Beating around the Bosch

with

Dear loyal reader,

South Africa’s natural landscape is one of the main reasons I struggle with the notion of leaving the country. There is nowhere else I can think of where mountains and beach exist in such close proximity, enhancing one another’s beauty. Standing on the mountain and looking down at the stretch of crystal blue lining our coastline, or lying on the beach at the feet of the twelve apostles, looking up in awe, as if worshipping. Thick pine forests line one side of the mountain, offering shady reprieve on scorching days, and a wealth of fynbos species covers the rest, housing gleaming green sugar birds and the occasional moody puffader. Vineyards stretch for kilometres, their grapes leaking liquid joy for the luckiest of us. Earth Day gives us an excuse to revel in the beauty of our natural paradise - it’s a day to smooth our fingers over the shiny side of the coin, revelling in its beauty, before flipping it over again and furiously scrubbing the other side to get it to match up.

Excuse my indulgence in descriptive writing, I sometimes like to let myself drift into the fantasy of South Africa’s opposites meeting in the middle and shaking hands. But alas, back to the paradox…

South Africa has blown its carbon emissions targets off the charts. Declines in carbon emissions were forecasted to only begin in 2025, but SA is ahead of its own game, with emissions having already fallen in 2023. And how heart-warming it would be if we could thank climate-conscious industries and politicians for reaching and exceeding these targets. How satisfying it would be to see the work of our fierce climate activists actually taking effect. Sorry, I am mistaken, we can actually thank politicians, for our coal-fired power plants are in such disarray that they cannot even function well enough to pollute our air. Somehow, we have managed to find unintentional success in our failures - our country never fails to mystify and bewilder.

🍀Green for Good

Despite power outages, a light shines beyond the disorienting haze of bad news that so often blinds us from seeing the good, and that is South Africa’s conservation landscape. Our country boasts some of the best conservation professionals in the world, so much so that conservationists travel from all over the world to learn from us. Rupert Koopman, an ecological fixer and botanist who has been in the conservation field for over twenty years, came to speak to our class on Tuesday. He lamented the fact that common braai conversation consists mainly of corrupt politicians and sport results, with no mention of how dangerous the seed bomb TikTok trend actually is and why the spekboom was actually a tragic case of good news taken a bit too well.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, the seed bomb TikTok trend is considered by some as a step towards “renaturing”, involving well-meaning citizens scattering clusters of seeds packed in clay or compact soil in seemingly empty spaces. “It’s a kak idea” were Rupert’s words. For starters, a seemingly empty field may actually house dormant indigenous flowers ready to bloom in spring. So, when a seed bomb ‘explodes’ it may leave no space for indigenous flowers when they are ready to bloom. Secondly, many people don’t take the time to find out what seeds are inside the bomb, leading to an unintentional, yet equally harmful, alien invasion.

The spekboom was a good old case of wishful thinking. People heard the words “absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide” and thought they could fix the planet by planting thousands of hectares of the succulent. “This is the danger of a single story,” Rupert said. While the spekboom has many perks, like being water-wise, great for elephant grazing, and edible for humans too, they should only occur where they are naturally meant to be - in semi-arid Karoo regions, predominantly in the Eastern Cape. As soon as you start interfering with the balance of an ecosystem, you open the doors to a host of unintended consequences. I asked Rupert whether it is true that they absorb so much carbon and his response was, “Do you think the amazon rainforest would absorb as much carbon if it was planted here?” I stared at him blankly, confused. “No it wouldn’t, because it would die,” he said.

Pertinacious (per-tih-NAY-shuss)

Persistent or obstinate to the point of annoyance

“Rupert watched helplessly as hordes of do-gooders took to the PERTINACIOUS planting of the spekboom”

Visual of the Week

📸Some BTS from Maliza Adendorff:

The Hennie Joubert Piano Competition was recently held at the Stellenbosch University Conservatorium. The participants were all under 19, as stated by the competition rules. The amount of dedication and discipline that the pianists displayed in their performances really struck a chord with me. The young pianists and all who supported them in the audience in the Endler Hall showed that classical music can be enjoyed by anyone from any background. We should make a fuss about young musicians breaking barriers in the music world and reminding listeners that classical music is not only reserved for 'old' people.

📚Good reads from SMF News this week📚

• Maties women’s rugby headed to Varsity Cup final

  Bayanda Gumede witnessed the Maties women’s rugby team secure their spot at the Varsity Cup final for the second consecutive year.

• Wat gaan word van dáárdie aarbei?

  Een van die slagoffers van die onlangse storms wat Stellenbosch getref het was die geliefde aarbei buite die Thirsty Scarecrow. Duné van Jaarsveld was op die toneel.

🎶What we’re listening to:

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Until next week

Nicola Amon, newsletter editor