Editor: Carolyn Reid. Ass. Editor: Diana Steward

Memoirs
Launch of a Commemorative Book
National Environmental Education Programme (NEEP) on Track for New Curriculum

In April 2000 Delta Environmental Centre celebrated 25 years of contributing to the community by providing "Environmental Education in Action". The occasion was celebrated by holding a series of workshops, talks and panel discussions, over a period of a week, culminating in a cocktail party.

In order to mark this auspicious occasion it was decided that a commemorative book should be written. As in all things tackled at Delta this was a team effort. Many people who had been associated with Delta over the years were asked to contribute to the book. Some of   those who contributed were, Norman Bloom, Founder and Honorary President, Ian Macdonald Chief Executive WWF South Africa, Di Beeton, Chief Executive Officer Delta Environmental Centre, Vincent and Jane Curruthers, Wiliam Martinson, Don Macey, Chairman, Board of Directors, Geoff Lockwood.

Many hours were spent collecting and collating information as well as delving into archival photo albums in order to create an authentic historical and developmental story of the Centre from inception to the present day.

Using text and pictures, the book traces the history of the buildings and the park with a brief look at the architectural style of the original Art Deco type building. The development and subsequent work of the Centre is also detailed as well as a focus on future work for the Centre. A chapter on the diversity of life within the park and lists of birds and animals spotted in the park over the years shows the invaluable experience of the environment open spaces provide within an urban context.

This attractive and interesting book was sponsored by Standard Bank Foundation and the Eskom Development Foundation and is available from Delta at a cost of R120.

In the words of Dr.Ian Macdonald "Delta has enabled thousands of South Africa's people to be exposed to the wonders and values of our superb natural heritage." And " The simple truism that we never conserve what we do not love, that we will not love what we don't understand, and that we won't understand what we have not been taught is as true today as was decades ago when this truism was first coined."

GOOD WISHES AND APPRECIATION  FOR 25 YEARS OF INVOLVMENT

Environmental Education is set to become an integral part of the school curriculum and will be incorporated at all levels of the education and training system from 2001.

Education Minister Kader Asmal has unveiled plans for his departments National Environmental Education Programme which was made possible by a R30 million donation from the Danish Government.

Prof. Asmal said the appointment of an Environmental Education Advisor was a first for the country, as well as globally. "Nowhere else in the world has such a position been established and we are fortunate to have Razeena Wagiet whose post will be funded by The Green Trust, a subsidiary of the WWF ,S.A". Dr. Wagiet has a  Ph. D. in Environmental Education from Rhodes University and has previously worked as the community based Conservation and Environmental Education manager at the World Wide Fund for Nature. ( The Star: 28/12/00)

This new Environmental programme is a national project which will be administered at provincial level in all 9 provinces. Delta is thrilled about this new development as it means that we can look forward to an environmentally aware population in the future which would surely lead to a more equitable and sustainable use of the rich resources available in our country.

From the Peanut Gallery!

A quote taken from our 25 Year celebration banner puts sustainability in a nutshell!

“May you live as long as you want but never want as long as you live!!”

Make a Mini Bottle Garden from Waste Materials

Enhance your indoor living area by creating a beautiful bottle garden and help reduce waste at the same time!

Materials Needed:

*1 Clear 2 litre plastic bottle cut as shown.

*Some pebbles for drainage.

*Potting soil mixed with compost.

*Small plants of your choice.

*Interesting stone, piece of drift wood or other item for decoration.

Cut bottle as shown. Clean and dry both parts and place pebbles in the bottom for drainage. Fill to within 3cms from the top with potting soil mixture.

Arrange plants creatively and plant in soil. Place item/s of interest in the mini-garden and water so that the soil is wet through. Cut 2 * 2cm slits in the top part of the bottle and push it inside the bottom half firmly. Make sure the top is screwed on and place in a warm  place with good light.

This mini-garden needs very little attention as it creates it's own micro-climate and water cycle to keep it going.  Sit back and ENJOY it!!

WWET WWET WWET - INTO THE FUTURE

2001 has brought about a great many changes for WWET WWET WWET.  Change is often difficult but exciting and we are always up to the challenge.  WWET WWET WWET still offers a fun learning experience for learners and educators from nursery school to tertiary institutions. However, we feel we can enhance this service if they visit us at any of our three Water Wise Education Centres. 

Our three current Water Wise Education Centres are Delta Environmental Centre, Rietvlei Nature Centre and the Vereeniging Purification Station.  We plan to expand on the number of centres in the near future by partnering with other Environmental Centres within Rand Water's area of supply.

A wide variety of Water Wise workshops are offered at each of the Water Wise Education Centres.  Each centre is unique with respect to the programmes and facilities they offer. Some of the activities, however, can be experienced at any of the centres, such as our “Treasure Hunt” puppet show and “For the Love of Water” theatre production.

Delta Environmental Centre, situated just north of Johannesburg in beautiful Delta Park, offers learners and educators wonderful walks, superb sites for water quality auditing, a Water Wise garden and Sensory Trail, an exciting Water Wise room and an interesting natural history museum which is well worth exploring. If we have whet your appetite and you would like to find out more about what WWET WWET WWET can offer you at Delta Environmental Centre please contact Avril Owens on (011) 888-4831.

The Rietvlei Nature Centre is situated at Rand Water's Head Office in Glenvista within the Klipriversberg Nature Reserve.  One of the highlights of this centre is walking amongst the indigenous animals and plants of the highveld and discovering all their amazing Water Wise tricks.  This walk culminates at a 500 year old Olive tree that started growing before the Sotho-Tswana people lived there.  The Sotho-Tswana ruins can still be seen on the property.  Most of the workshops are held at the Lapa and this enables learners and educators to feel close to nature.  If you wish to participate in this unusual WWET WWET WWET experience please contact Angelique Nagar on (011) 682-0730.

