Unwise electricity use means coal burnt and more global warming – it‘s time to rethink

GLOBAL warming is no longer in any doubt. The rate at which it is taking place should alert us all. In fact, we are already beginning to see the effects, as our weather patterns are not as they were 10 years ago.

The main reason, as the scientists are telling us, is the burning of fossil fuels. In South Africa we have no room for complacency as our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels. We burn coal at a terrific rate to supply the whole of Southern Africa with cheap electricity. Well cheap may not, any more, be acceptable. The authorities need to look at alternative sources of power, as we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel power. We do have the ability to supply electricity from solar and wind power, but Eskom appears to be doing very little in this direction.

As they roll out fossil fuel energy to those who previously did not have it, the very people they claim they will be helping by bringing the previously disadvantaged into the electricity grid, will eventually be further distressed as global warming accelerates, and their livelihood and food once more become scarce.

In the Eastern Cape and in Port Elizabeth in particular we have the most senseless use of electrical power in the country in the form of the proposed aluminium smelter which will use enough electricity to light more than half of Port Elizabeth. This is pure madness.

Not only that, but according to a prominent overseas scientist who attended the Science Fest in Grahamstown, the Addo National Park is a truly exciting environmental area. And as the only park in the Southern Hemisphere with six different biomes and the big seven it is unique, and the threat of fall-out from the aluminium smelter is a potential tragedy of mammoth proportions.

Are we as a nation so contemptuous of the environmental problems of the world that we don‘t care? We need to completely rethink what we do and how we do it. The first turnaround is for us to stop the smelter and start with renewable energy.

In order to survive, we must all change our lifestyles and think before we use our energy and our water. We must one and all be aware. When we are called to account let us not be found wanting.

Love your planet and save our world.

Ann Knight Port Elizabeth