clj Luvw&Lof NATStL Th de (pl inc qu in oz ROTATING THE CUBE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES FOR THE 1990s INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES LIBRARY An Indicator SA Issue Focus April 1990 A joint publication Department of Geographical & Environmental Sciences Indicator Project South Africa University of Natal PUBLICATION CREDITS Guest Editor Rob Preston-Whyte Editor Graham Howe Assistant Editor Myrna Berkowitz Production/Design Robert Evans Production Typing Alan Van Zuydam-Reynolds Copy Typing Beryl Cawthra Secretary Patricia Fismer ISSUE FOCUS EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Rob Preston-Whyte, Graham Howe, Myrna Berkowitz, Gerry Garland, Roseanne Diab • COVER GRAPHIC Damon O'Beirne, The Bridge • INSIDE GR APHICS Jeff Rankin, The Bridge • PRINTING & REPRO Robprint • COVER REPRO Hirt & Carter • FIGURE & PLATE REPRO Cartographic Unit, University of Natal • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Futurexvave Technology, and Brother Industries • SPONSORSHIP We would like to thank several companies for their financial support of this special report: Development Bank of Southern Africa, Hunt Leuchars & Hepburn Holdings Ltd, Prefcor Holdings, Richards Bay Minerals, Sappi Ltd ISBN: 0-86980-728-5 The INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA Quarterly Report and the INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA Issue Focus series are published by the Centre for Social and Development Studies, based at the University of Natal, Durban. Opinions expressed in these publications are not necessarily those of the Editorial Committee and should not be taken to represent the policies of companies or organisations which are donor members of the Indicator Project South Africa © Copyright for all material herein is held by INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA or individual authors, except in the case of short extracts for review or comment, which must be fully credited. © Sole copyright for all data bases rests with INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA. Permission to republish or reproduce any part of this publication must be obtained from the publisher. ROTATING THE CUBE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES FOR THE 1990s PREFACE: One Earth lan Player 5 INTRODUCTION: The Environmental Rubic Cube Rob Preston-Whyte 8 PART1: WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE? 11 2020: Running on Errpty Alex Weaver 13 The Age of the Aquifer Brian Rawlhs 18 Waste not the Wetlands George Begg 21 Water Pollution: The Drowning Pool Dean Simpson 25 PART 2: THE AIR WE BREATHE 31 Where has all the Ozone Gone? RoseanneDiab 33 ILL Winds in Natal Rob Preston-Whyte 37 Jekyll-and-Hyde Herbicides MarkLaing 41 Cleaning up our Act Rob Preston-Whyte 46 PART 3: PLAYING WITH FIRE 51 Acid Rain, Global Greenhouse RoseanneDiab 53 Sing(e)ing in the Rain Graham Howe 56 Fuelling the Crisis Peter Oxenham and Anton Eberhattf 61 Power Struggles over Energy Resources RoseanneDiab 64 PART 4: THE RAPE OF THE LAND 67 The Soil Spoilers Gerry Gariand 69 Society's Waste Stream Ray Lombard 73 Of Mines & Men Jeremy Rid 77 PART 5: FROM RESOURCES TO RICHES: INDUSTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT 83 St Lucia: ATitanium Struggle The Case For Dune Mining RoyMacPherson 85 The Case Against Dune Mining Anthony Foibes 89 The Conversion: Ozone Friendly Products Ray Rivers 93 Solutions to Pulp Pollution Ben Coetzee and Chris Davies 95 Environmental Education for Everyman RoyBallantyneandPietaTooth-Aston 98 PART 6: THE DEMIGODS DILEMMA: MAN AND THE ENVIRONMENT 103 Development for People and the Planet Bruce Corbeti 105 The Green Research Agenda Tim Hart 108 Conclusion: Rotating the Cube Brian Huntley 111 Preface ONE EARTH Dr Ian Player Environmental Conservationist With ten years to go to the twenty-first century, mankind is poised either to continue a destruction of the earth, historically unparalleled, or to learn to live harmoniously. No-one in their thirties, or younger, will appreciate the vast and often terrifying environmental changes that have taken place in South Africa. Natal with its wonderful climate, variety of topography and abundance of natural resources has, in many places, changed beyond recall. It has borne the main brunt of the destruction. I compare my exploratory canoe journeys and early races down the Umsindusi and Umgeni Rivers of the 1950s to today: the staggering population growth, the pollution from industrial and human waste, soil erosion and the change in river courses, reduced as they are now to storm water drains. The Dusi and Umgeni of 1950 is another world. I look too at the game reserves I worked as a young ranger in the 1950s. At that time there was no difference between inside and outside Hluhluwe, Umfolosi or Ndumu. Today they stand alone, islands amongst degraded habitats. Television, newspapers and magazines tell us what is happening in the rest of the world. It is the same story of acid rain, of the elimination of tropical forests and all the other accumulated ills of the world that began changing after the industrial revolution. Nothing has given us better understanding of this destruction than space exploration. The photographs and descriptions of the earth sent back by astronauts on their way to the moon or orbiting the earth clearly show the dilemma of a rapidly changing world at the hands of man. 