Environmental awareness has infiltrated social consciousness and the necessity of living in more environmentally-friendly ways is recognised. Once ambiguous phrases like ‘sustainability’, ‘carbon-footprints’ and ‘going-green’ are now used and understood by scientists and laymen alike.
Environmental awareness has infiltrated social consciousness and the necessity of living in more environmentally-friendly ways is recognised. Once ambiguous phrases like ‘sustainability’, ‘carbon-footprints’ and ‘going-green’ are now used and understood by scientists and laymen alike.
However these are just words floating somewhere in our ever-warming atmosphere if they’re not fleshed out in practical ways.
The new Environmental Education Learning and Research Centre on Rhodes campus will bring these issues back down to earth, and make them more accessible to the community of Grahamstown. The building, which is under construction and due to open on 6 October, straddles the border between the Botanical Gardens and Rhodes University.
It will be “a meeting space, a public learning facility and, hopefully, a place where people from the public community can feel welcome,” said Prof Rob O’Donoghue of the Environmental Education and Sustainability Centre at Rhodes.
All-encompassing
Not only will the centre conduct research, host teachings and provide support for community-led environmental projects, it will have an ‘environmental commons’ – a creative and interactive space where people can play with new environmental technology. An electrically assisted, hydro-powered bike that can an actually help accelerate a cyclist up a hill, will be just one of the inventions on display.
“The centre is a place for [environmental]projects to be represented,” said O’ Donoghue. “Everything is local. It’s a hub for people to think about the environment and sustainability, and seek advice about these issues.”
Green Building
The building itself will represent principles of sustainability.
“Everything built here is small scale, low-cost or no-cost, or local,” said O’Donoghue. Ceilings will be buttressed with wood made from local, invasive poplar trees, for example. By combining cutting-edge innovations like a greywater system and an ecotoilet which separates urine and excrement to make fertiliser, and implementing simple ideas like tyre gardens which make good use of limited space, the centre is creating a space where anyone can come and draw from sustainability ideas.
It will also be a common space for researchers and environmental educators to interact with the public. This is fitting because, as O’Donoghue said, “anything in the environment is actually for everyone – a meeting point.”
