The SA Climate Change Champs recently held a presentation and design workshop in Gqeberha from 13 – 15 October.
The workshop was attended by high school learners from James Jolobe, Walmer and Lungiso High Schools.
In the workshop discussions varying topics related to renewable energy and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In the community of Humansdorp the overarching changes are water scarcity, load shedding and pollution.
A platform was provided to the learners to voice out their problems, find solutions and identify the impact thereof.
In so doing, Siyavuya Rengqu, a Grade 10 learner at Lungiso High School had this to say: “Water pollution is a huge factor in our community. It affects us with our schooling programme because the water we consume is often contaminated and some of the learners get ill, as consequence the school must close. As the youth, we need to raise awareness and educational campaigns to promote responsible water usage, proper waste disposal and the use of eco-friendly products.”
Meanwhile, on the matter of load shedding, Lonwabo Nota said: “South Africa is not in a stable position economically to rescue Eskom’s grid collapse. In our community we need to study by using candles because load shedding. We need to raise awareness about the benefit of renewable energy. Not only will this assist the citizens of South Africa but the world because we would be moving from a fossil fuel-based economy to a low carbon.”
- This climate change initiative is co-funded by the European Union, implemented in partnership with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and presented by GreenCape. Visit https://saclimatechamps.co.za/ or their LinkedIn page for more information.
