Spekbooms planted to bring climate change awareness
Learners and volunteers helping create a cleaner and healthier environment
Nicky Lau is a student at the University of Witwatersrand and an alumnus of the American Field Service (AFS) programme.
AFS is an exchange student organisation that is active in volunteering in national communities.
Lau’s project was inspired by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals of Climate Action and Life on Land. Her project aimed to help combat climate change and reduce carbon footprint in the atmosphere to ultimately achieve cleaner air.
She initiated and led the Spekboom Nursery community project working with learners from Mulbarton Primary School and volunteers from the AFS programme.
The project kicked off with a climate change awareness presentation to 150 learners. This presentation included awareness on global warming, the greenhouse gas effect, as well as introducing the benefits of the Spekboom. A video presentation was also provided which displayed an overview of climate change and introduced the project.
“Spekboom is special for the fact that it stores solar energy to perform photosynthesis at night. This makes a spekboom thicket 10 times more effective at carbon absorbing per hectare than any tropical rainforest.
“A 6m by 1m hedge of Spekbooms eliminates one person’s entire carbon footprint,” said Lau.
Learners engaged enthusiastically in a question and answer session with how they reduce their own carbon footprint waste and ways to reuse and reduce plastic waste in their households. Volunteers and learners planted about 40 spekbooms with about 24 learners and 11 volunteers.
To make the project more green, the learners reused old 2-litre bottles as potting containers and Lau cut up old milk bottles to be used as spades to upcycle these containers and recycled the leftover milk bottles. The project was funded through an American council grant and the spekboom cuttings were sponsored by Jeppe High School for Girls.
