In just two months a very special event will take place at various points in the Overstrand where I live and work, when Dr Sylvia Earle, world-renowned marine conservationist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, visits and launches the Cape Whale Coast Hope Spot.

< African penguins at the Stony Point colony in Betty's Bay, Cape Whale Coast Hope Spot[/caption] An ambitious programme is being organised by the Cape Whale Coast Hope Spot (CWCHS) Organising Committee (for which I am a volunteer) to mark this historic occasion, which will include a dive and underwater plaque unveiling by Dr Earle at the Old Harbour, Hermanus. All activities in the ambitious programme will be filmed underwater, on land and from the air and streamed live which means that the public will be able to hear Dr Earle’s underwater speech during the plaque unveiling. What is a Hope Spot?

Dr Earle, through the ocean community hub Mission Blue, created the idea of Hope Spots in 2009 to ignite public support for a global network of special marine management areas critical to the health of the oceans and the planet. As such Hope Spots promote an inclusive approach, whereby science, tourism, education, sustainable development and use of marine resources are possible.

These special areas act as a network of marine spaces designed to maintain biodiversity, provide a carbon sink, generate life-giving oxygen, preserve critical habitat and allow low-impact activities to thrive.  Given the international profile of Dr Earle and Mission Blue, several key benefits of Hope Spots include global recognition and support for selected marine areas, and extensive promotion in the global tourism market. To date 50 Hope Spots have been declared on a worldwide basis.

 

< Baby rhino at Kariega Game Reserve[/caption]In the 1950s White Rhino were in danger of becoming extinct and through a concerted effort by Dr Ian Player and a dedicated team of people this iconic species was brought back from the brink of extinction - "In the late 1950s we faced the challenge of the White Rhino becoming extinct. We overcame the technical and political problems and from a small number of 437 White Rhino in 1953, there are now thousands in the world. A small team of dedicated people made the difference." Dr Ian Player DMS In the 1960s there were over a million Black Rhino, but by the 1980s the world's Black Rhino population had become seriously endangered. To raise awareness about the plight of the Black Rhino and help bring the species back from the brink of extinction, two deeply committed young Zimbabweans, Julie Edwards and Charlene Hewat, undertook a "Ride for the Rhino" campaign, a gruelling 18-month cycle of 22 000 kilometres from Glasgow to Harare. They later wrote a book titled Extinction is Forever in which they described this mammoth effort to “defend the undefended and secure for the vulnerable invulnerability.

Rhinos in Africa and India are again under serious threat from poaching and again it is a relatively small group of people who are working to make a difference, often putting their lives on the line. On this World Ranger Day 2014 I honour the men and women who are working to save rhino and other species under threat, 27 of whom lost their lives in the line of duty in the last 12 months.

< Pic courtesy of Bronwyn Maree/BirdLife South Africa[/caption]At the time of writing this post an albatross conservation success story I wrote, which was published on 9th July in the Earth Island Journal, the online mouthpiece for the Earth Island Institute Inc, a prestigious organisation based in the US, had received 112 tweets and 335 “likes” and while this interest is a wonderful boost to my morale what is more encouraging is that almost 450 people have cared enough about the saving of albatrosses to a) take time to read the piece, and b) give it their support and allegiance.

Of course it is a visually beeeyootifuuul piece, with the Managing Editor of the Earth Island Journal pulling out all stops to source an exceptionally poignant pic of an albatross mother with its chick, which I’m sure helped enormously. However, the piece has also shown me that people around the world have become so habituated to environmental bad news that a good news story, especially if it is one about an iconic species such as the albatross, is a welcome indication that good things ARE happening in the world, which we all need to know about.

Having personally grown weary of the negativity inherent in environmental reporting, I have decided that this will be my focus from now on – to write uplifting stories about people and the environment that show readers what is right about the world. Onwards and upwards into a new phase ….

Life is the most amazing journey and for me one of its most outstanding features is the “Power of Agency”, which is a confirmation that nothing is impossible and everything possible; the “Power of Agency” being a force that enables a way of doing something to be found once you have committed yourself to a particular path.

For me it is an opening up of possibilities to a new goal, life stage or way of being, and throughout my life it has been a powerful force that, once I have set my sights on a particular outcome, has opened the way, powering momentum and sometimes taking me far beyond what I could have first envisaged.

I have seen its capacity at work with projects that have been exceedingly important to me; projects such as the writing and publishing of my book and the owner-building of my sustainable house, as once I have decided, “This is it. I’m going for this come hell or high water,” I not only find a way to do it, but the results often far exceed my expectations or even my hopes.

It seems that with the “Power of Agency” factors for your advancement coalesce, often in ways that you couldn’t have imagined. This makes for a fascinating ride as you never know what is around the corner or who, fortuitously, will be put in your path to help a project along.

As great shifts and tides shape a new global reality there are indications that this century is going to be an extraordinarily challenging one. To start with we are in the midst of a historically unprecedented demographic transition. Humankind’s burgeoning numbers and our impact on the natural world is on a scale never before experienced in human history, the ramifications of which are going to affect each and every one of us.

Urban growth is expected to double the number of city dwellers by 2030 with most of the urban development taking place in Africa and Asia, and with two-thirds of the world’s people expected to be living in urban areas by 2050, the number of mega-cities is expected to increase exponentially.

Growing wealth disparities are causing social tensions in parts of the world. Rising unemployment put jobs at the top of the Rio +20 agenda. And with an estimated 8.2 billion people on the planet by 2030 there will be a greater demand for resources – water demand will have increased by 30%, food demand by 50% and energy demand by 50%.

