Sustainability Institute (Lynedoch –Stellenbosch)

One way to acquire knowledge on environmental sustainability is through visiting the right sustainable Institutes.

"Kusoma hakuna mwisho" this is a Swahili phrase which means "learning has no ends" in English. Literally this means we still need to know and learn new facts on daily basis especially in this fast paced and growing world.

SRC (Student Representative Council) environmental affairs sub-committee of Stellenbosch University- Stellenbosch South Africa had an opportunity to visit the sustainability institute on the 21^st October 2009 which is located few minutes away from Stellenbosch campus in a beautiful South African farming village called Lynedoch

Including me a quite number of students being part of the environmental affairs sub-committee it has really open tremendous doors to us to learn and crave to want to know all the possible means to live in a more sustainable way, more commonly referred to as an environmental friendly way of living.

This is one out of many environmental institutes that you can visit and learn on how environment can be sustained.

The following are the main things we learned from the tour.

First of all "Waste is an input somewhere else" which was a good concept to obtain and apply. Waste will still be waste if we see it that way; our abilities to transform our minds are limited by our imaginations. This was a strong theme given by

Eve Annecke the director, lecture and one of core leaders at the sustainability institute.

More other exciting stuffs include:

• Kids who are the future generation that the present influence will have great impacts on their lives. Kids are one of the main targets at the institute whereby there is a government school at the institute and kids are being helped with school work and thier moral growth.

• Non-violence and peace building within the school is one the emphasis at the Institute.

• The institute works in partnership with the Housing department to facilitate sustainable housing in the region. Even though South Africa especially in the Western-Cape has the highest gap between higher and lower income people in the world (Brazil use to lead) the institute has however tried to accommodate all groups of people and set example to bridge these two classes of dissimilar living standards. One of the constraint that Lynedoch went through was People of colour were not allowed to live in Lynedoch area. So establishing housing theme was a challenge to overturn the objections of having people of colour in the area. It was good to also know South-Africa is the only country in the world where each citizen is assured of having a house and housing provision services. UK funds the Institute abundantly in most of the institute`s projects, housing being one of them.

• The Institute has natural environmental beauty which plays huge role in facilitating sustainable living (what an interesting fact).

• Methane is one of the key products at the institute, which can be used to run gas in households especially kitchen stoves. This is one form of Biogas usage which stimulates less green gases emissions. In advanced countries for instance Sweden there is enough methane (even recycled) to operate approximately 150 buses in the city of Stockholm.

• The Institute is also Importing technologies and work on them at a local scale, then transform to a large scale e.g. Solar Energy through linking what has been imported and blend it with local technology and then assess on the feedback efficiency (Under rights of course) is one of the ongoing projects at the institute. One of the Solar systems they have is solar heater which saves up to 50% energy and can be used up to 20 years before re-installing. Tiled roof solar which merge with the tiles was another sustainable approach found at the institute, the tiled roof solar works very efficient and safety wise it is extremely secured from theft.

Water re-using at the institute was another mode related to living sustainable. Instead of directing used water to the sea or water landfills, the institute has designed its own water recycle system that purifies water and some water goes back to the main house stream(s) and the rest goes for gardening purposes.

• Cooling systems that use less energy. This was another exciting concept that one could grab, the institute`s most buildings have vents at the top and outlets on the sides and bottom that allow maximum circulation of air with a self supporting mechanism and therefore cools most building especially in summer.

• Who wants to farm in the city? This can be a question that strikes most of us but the answer is YES and it is VERY POSSIBLE. Urbanized farming is the term referred to this farming scheme. A master's student was busy working on which soils type(s) and at what levels will it be ideal to allow this practice applicable. Just imagine having a small garden on your house roof (if it is flat), on my own personal opinion I think this will save you vegetables costs.

• One fact that I personally acquired from the trip to the sustainability institute at Lynedoch was: the climate change has brought many impacts to the planet and is the poor nations and their people that have least contributed to this cause most likely to be affected the most. Being from the third world country myself this really concerns me.The Institute has set an example to help out on making the planet a place to live sustainable. The things that they are doing and plan to do are possible. "Living extremely sustainable is extremely possible but is our imaginations that can only be the limiting factor

For more information visit their page on: http://www.sustainabilityinstitute.net/

Take your part today to acquire sustainable knowledge.