Durban embodies challenges faced by most cities in the global south.  The city has been positioned as a global leader in the field of climate protection planning and recognised as the ‘Climate Capital’ of South Africa, due to its bold response to the challenges of climate change and variability.

South Africa is due to host this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference. The 17th conference of Parties on climate change scheduled to be held at Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011. A decision to set up the Technology Mechanism to aid the technology transfer from developed to developing countries was taken at the Cancun-Mexico- summit. The large set up of the Technology Executive Committee and the Climate Technology Centre & Network are likely to be finalised before the Durban summit. The European Union, which is also the leader in low-carbon technologies, still calls for advanced improvement measures by other developed countries like the United States of America and Australia, including advanced developing countries like China, Brazil and India. The United States has openly stated its reservations to an international agreement that does not include legally binding objectives for the developing countries. While the developing countries argue that developed countries have past responsibility to reduce their carbon emissions and any binding targets would badly impact their own economic growth. We can only but hope that with such conferences there is a change that takes place and it is one that unites all countries developed or not to work together at an eco friendly universe.

The mark on the Thumb…

The hype surrounding South Africa’s democratic elections only just got higher, with just two days before the Municipal elections to take place on the 18 May 2011, there is so much to find out from the public. Thandeka Mchunu 3^rd year Journalism student at the Durban University of Technology was excited and just couldn’t wait. “I know it seems like its just voting and not so big a deal but it’s during this time that I am reminded of how liberated I am as opposed to the past during the apartheid regime.  Maybe we are taking our freedom for granted and forget how far we have come to say we are liberated. For south Africans voting has almost become a routine that needs to be done but very few of them believe it makes any difference." Considering the controversial issues that surround our politicians it may not be so hard to believe why they feel that way. "The reason I vote is in hope of getting improved service delivery within my community, hoping it’s for the right candidate. Also because I cannot complain if I do not make a vote, so my vote is my voice. I have noticed that the South African youth have very little to no interest in our country’s politics for them its as if life is just a matter of waking up and doing what you have to. “If you take a close look at the African National Congress's Youth league president Julius Malema, can you expect the youth to be any more serious about it, Julius for me is a joke and always knows when to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, not setting a good impression on youth who actually love politics. Maybe there is hope though if by seeing the mediocrity he causes politics' lovers should be encouraged to do something and maybe one day save the ANCYL from dying." But do we realise that there are still countries that are fighting for their liberation and we have the privilege of choice, yet we bicker about issues that can be resolved easily and don't focus on serious matters that impact our country at large. I guess we can only wait and see if the African National Congress (ANC) will fulfill their promises and it is not just another empty promise situation.

Twitter and journalism...

With the world moving into a technological phase can journalism survive?  For instance twitter is a social networking site that connects ordinary and prominent people at just the click of a button where in the past it was almost impossible keeping up with our celebrities without our journalists or media but all that has changed. Today an “ordinary” person can tweet about something that will in minutes turn out to be a news story. But will this hurt or assist journalists. Well with everything or rather most things in life there are always pros and cons and the same goes with twitter, twitter can propagate some issues and maybe phase out others and even stir up sensationalism. As a  journalism student twitter makes life easy and the accessing of news and gossip quick which means I do not have to be in front of a TV or reading the paper to know what is going on in the world anymore. Twitter can be accessed on your cell phone (if browser enabled) which means everywhere, anytime you can get what’s what. It’s a great way of sourcing information and expressing ones view openly without having to be correct but can also be of great danger when people tend to rely more on twitter than what media has to say. Though it’s great for sourcing it’s as good as Wikipedia-unreliable.

Media invading prominent peoples lives- fedback

Well this is my first post on this blog, and my first blog. Creating it wasn’t difficult but I just haven’t familirised myself with it. I hope with time I will be an expect blogger… or maybe not.

Well getting down to business firstly when my partner and I chose our topic for the New media package piece, we didn’t really think it would be difficult and we thought it was interesting, but didn’t realize that writing it wouldn’t be a s easy and we learnt that the hard way and it was a little too late. But I guess they say better late than never right? So putting together the piece was challenging because I had so much information and didn’t structure it correctly the vision was there but I just failed to put it on paper.  I failed to not sound subjective and over opinionated in my piece and it just turned out to be an opinion piece, well it least I think it made a good opinion piece. To add on to my stress I didn’t have a picture that went with it, well getting a picture of a celebrity isn’t all so easy when you not a socialite anymore. But it goes to show that planning goes a long way in creating a piece that is reader worthy and interesting.