Climate intersects with everything
“The event was fantastic. The speakers were amazing and the atmosphere was also great. I met such brilliant and incredible people that I may still meet even outside the event. May these events happen over and over again.”
The quote above was the response of one attendee at the launch of our Climate Hope resource at the District Six Homecoming Centre on Saturday, where we screened the Politically Aweh video pictured below.
A highlight was the panel discussion where activists, communicators, and an energy systems expert discussed the challenge of climate breakdown, the solutions, and the role of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition.
A key pattern that emerged from the discussion was that climate change affects every aspect of our lives.
It intersects with the cost of living. With health. With food and water security With the depth, or lack of it, of a democracy. And, of course, it determined the choices South Africa and other countries must make about their energy futures.
Lisa Makaula of the Green Connection, highlighted that the challenge is how coal, oil, and gas projects continue to be presented by government and in the media as development opportunities, even to communities bearing the costs of pollution and climate impacts.
“We need development that is for the people, by the people, and rooted in communities,” she concluded.
Stephen Horn, founder of Politically Aweh and director of Clean Creatives South Africa, emphasised how the fossil fuel lobby’s communication entrenches the climate crisis. Public relations firms and advertising agencies continue to promote coal, oil, and gas, while online echo chambers prevent many people from accessing reliable information about climate change and the energy transition.
Prof Harro von Blottnitz, director of UCT’s Energy Systems Research Group (ESRG), argued that there are no technical barriers to a Just Energy Transition, which is “entirely feasible”.
With partners, the ESRG has “done the systems analysis multiple times,” he said. “The transition from fossil fuels to renewables is what South Africa needs.”
The power of Africa’s young people
A second important thread that ran through the afternoon was the enormous power of young people. Lisa pointed to the success of the Cancel Coal court case as evidence that youth are not waiting for change to happen, but are driving it.
“The resilience and agency of young people is something we’re seeing across the African continent,” agreed La’eeqa. “It’s something that needs to be taken seriously by every level of government.”
The young people whom Green Connection works with understand the impact of climate change and the need that their voices are heard.
Harro praised the creativity of young activists. “The thing that gives me hope is the energy of young people who want to do things differently,” he said.
That combination of realism and possibility is at the heart of Climate Hope. Because while climate crisis touches almost every aspect of our lives, so do the solutions.
We thank all who attended the launch at the District Six Homecoming Centre last Saturday afternoon. We hope you found the event as sobering, yet also as inspiring, as we did.
ENDS
