The hottest year on record was 2019, not only in SA but across the globe. The effect of this has been severe, including droughts that adversely affected food security while limiting access to fresh water supplies, which hit the most marginalised in our society hardest.
Climate change is a crisis — albeit slow-burning — and should be treated like the Covid-19 pandemic. We are running out of water at a rapid rate. At this pace we won’t get to 2030 with a reliable freshwater supply. Despite this sobering reality we are not seeing the urgent response we have seen with Covid-19. Yet if we do not act now it will be too late; all of us, not only certain cities, will end up at Day Zero.
There is a drive to get the latest car and wear the newest fashions, as this says: “I’ve arrived.” This sense of having arrived is linked to consumption, and we need to change that through increased awareness and education on a local and household level. We also need to change our language: we talk of going organic but this is perceived to be elitist. Yet it’s no different to how our ancestors and grandparents used to live; we need to get back to basics.
Government integration with the private sector is key to achieving this, as is the scalability of pilot projects that happen in cities and villages. Projects that are working should be replicated and municipalities, cities and different entities need to experiment and fail, as it is in failure that lessons are learnt.
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