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21 February 2018 Photo pixabay
Water-wise expert says Is there a solution to pollution
Next time you want to throw something away, think twice. Look for ways to reuse, recycle, or repurpose.

Dr Cindé Greyling completed her PhD in Disaster Management with DiMTEC (Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa) at the University of the Free State (UFS). Built on prior studies and years of communication experience, she opted to study ways in which to communicate drought mitigation information. Part of the mitigation process included saving water and reducing pollution.

A practical approach
“Look, we are all here now. And we need to eat, live, work, survive, and ultimately thrive using our planet’s resources,” she says. “But I think we’ve become so fixated on thriving, that we don’t consider survival anymore. Of course, some people do! There are wonderful projects around the world aiming at more responsible consuming, ranging from pre-loved baby clothes, to water harvesting for individual dwellings and larger compounds.” However, she understands that people may get so overwhelmed by the vast pollution problem that they consider any of their own efforts as insignificant. “That is not true. Every single bit of plastic (or cloth, glass, iron, etc.) that is recycled or repurposed, and does not end up in a landfill, makes a difference.” And here is why…

The tip of the iceberg
“Whatever you are holding in your hand and aiming for the bin is much larger than what you see. Take a piece of paper, for example. A tree was planted – the process involved fossil fuels, water, fertiliser, time, wages, administration, etc. And many years of that! Once it was felled, the resource usages continued, and expanded to processing plants, wholesalers, retailers, and then you – who also used resources to acquire that piece of paper. Do you see how large the wastage is? The same is true for food waste … that rotten tomato you forgot in the fridge is a grave loss.”

“Whatever you are holding in your hand,
aiming for the bin, is much larger what
you see.”


Little by little  
Fortunately, all is not lost. “Respect stuff,” Dr Greyling says, “it is as simple as that. To survive, we must take from the resources that the Earth provides. Because we became clever, we were able to alter these elements to make, from high-rise buildings to tiny technology. But we simply cannot keep on taking and taking without giving back Start with giving respect. Next time you want to throw something away, think twice. Look for ways to reuse, recycle, or repurpose. Consider that the denim you are wearing possibly used up to 10 000 litres of water to produce.”  

LISTEN: Dr Greyling elaborates on solutions for pollution

 

News Archive

Students have a responsibility in SA, says Ntuli
2016-02-19

Description: 2016 SRC presidents Tags: 2016 SRC presidents

Lindokuhle Ntuli (left), President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), and Paseka Sikhosana, president of the SRC on the Qwaqwa Campus, are in agreement about their vision for the UFS in 2016.
Photo: Johan Roux

You and I have a role to play in building the new South Africa built upon the Constitution of 1996.

These are the words of Lindokuhle Ntuli, President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). They echo his and the SRC’s message of a “campus for all students, locally and internationally, irrespective of colour.”

Ntuli and Paseka Sikhosana, president of the SRC on the Qwaqwa Campus, were in agreement about their vision for the UFS in 2016.

According to Sikhosana, a well-known slogan accentuates a feeling of uniqueness at the university. “United in diversity. No wonder we say only a Kovsie knows a feeling,” he says.

“As the SRC, we believe that complete transformation on campus is through promoting a non-sexist, non-racial, but democratic student society that acknowledges diversity and change. That further promotes and embraces one student’s difference in terms of culture, tradition, religion, and sexual orientation.”

A new South Africa

Ntuli means students have a responsibility. He referred to a quotation from Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Earth, to illustrate this. Fanon was a revolutionary and writer whose works are influential in post-colonial studies. “Every generation has a mission. It is the responsibility of every generation to discover its mission. Once you have discovered it, you have to fulfil it or betray it into relative obscurity,” Ntuli quoted.

According to him, the South African Constitution holds pious promises of a better life for all, and each citizen needs to help to achieve that.

SRC has open door policy 

Ntuli says the UFS remains committed to human embrace, diversity, integration, and human togetherness. He added that the SRC has an open door policy, and will avail itself in helping students.

According to Sikhosana, it is the objective of the SRC to represent the student community in all interactions within the university and externally.

“There is nothing for us, about us, without us students,” he says.

• The above excerpts have been taken from Ntuli and Sikhosana’s respective welcoming speeches to first-year students on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses.

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