Change the world

02/10/2012

Students in the School of Natural Resource Management at NMMU’s George Campus will again participate in this year’s Fynbos Eco Festival to be held at the George Botanical Gardens on 5 and 6 October.

Social studies

BTech Nature Conservation students, Abigail Crisp and Samantha Mc Culloch will discuss their research project – a social study conducted on the perceptions and understandings of the public regarding alien invasive plant species on the Malgas and Kat rivers in George. This study, which is a course requirement, used interviews as a method of data capture.

Members of the public who would like to find out more about social studies, how they can help the environment and what the findings of this research were, are invited to come and listen to Abigail and Samantha when they present the details of their study at the Fynbos Eco-Festival on Friday 5th October at 14:00 at the main stage.

Green Campus Forum, vermiculture project

NMMU’s own stall will be manned by the student-driven Green Campus Forum led by Nondumiso Myataza, a 2nd year student in Nature Conservation. This group will share interesting information on the work of the forum and other sustainability projects.

Another attraction at the NMMU stall will be an example of the worm farm which has been initiated and maintained by NMMU George postgraduate student, Steven Faulconbridge.  The farm is almost ready to deal with the entire on-site food waste generated from the campus canteens.

Environmental Education - “Sustainable Energy for All”

Fourth Year Nature Conservation students who chose Environmental Education (EE) as a non-compulsory subject this year, will also have a presence at the adjacent stall of the Wildlife and Environment Society of Southern Africa (WESSA). As part of their assignments in EE a group of four students this year assisted WESSA with the Eco-Schools programme at two schools in George. The Eco-Schools theme for 2012 was “Sustainable Energy for All” and this was implemented at Glenwood House and Holy Cross Primary school.

The EE students had to propose a programme to run in each school that would introduce the learners to the concept of sustainable energy. The programme also included a project to be run by each school. At Holy Cross the project was a school-wide energy audit through which the learners could find out for themselves if current behaviour will allow for a sustainable future.

The Gr. 11 Business Studies learners at Glenwood were tasked with finding out if using green technologies in the business place would help them save money in the long run.

Both projects are aimed at encouraging learners to become efficient in their energy use and to carry that message past their school and into their community.

The findings of each school’s projects will be on display at the WESSA stand during the Fynbos Eco-Festival.

 COMPOSTING WORMS

Photograph: One of the NMMU George Campus projects which will be on display during the 2012 Fynbos Eco Festival at the George Botanical Gardens, is an example of the wormery developed by the university to help manage organic waste generated on campus. The composting worms convert organic waste material into stable, nutrient rich compost which is loaded with beneficial microorganisms and plant growth regulators.

A fertile liquid extract called vermi-tea is also generated from this compost. It is envisaged that the vermi-tea will be used to propagate commercially viable South African medicinal plants endemic to this region.

Contact information
Ms Alet van Tonder
Manager: Marketing & Corporate Relations
Tel: 27 44 801 5098
alet.vantonder@mandela.ac.za