Although 2010 FIFA World Cup™ is now only a fond memory, it did leave a few legacy projects that have benefitted Cape Town in its wake. The Cape Town Green Map is one such project that has kept up the Soccer World Cup momentum by growing its readership via print and web media.

Now in its third edition, the print map has been very well received and has been distributed far and wide, including at COP 17 in Durban, and in New York and Brisbane, Australia! The cover of the third edition features the Mayor of Cape Town on a bicycle. The map has a strong sustainability focus and includes strategic branding for the Climate Smart Cape Town Campaign, ahead of the COP 17 conference in Durban. The map also made its way to COP 17 via the Climate Train! The print edition focusses on Cape Town’s pressing environmental and sustainability issues, and centres on public transport, waste and recycling and biodiversity.read more »

Janice Golding argues that Africa needs to cultivate environmental champions and high-thinkers who live by the heart, relate to the land and who can articulate an alternative indigenous environmental narrative to the western environmental neo-imperialism.

On continents that are colder and less giving than Africa, the fastest growing new mass religion is “Environmentalism”. Climate change and sustainability are its key drivers.

“Environmentalism” (also called “Going Green”) is an earnest lifestyle for it is fervent in the endeavour of reducing carbon footprints. Household examples are fruit and vegetable gardens, recycling, solar panels and the reduced use of motorised transport. But its safety net for personal well-being that is ensured by relatively prosperous economies makes this movement a holier-than-thou quest. This is because Going Green is not a fundamental necessity born out of poverty and survival as in most parts of Africa.read more »

Table Mountain could be named one of the New7Wonders of Nature, an accolade that could generate up to 11 000 new jobs and an additional R1.4 billion in annual revenue for South Africa.

The only way to win is to steal the largest chunk of citizen votes from the over 1 billion people who will take part in the campaign worldwide. To win that honour Table Mountain needs to beat 27 other admired and celebrated sites such as the Islands of Maldives, the Amazon in South America, the Dead Sea in Israel and the Grand Canyon in North America.

The announcement of the seven sites on 11/11/11 (11 November 2011) will bring to a close a battle which has spanned more than three years.read more »

It has been a very busy few months. The Cape Town Green Map team has just finished and printed its 3rd Edition of its Green Map. We even managed to get the City's Mayor to pose for the cover. Added to that we have redesigned our website layout and content structure, see Cape Town Green Map.

We also had two international interns join us for 3 months to assist with the project. Line and Mari really got stuck in and helped us with many aspects of the project, including our website redesign, a customer survey of all green sites, they held a small work group with green map participants and they also provided us with a project report on how we can improve our Cape Town Green Map Project.read more »

VOTE FOR TABLE MOUNTAIN TODAY

Table Mountain is one of only 28 natural sites from around the globe shortlisted to be named one of the Official New7Wonders of Nature.

From an initial list of 440 magnificent natural sites nominated in 2008, Table Mountain was voted onto a list of 77 sites prior to being selected for the final shortlist of 28 finalists in July 2009.

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, Table Mountain National Park and Cape Town Tourism have formed an official supporting committee to champion the mountain’s cause. Table Mountain needs approximately 30 million votes to secure a top 7 spot.read more »

Bring the Cape Town Green Map to life using Google Earth & Street View. You can explore the sites in 3D, look at them using Streetview and bring a new dimension to how you experience the CapeTown Green Map.

Instructions:
1. Download and install Google Earth on your local PC
2. Download the .zip file from our Cape Town Green Map blogpost and save it to your local machine. extract the contents ( cape_town_greenmap.kml) to your local machine. To extract the file Select it -Right Click - Extract All.read more »

The Cape Town Green Map was recently awarded a Golden Trash Award, receiving 2 Leaves!

The criteria for this award are:

We’re looking to celebrate the world of Green online. We want to award people and sites that are passionate about and ready to stand up for eco-issues that are relevant to today’s cyber communities and the world beyond that. We won’t accept just any old sites – your website is your online face and we expect it to look eco-good!read more »

We were very happy that our parcel made it to the Green Map office in New York and hope that as many map makers as possible can get a copy of our map.

"so happy to find such a nice big box of your cool maps and great materials on the environment and sustainability programs there, Arne and Philip! wonderful - we have already send copies down to Uraguay and today, Puerto Rico. I also left the copies I had in Japan - inspriing for people there! much appreciated, Wendy"

You can also download an electronic copy:Here

Read the article by Dr Janice Golding, an Honorary Research Associate (Botany) at the University of Cape Town who is also the author of Extinction by Design: plant ecology, species extinction and taxonomy in south-central Africa

The Cape Town Green Map recently surpassed the 300 listings mark! This is a great achievement! We also received some super coverage on CNN, with the Green Cab's, Amiene van der Merwe including the Cape Town Green Map in her interview with CNN's Inside Africa! What a great contribution from the Green Cab Team!
The CNN Inside Africa Interview