SCHOOLS

INTRODUCTION - INLEIDING

Enough, for everyone, forever ....

This simple definition of sustainability captures our responsibility towards each other, our planet and its future inhabitants and ourselves.

To live as if the only important things in life are our own enjoyment and prosperity without understanding the impact that this may have on our current and future fellow earthlings is not only selfish but it may even endanger our own future. The ability of our planet Earth to sustain future life as we know it has never been more under more severe threat than now. The amount of pollution people have generated over the last century, including CO2, has taken this Earth to a point from which it may not recover, at least not to the state our grandparents had the privilege to experience when they grew up. Our insatiable quest to consume has brought us to a position where scientist predict that the climate may change to such an extent that the way we live may change forever, and a large number of us may even not survive these changes. It is predicted that the Western Cape will become so dry and warm that we will no longer be able to grow grapes, fruit and wheat. That will result in large numbers of people losing their jobs, farms will become desolate and large numbers of people will be left without an income, food and, perhaps, even water.

The question is: What can we do to limit this approaching catastrophe, how must we change our way of life to use less precious resources and reduce the amount of CO2 that we are responsible for being released into the atmosphere?

It is possible to make a difference, but each one of us has to do our little bit by using less energy, buying less stuff and to constantly ask ourselves what can we do to reduce our impact on the Earth’s precious resources, including its climate.

The material is available and can be downloaded and used at no cost from the links below:

(Professor Wikus van Niekerk)