By 2025 it is expected that gas will have overtaken oil as the world’s most important energy source, a gas economy being transitional to a hydrogen economy.

We have entered a “Heat Age” with the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) AR5 (Fifth Assessment Report) providing scenarios that range from a mitigation scenario (421 ppm) in which there is 0.3 – 1.7 degrees Centigrade of warming to a scenario with very high greenhouse gas emissions (936 ppm) with increased temperatures of between 2.6 – 4.8 degrees Centigrade.

In an era of carbon constraint there could be a global price on carbon and fierce competition can be expected among the 40-odd countries that produce most of the world’s greenhouse gas for the remaining carbon space.

In these and other respects the rulebook is changing. For now no definitive single future is presenting itself and instead there is a range of possible futures or envelopes of change that are defining this century. These volatile waves of change will likely intensify, dramatically reshaping the world as we know it especially in the geopolitical and macroeconomic landscapes.

In < a bid to make people, especially office managers, more environmentally aware, Dictum Publishers have put out a Tool Kit for offices: http://greenofficeweek.co.za/assets/SiteEngineManager/toolkits/gow%202014%20toolkit.pdf. It even has an excerpt from my book as an Intro on page 4!

The things I most enjoy doing in Cape Town have less to do with place and more to do with the experiences I have had in these places – unexpected, unusual and exciting experiences that have quite literally taken my breath away!

I < love visiting the Hout Bay Harbour as where but this bustling harbour could one see an “Old Salty” kissing a seal?

The Iziko Slave Lodge is a “must-do” on my list for the thought-provoking exhibitions it hosts, one of the most outstanding being a “Hands That Shape Humanity” exhibition I visited in 2005 which still inspires me to live and work in a more conscious way.

I once saw a magnificent Masai warrior in full Masai regalia stride through the Company’s Garden. He was tall and his bearing proud and it was evident from his rolling gait that he was more used to walking the plains of Africa than the streets of Cape Town.

For an exotic slice of life I love walking up Long Street on a busy day as who knows what one will see, hear, smell or experience in this cultural melting pot with its African, European, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern influences?

Muizenberg’s “historical mile” also features on my list as it provides an interesting stroll through one of the most picturesque areas of Cape Town – an area steeped in the fascinating history of the Cape, with historic old buildings like the Rhodes Cottage Museum where Cecil John Rhodes lived his last months, just waiting to be explored.

Professor Adam Habib, one of South Africa’s most respected political analysts, told me in a recent interview that as Mandela had been out of political life for at least 12 years and had not been an active guiding influence for at least six years, we are unlikely to have any significant change in prospects in a post-Mandela South Africa. However, the country faces enormous challenges – one of the most pressing being higher levels of inequality.

Poorer countries around the world began to catch up with richer ones in the 1980s with the result that global inequality began to fall. South Africa, despite its hopeful move into democracy almost 20 years ago is, however, still one of the world’s most unequal societies. And as inequality more than poverty polarises society, growing inequality is presenting huge social, economic and political challenges with sluggish financial growth, weakening demand and increased social unrest proving worrisome.

So what is the answer to South Africa’s growing inequality? There are many answers to this highly emotive and complex question – one lying with improved education and greater investment in the young, the world per se putting a high store on high-level intellectual skills and the capacity to think, plan and make decisions. Whilst another calls for improved productivity and an increase in competitive advantage by making better use of the country’s capitals: human, natural, financial and reputational.

There can be no better way of honouring Mandela’s incomparable legacy than by narrowing the bridge of inequality that is dividing South African society – the question is whether the political and business elite of the country have the will?

In an age when the unrelenting glare of media publicity has exposed many popular heroes as having feet of clay, one man’s star will continue to rise … and rise. That man is Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and the brilliance of his iconic status as a universal hero of the 20th and early 21st centuries, has, by reflection, immensely enhanced South Africa’s prestige on the world stage.

Directly or by association, all of us in South Africa have benefited from the panache of the Mandela persona which has proved to be an unparalleled trump card for the Rainbow Nation. However, I believe it is in his belief in “honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, purity, generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve your fellow men”, qualities which he felt to be “within the reach of every soul”, that his greatest gift to the nation is to be found – for Madiba has given us a template for greatness. And we are in urgent need of men and women of greatness.

Where would we be without Madiba’s example of forgiveness and reconcilliation? His immense goodwill which he extended across the nation and which embraced people of all colours, cultures and creeds? His willingness to subjugate himself to the monumental task of building a new South Africa? His Mandela Jive? His humour and humanity? He believed that “a person is a person because of other people”. Thank you Madiba for teaching us what it means to be a “person”. We will forever be grateful. We will never forget you. May you now Rest In Peace.

Mahatma Ghandi said, “The things that will destroy us are politics without conscience, wealth without work, knowledge without character, business without morality, science without humanity and worship without sacrifice”.

What if this were to be reversed to include the things that will save us: politics by politicians who care not only about their immediate constituency but the bigger picture to such an extent that they can’t help making a positive difference to the world at large; wealth for people who use their money for the betterment of humankind and the health and wellbeing of the planet and its myriad inhabitants; knowledge that enables humanity to soar to unprecedented levels of consciousness; business that looks far beyond the triple bottom line to principles and practices that do the most good for the greatest number of people in the largest parts of the globe; science that embraces our humanity and frailty; and worship that is in no way proscriptive and which uplifts the entire human family. Is this an unrealistic pipe dream or a blueprint for a better future?