'You can't stop ROTATING THE CUBE Conclusion 6 progress'has become a parrot cry of those who either do not take time to think or listen, or who believe that the only criterion is a financial one. The hidden and real costs could lead to the extinction of humanity, certainly to a drastic reduction in human numbers with all the concomitant financial repercussions. James Lovelock, author of The Ages of Gaia, says 'Amazonian forests the size of Britain are razed annually. This is depriving the earth of a cooling system'. Is it worth it for a few companies to convert virgin forests into cattle ranches to make a profit out of selling hamburgers? Truly what is one man's meat could be humanity's poison. How do we reconcile the apparently insuperable problems and take the harmonious way? I firmly believe in the power of human innovation and our ability to cope when we understand the reality of what we face. In military terms Dunkirk was a retreat, but it was also a great victory because from it Britons learnt what they were up against. We are now only beginning to comprehend the dangers facing all mankind through environmental deterioration. Professor Preston-Whyte, in his introduction to this special report very succinctly gives an overview of the puzzle and enormity of resolving environmental problems. He states correctly that most people have difficulty in working out the Rubic cube but that there are some people who can simultaneously visualise all sides. When the leaders of the earth can view our planet in a holistic way, it will be the equivalent of the immediate understanding of the puzzle of the Rubic cube. It was General JC Smuts who coined the term 'holism'. He was an intellectual giant ahead of his time. He came to realise on his walks across the Transvaal highveld looking at the masses of different grasses, that evolution is nothing but the gradual development and stratification of a progressive series of wholes, stretching from the inorganic beginnings to the highest levels of spiritual creation. Smuts took half a lifetime to work out his theory. Many astronauts saw it in an instant flash, like the solvers of the Rubic cube, but they had the advantage of seeing our planet from outer space: ' Sultan Bin Salman al-Saud, a cosmonaut from Saudi Arabia looked down as he whirled above the earth and wrote: 'The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we pointed to our continents. By the fifth day we were aware of only one earth'. » A Syrian, Muhammad Ahmad Faris said: 'From space I saw earth - indescribably beautiful with the scars of national boundaries gone'. ' Edgar Mitchell, astronaut and founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences said: 'We went to the moon as technicians; we returned as humanitarians'. Smuts would have smiled. He would have understood these comments from the new men of space. Preface INDICATOR The harmonious way. In the unconscious of man it is an imperative. For two, perhaps three million years we lived in a state of unconscious balance, then man voyaged on an Apollonian path to scientific rationalism. It brought many benefits but ignored the ancient goddess. Edgar Whitmont in his incredible book, The Return of the Goddess, says: 'A new mythology is arising in our midst and asks to be integrated into our modern frame of reference. It is the myth of the ancient Goddess who once ruled the earth and heaven before the advent of the patriarchy and the patriarchal religions'. The Goddess is now returning. Denied and suppressed for thousands of years of masculine domination, she comes at a time of dire need... Mother Earth herself has been pressed to the limits of her endurance. How much longer can she withstand the assaults of our rapacious industrial and economic policies? The patriarchy's time is running out. What new cultural pattern will secure for humanity a new lease of life on earth?' The answer to Whitmont's question can be found in the rise of the feminine, the caring part of humanity. In an unintegrated way it is Woman's Liberation, but the true way is the holistic vision, the caring and understanding of the feminine by male and female. This, then, is the new harmony, the silent song, the holistic vision of the planet earth with the non-destructive use of technology. A tall order -yes. It will take us a long time to get there - yes. But we are beginning to move in the right direction. The findings and proposals of this Indicator SA special report are beacons on the path, ajoa ROTATING THE CUBE Conclusion 8 Introduction THE ENVIRONMENTAL RUBIC CUBE Professor Rob Preston-Whyte Department of Geographical and Environmental Sciences University of Natal 'The history of man is a series of conspiracies to cube problematic, it is hardly surprising that win from nature some advantage without environmental decisions, which require a paying for it', is a comment attributed to the weighed evaluation of various inputs, tend to be philosopher RW Emerson.