GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Residents of Vrygronde, in collaboration with local stakeholders, Support Centre for Land Change (SCLC), Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba (ILL) and the Camdeboo National Park, celebrated World Earth Day on 22 April under the theme Invest in Our Planet.
World Earth Day is a globally coordinated event celebrated on 22 April annually to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was celebrated for the first time on 22 April 1970 and is now celebrated by an estimated one billion people in more than 193 countries worldwide.
World Earth Day celebrations in Vrygronde was dedicated to further developing the Vrygronde agro ecological hub that was established during the 2020 lockdown and launched on 23 April 2021.
The agro ecological hub concept was introduced by the Co-operative Policy Alternative Centre (COPAC), a grassroots development organisation based at Wits University, the Support Centre for Land Change (SCLC) and other national strategic partners as part of the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign (SAFSC).
The primary objective is to promote agro-ecology as a sustainable alternative to the dirty fossil fuel developments such as shale gas exploration ("fracking") that have been promoted in parts of South Africa, particularly in the Karoo, and also to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies in response to the climate crisis.
After preparing the land and planting vegetable seeds and herbs, residents and stakeholders were treated to a lovely lunch at the Vrygronde soup kitchen.
The soup kitchen was established by the Vrygronde leadership on 16 June 2020 as part of their Youth Day celebrations and in response to the food crisis in their community.
Next on the agenda for the Vrygronde community is the upcoming Skhaftin visit. Skhaftin started in October 2020 when a school bus was converted into a mobile grocery store providing access to healthy food and promoting plastic free shopping in the inner city of Johannesburg as part of a zero waste experiment.
The bus will now go on a journey from Johannesburg to Cape Town making stops along the way to engage with agro ecological initiatives and waste projects of national interest. The Vrygronde agro ecological hub was identified as one of these initiatives.
The bus will eventually find its new home at the Kannemeyer Primary School in Grassypark, Cape Town, where the teachings will be integrated into the curriculum and the potential for a zero waste business model will be explored.
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