Gaza: from devastation to inspiration
And meet our passionate, upbeat new team
In this newsletter:
Gaza webinar “devastates and inspires”
Attend our second Gaza event
Meet our passionate, upbeat team
Decarbonising South Africa − a roadmap
Sportswashing blights Olympics’ strides on sustainability
Gaza webinar “devastates and inspires”
The rebuilding of Gaza could be a lightning rod for sustainable development across the region.
This was one of the illuminating statements made at our 11 July webinar on the intersection between genocide and ecocide in Gaza, which was “simultaneously devastating and inspiring”, as FFSA Coordinator and Director David Le Page noted while moderating the event, which you can watch here.
We heard talks by Tara van Ryneveld, the climate policy co-ordinator at the South African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute; Nina Lakhani, senior climate justice reporter at The Guardian US, and Fadi Quran, who is senior director at Avaaz, an alternative energy entrepreneur in Palestine, and a policy analyst.
Interestingly, our subscriptions to this newsletter soared when we announced the event, and it was very well attended. There’s an even greater appetite out there for insights on this issue than we had realised!
We could write a thesis about this webinar. Instead, we’ll give you some of our favourite quotes from key moments:
“We have the opportunity to ensure that the rebuilding of Palestine is 100% green,” said Fadi. “That is not a figment of my imagination; it’s very possible because Palestine has desert, sun all year, mountains with wind, and sea. We could use those resources to create a fully renewable energy space. Most Palestinians want that, because they understand the risk of being dependent on (outside) power sources. Coal, gas and oil belong to the occupiers. We could then have Jordan and Lebanon move in that directly and broadly change the political dynamics of the region… weaking the US’s hegemony.
“It’s realistic to connect Palestinian liberation with ending the climate crisis.”
Register for our second Gaza event
“Humankind will will not solve the climate crisis until it is interwoven into expressions of popular culture, including music and art.”
We’ve take this observation from several of our fellow climate activists to heart, so our second Gaza event takes a creative approach. Join us to appreciate environmental activism in art forms within the Palestinian context, and even take the open mic if you like! It’s from 1pm - 5pm on Saturday 3 August at The Commons, Muizenberg in partnership with the African Climate Alliance, Climate Justice Coalition, UCT4Palestine and South African Jews for a Free Palestine.
There will be talks, poetry, music and art, and vendors will send Palestine-inspired, locally crafted goods. Register here. Tickets are free and available at the door, with the option of donating to Gift of the Givers Foundation.
The talks will be given by Gabriel Klaasen of the African Climate Alliance, Sarah Farrell and Thameena Dhansay from FFSA, and Ali Sablay from Gift of the Givers.
There will be poetry by Thandi Gamedze, Jade Cave, and Thandi Sebe with animation by Maya Marshak; music by DJ Atiyyah Khan (Future Nostalgia), Operation Khataza, and traditional Palestinian stitching by Cape Town Stitch to Resist.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Meet our passionate, upbeat team
Our team is complete after months of finding new staff. We’re delighted to have a passionate, skilled and upbeat group of people who have hit the road running.
They are massively increasing our capacity to drive a broad range of campaigns to undercut the clout of the fossil fuel industry and help to create a sustainable world, one characterised by the well-being economy, which we look forward to writing more about in future.
We’re aware that many of our supporters link up with FFSA through a specific campaign but might not realise the breadth of our work. A list of our projects, with suggestions about how you can help, is at the bottom of this story. Please support us in any way that suits you, if you’re not already doing so. Meanwhile, we’d like to introduce a few more of our new people:
Decarbonising SA − a roadmap
Fossil Free SA is pushing hard for a shift from fossil fuels to renewables, but is this possible? If not, what can be done in the short term, and which technology is not yet available?
Are there instances where mindsets are the real stumbling block?
We’ve drafted an overview on the subject with help of an FFSA supporter who is an ESCA-registered professional engineer with 12 years work in energy efficiency. This document finds that 80% of our country’s energy needs − land-based transport and electricity generation for the grid with storage − could be supplied in the short term by renewable energy sources: PV and wind power, both with batteries, and solar thermal power with storage.
Unfortunately, significant short-term progress is not yet possible for other needs including industrial heating, mines with non-electric machines and commercial aircraft. As optimists, we keenly await progress on these scores!
Shipping is an interest sector, where mindsets play a major role. Significant progress could be made here as close to 40% of global shipping is currently devoted to transporting fossil fuels. As other sectors shift to locally generated renewable energy, great strides could be made.
Sportswashing blights Olympics’ strides on sustainability
You might be hooked on the glorious 2024 Paris Olympic Games after being amazed at the razzle-dazzle of the opening ceremony, as are we.
After a deluge of rain during the opening ceremony, which took place on Earth’s hottest-recorded day ever, the events began in stifling heat; such extreme swings are typical of our altered climate, a study has pointed out.
The games are both a victim and an accelerant of climate breakdown. This year’s games aimed to be “the greenest yet” and have set a new bar for environmental sustainability. Their laudable efforts include that 95% of stadiums are existing structures, replacing concrete with low-carbon building materials, using recycled plastic for stadium seating, and buying carbon offsets for spectator air travel.
Yet both the Olympics and Paralympics this year are sponsored by several major polluters who consistently oppose action on climate change and reducing air pollution: Air France, ArcorMittal and Toyota.
FFSA is a member of the sport for climate action network Cool Down, which wrote in a recent report that through promoting high-carbon products and services such as flights and cars, these three sponsorships alone could account for more than 30 million extra tonnes of CO2 emissions, with Toyota by far the biggest polluter.
“Such glaring contradictions echo the days when tobacco companies were common sponsors of sport,” the Cool Down report pointed out.
DID YOU KNOW?
South Africa’s new Climate Change Act has been welcomed as a huge stride in the right direction. It paves the way for slashing emissions, setting caps for large polluters, and requiring an adaptation plan from every city and town. Unfortunately, it allows major polluters to continue polluting, if they pay a higher carbon tax.
A “stampede” of new oil and gas projects being explored this year stand to generate the most emissions since 2018, despite the extreme weather events due to climate breakdown that are causing death and destruction across the world. The world’s wealthiest countries are leading this trend.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently called for all nations to ban all fossil fuel advertising. “And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising,” added the climate champion, who previously slated fossil fuel company chiefs as “godfathers of chaos”.
Our Fossil Ad Ban campaign recently lodged South Africa’s first greenwashing complaint with the Advertising Regulatory Board, against TotalEnergies. We await the outcome.
Country director of our Clean Creatives campaign, Stephen Horn, also runs the political satire show Politically Aweh. For some light relief to balance the sombre nature of much climate news, you might enjoy the Politically Aweh video on the real reason why TotalEnergies sponsors the AFCON tournament.