I'm a fan of theatre in any form. I particularly admire those who do theatre with a message (alright, I know all theatre has a message, but, you know), especially one with climate change for school kids. And this one is aimed at grades 5 to 9.

What's more, the team of actors, are prepared to act just about anywhere – in a quad, hall or field – just so that they can get their message across.

The “high-octane, action-packed adventure story” by the theatre team Craig Morris, Lerato Moloi, Jacques De Silva and Joni Barnard, from the Well Worn Theatre Company has already made it to the halls and quads of at least 20 schools with their climate change programme.

a greener athloneWe've seen some unexpected media releases in our time, but this one takes the cake. So here it is verbatim:

ATHLONE POWER STATION LOCATION TO BE CONVERTED TO WIND FARM

South Africa’s leading energy supplier has announced that, in conjunction with the City of Cape Town, it will be converting the old Athlone coal fired power station into a wind farm filled with eight new 1.5MW wind turbines.

It indicated that the implosion of the old power station is a symbol of its commitment to clean energy and plans to convert all existing coal fired powered stations into renewable energy sources by 2016.

Encounters documentary festival is NOW ON in Cape Town and in Jo'burg. And there are a lot of 'green' angle films, some of them like local film maker and journalist Helena Kingswell's vital "Buried in Earthskin" really worth catching.

The section for the movies with a green bent is called 'Green Movies: rewind, review, remake' and you can look out for the following:

“Dirt! The Movie” Dirs: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow USA, brings us that much closer to understanding and appreciating the substance that provides food, shelter, implements, warmth, even giving our wines their

Remember last year's 350.org International Day of Climate Action that made the world sit up and take notice?

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That's the date. The place is wherever you live. And the point is to do something that will help deal with global warming in your city or community.

350.org are calling it a Global Work Party, with emphasis on both 'work' and 'party'. In Auckland, New Zealand, they're having a giant bike fix-up day, to get every bicycle in the city back on the road. In the Maldives, they're putting up solar panels on the President's office. In Kampala, Uganda, they're going to plant thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they're installing solar stoves for a massive carbon neutral picnic...

giraffe in kruger national park by arno and louise from fotopediaPenguin chicks perish in the cold

Frigid weather and strong winds have taken their toll on African penguins on islands offshore of Port Elizabeth.

Nearly 500 chicks living on Bird Island died over a 24-hour period early this week, more than half the island's juvenile population.

More died on St Croix Island, home to the largest breeding colony in South Africa, but because of heavy seas, SA National Parks officials have not been able to count the dead birds.

Spokesperson Megan Taplin said the deaths were concerning because the penguin population in South Africa was already in decline.

She said it was normal for about a third of the chicks to die with the first cold weather every winter, but this time a lot more had died.

A new species found in Papua New Guinea: Long-nosed tree frog is one of the new species discovered in Foja mountains rainforest on the Indonesian island of New Guinea. Photograph: Tim Laman/NG

Wind turbine built at Coega

ELECTRAWINDS Belgium has started construction of its first wind turbine in the Coega Industrial Development Zone in Port Elizabeth.

The wind turbine will be completed in time to provide energy for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium during the World Cup.

Electrawinds has invested R1.2billion in the Coega Wind Farm Project to build 25 turbines. Each turbine has a capacity of 1.8MW which translates into an annual yield 5700000kWh, enough energy to power about 1700 households. The electricity generated by the wind farm will be fed into the national grid and distributed by Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan municipality to households within the metro.

There are many things that we can do everyday that can help stop climate change. It may be something small, but collectively, these small changes add up to a big difference.

Ten organisations including 350.org, Project 90 by 2030, and I am changing the world, are all proposing challenges that they will undertake to help reduce climate change. The challenge starts today (Friday 21 May).

They are encouraging both companies and individuals to take part. Prizes will be awarded to those companies and organisations that meet their goals each month and overall prizes at the end. They are aiming to get as many South African organisations and individuals taking part as possible. You can go and sign up, with your pledge here.

These are the ten different categories of challenges that you can set yourself and they fall under the broad areas of:

Energy efficiency (reducing how much energy is needed by simply using less)

1.On-line submission of targets for carbon footprint reduction of at least

Ministers charged for water pollution

Criminal charges over the pollution of the country's water supply were laid against three Cabinet ministers at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Friday.

After laying the charges, TauSA chairman Louis Meintjes said the organisation had been forced to approach the police after Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Mining Minister Susan Shabangu and Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, had repeatedly failed to address the problem.

"We want them to act and get the water clean... a snowball that gets too big is a runaway snowball," he said.

Meintjes said mines which used seven percent of the country's water supply were responsible for 75 percent of water pollution.

He said Sonjica should have acted in line with the National Water Act and that Shabangu should have known that mining, water supply and food security were directly linked.

He said the act provided that it was criminal for ministers to knowingly or unintentionally allow for natural resources to be jeopardised.

"If it's not the ministers, who is responsible?" - Sapa

Developers downplay King Shaka leaks
By Gugu Mbonambi

Developers of the new multi-billion-rand King Shaka airport admit that there are "minor leaks" in the airport's fuel pipeline, but deny

cats reducing biodiversity?Sewage the next Eskom
By Sapa and Moleboheng Tladi
The Green Drop report has found that more than 75% of South Africa's sewage treatment plants are not up to standard.

Of 852 waste water treatment plants, 403 weren’t even in good enough nick to be assessed. Of the remainder, only 203 scored better than 50%.

Of the 403 that weren’t assessed, the report highlighted municipal managers not feeling competent enough, and municipalities not adhering to the call to be assessed.
Those that managed to get more than 50% on the standards set by the Green Drop report were mostly based around Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.

Only 3.8% of the total plants actually got the Green Drop status, which is broadly equivalent to international standards.

Well today is a very important environmental day in the United States. It is Earth Day. This day is now in its fortieth year and we need days like this more than ever. Slowly people are becoming more aware about green issues, recycling and the impact that they have on the environment. It is up to us to do something about climate change. Yes government and corporations need to change the way they operate, but it is up to us as citizens and consumers to drive this. Days like Earth Day help us to raise environmental issues.