The City of Cape Town is heading for disaster: indeed, it’s already in deep crisis if one cares to look closely enough. The recent proliferation of public construction, public squares and public housing along the N2 towards the airport is little more than a mirage compared with the direction of more underlying trends.
Cape Town’s grim future is born out of the confluence of the globalised economic and ecological collapse that is fast becoming the defining feature of the twenty-first century. It is manifested most starkly in the dire situation that faces the majority of the city’s residents, who are excluded from the formal economy and must rely on substandard public services and their own makeshift shelters. The scenario is serious enough to draw everyone’s attention but should be set against the broader issues of long-term economic resilience and environmental sustainability to achieve a low-carbon society – so we have our work cut out for us.
The purpose of Counter Currents, edited by Edgar Pieterse, is to demystify these challenges and present readers with a creative portfolio of thinking, practice and strong vision to show that we can find alternatives – and, moreover, that these alternatives are already emerging in (marginal) sections of the state, civil society and the business sectors.
Contents
- Introduction – Edgar Pieterse
- Reflections on Leadership and Governance in Cape Town – David Schmidt
- Jane Alexander: Hunger Artist – Ashraf Jamal
- The Right to the City – Abdoumaliq Simone
- Karen Press
- The Cape Town 2030 Initiative: A contested vision of the future – Stephen Boshoff
- Towards Urban Infrastructure Sustainability – Wendy Crane, Mark Swilling, Lisa Thompson-Smeddle, Martin de Witt
- Public Transport: Tackling Cape Town’s Achilles Heel – Herrie Schalekamp
- Making Public Space in 21st Century Cape Town: An idealistic planning construct or a catalytic city building project? – Barbara Southworth
- Cape Town Central City Strategy – Andrew Boraine
- District Six Development Framework: Prospects for urban and social sustainability – Lucien le Grange
- Oude Molen: Imagining sustainable human settlements – Nisa Mammon
- Kosovo Informal Settlement Upgrade: Sustainability towards dignified communities – Mokena Makeka
- An Experiment in Public Housing – Luyanda Mpahlwa
- Photo-Essay: Social Integration in Cape Town – Tau Tavengwa
- Nurturing Creativity: The Spier experiment – Tanner Methvin
- A Development Plan for Paardvlei, Somerset West – Dave Dewar & Piet Louw
- Space & Transformation: Reflections on the new WCED schools program – Iain Low
- Regionalism and Sustainability – Sue Parnell & Greg Clarke
- Dealing with Sustainability – Mark Swilling
- Why Transformative Change is so Elusive: A conversation – Edgar Pieterse, Mokena Mokekwa, Mark Swilling, Gita Goven, Andrew Boraine, Catherine Stone and David Schmidt
- Conclusion: Re-imagining Cape Town through the rebus of identity, economy and ecology – Edgar Pieterse
Don’t miss this important public-policy read: your future may depend on it!
Book details
A dedicated group of folk who care deeply about the environment gathered last night in Noordhoek’s Wordsworth Books to celebrate the launch of Grow to Live: A simple guide to growing your own good, clean food by Pat Featherstone.
The author, who is the founder of Soil for Life, a Cape Town-based NGO which teaches people to grow their own food, works with the premise – healthy soil, healthy plants, and healthy people.
Environmental activist Anthea Torr, who edits Biophile magazine, introduced Featherstone’s book, saying, “Grow to Live is a tremendously timeous publication for people moving towards living in a sustainable way. We just have to look at the weather to know that it’s time to become reverent towards our life on this planet. With the world facing three major interlinked crises simultaneously – financial, food and environmental – it is evident that those who acquire the knowledge and skills for cultivating the soil and are confidently utilising any space they have available, no matter how small, will be the protagonists of the future.”
Torr introduced the author: “Born, bred and educated in Zimbabwe, Pat Featherstone moved to Cape Town, in 1973 to take up a teaching post at a local High School. It was not the teaching that brought her here, but the father of her about-to-be children. Three girls down the line and many life experiences under the belt, Pat was propelled into the life she had been born to live. Having returned to her home country to set up a new life in the early 90’s things didn’t turn out quite as expected.
“Tough as it was about to be, she drove from her refuge in Zimbabwe, with dogs, children and scant possessions and enjoyed the freedom of just being. No home, no belongings worth mentioning, no work, no money, and no future on the horizon. Only the multitude of gifts bestowed upon her on entering this world, and her three sisters and a mother who believed that there was a life to be lived.
“With the children out of the nest and armed with a BSc Honours degree, a certificate in higher education and twenty years of teaching experience in biology, biochemistry, parasitology, animal diversity and evolution at secondary and tertiary institutions, Pat committed herself to using all of her God-given gifts, to pursuing her passion for the environment, and to helping people to help themselves to a better quality of life.
“She believes that ‘in the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.’
“Best we love our planet now,” she concluded.
A Gallery of Gardeners
Book details
Jacana Media and Wordsworth Books invite you to the launch of Grow to Live: A Simple Guide to Growing Your Own Good, Clean Food.
“A vitally important book, perfectly timed for the extraordinary times ahead. There should not be a household without one.” Anthea Torr – editor of Biophile magazine
The benefits of food gardens are many: they deepen our connection with nature, quieten our minds and create a new understanding of life. The food that is grown gives physical sustenance. The experience of growing it feeds the soul. Can we grow ourselves out of the environmental problems that overwhelm the planet today? There is hope that we can if we know how to get going and use the goods and services provided by Mother Nature that enable us to work in harmony with the environment. This beautiful and, above all, practical book will teach you all you need to know about growing your own food and is a celebration of the wonders of the natural world.
We look forward to welcoming you at the launch:
Event Details
Book Details
The benefits of food gardens are many. They deepen our connection with nature, quieten our minds and create a new understanding of life. The food that is grown gives physical sustenance. The experience of growing it feeds the soul.
Can we grow ourselves out of the environmental problems that overwhelm the planet today? There is hope that we can if we know how to get going and use the goods and services provided by Mother Nature that enable us to work in harmony with the environment.
Pat Featherstone’s Grow to Live is a beautiful and, above all, practical book will teach you all you need to know about growing your own food and is a celebration of the wonders of the natural world.
Book details
Picture courtesy Soil for Life