Rand Water's Vereeniging Purification Station offers a very unique workshop for learners and educators.  Here you can see just how much effort Rand Water puts in to cleaning our water and make it healthy for us to drink.  The purification workshop and tour is very interesting as well as lots of fun and we are currently developing an exciting Water Wise Room there. This is definitely worth a visit.  If your imagination has been captured by WWET WWET WWET then please contact Louise Enslin on (016) 421-5150. 

WWET WWET WWET has not only been actively developing Water Wise Education Centres but, also a number of new Water Wise Education Resource Materials.  Our resource materials can be used by educators implementing the outcomes based school curriculum, and learners needing information on various water topics for school projects.  If you are interested in our materials and would like to find out more about them please contact Grant Pearson on (011) 682-0278.

WWET WWET WWET offers an excellent quality service to all learners and educators so……….come on, take the plunge and get Water Wise with us!!!

2002 Earth Summit Comes to South Africa

Imagine yourself the first homo sapiens looking out from your cave shelter at what is truly a Garden of Eden. A biotic environment, pristine in beauty, bursting with life sustaining resources. Creation in balance and harmony, crystal water, plants, insects, animals moving in the never ending cycles of life. Delight in the wonder of it.

Glance back into the cave. This is the one moment in time when man lived as part of the natural world. But see, the signs of change are there-blackened walls from your smoke, trampled plants and compacted earth from your activities, piles of debris discarded by you accumulating too rapidly for nature to recycle efficiently. It all started long, long ago, and through time more people have  created more demands on natural resources, more waste, and more massive degradation. A horrifying spectacle is looming-an alien environment-one to which we will turn and run from in horror.

Agenda 21, a document agreed upon in Rio de Janeiro in 1992,  is an action programme for sustainable development. A document which recognises our dependence on the ecological systems and the role they play in maintaining and enriching our quality of life. A hope for now? hope for the future? It depends on our response.  The Earth Summit on Sustainable  Development will be held in Gauteng in 2002-are you ready to support it? Watch this space!!

PROFILE-Geoff Lockwood

Geoff Lockwood, “The Bird Man at Delta” or “the 50/50 Bird Quiz Man” and possibly a few other names! He was born and educated in Johannesburg where he matriculated from Parktown Boys High School. He became fascinated with birds early in his life and began to pursue his interest with purpose even in the days when it was not a popular recreational activity. His artistic ability was  naturally directed into the drawing and painting of birds. He spent many years perfecting his technique before contributing half of the bird illustrations for the 5th and 6th editions of  Roberts Birds of Southern Africa . Geoff has also had two other books of his own published, namely “Garden Birds of South Africa in 1981 and Birding with SAPPI and Geoff Lockwood in 2000.

His face has recently become well known in many South African households due to his T.V. appearances on the 50/50 Bird Quiz Shows.

In 1979 Geoff became one of the very first members of the Delta staff. During this time he was involved in helping to design and develop the Centre and the museum, He also began taking groups around the park before the Centre was officially opened. Today Geoff is the Centre Manager and an Educator dealing with visitors both young and old. He is also a member of the Delta Environmental Impact Assessment group. Geoff is one of very few male staff members at Delta and as such has to watch his P's and Q's or face the consequences!!

Not content with just one job , Geoff is involved with many of the local Bird Clubs where he gives lectures and advice on any bird related topic. He has served on the Council of BirdLife S.A. for the past 18 years and he is also a consultant for them. He is often called upon to lead birding tours for both South African and foreign tourists to various destinations in Southern Africa and further afield. Geoff's contribution to the Centre over the years has been invaluable and we look forward to many more years of his expertise as a member of the staff and friend of Delta Environmental Centre.

Oo..Oo..Owls..They're Back!!

Celebrations!!!

After an absence of three years we again had a family of Spotted Eagle Owls using the nesting box on the roof of the building. It was apparently a totally new pair so we assume that the original male must also have died sometime in the past 3 years. Fortunately the new female was just as easy to work with as the previous female as she even allowed Geoff to fit  bird rings to her 3 chicks. The interesting thing about the new family was the way in which the chicks tended to stay close to the Centre building even after they had fledged. In fact up until February the chicks could usually be seen roosting in the willow tree in front of the building.Their presence was an extraordinary experience for the many visitors who happened to be at the Centre on these days.

It will be interesting to see if future chicks show the same “stay at home tendencies.

We are looking forward to Delta being able to offer more owl programmes for both school and adult groups later this year.

A number of teachers were invited to a 'Meet and Greet' cocktail party  held at the Centre in Nov. 2000. This was organised to familiarise teachers with the programmes and facilities Delta offers.  Delta is currently working on new programmes that will address the needs of the teachers who were there. More of these are to be held during 2001.

Wenda, Carolyn and Dee spent the latter part of 2000 working on a Water Purification Activity Pack for Rand Water. The project is now in the final stages of trialing and editing and should be going into print soon.

The Spider Club together with a number of Delta staff have been redeveloping the Spider Windows in the Museum. The result is that they are very attractive and provide  our   visitors with interesting and relevant information.

The 3 year DANCED project is drawing to a close. They will be hosting a series of EXPO's at the following venues:

Alberton 9/05/01,  Thembisa-15/05/01,   Krugersdorp-17/05/01, Soweto College-22/05/01

Delta Environmental Centre held it's Annual General Meeting on the 26th August 2000. Solly Mosidi, Head Environmental Education, Dept. of Eenvironmental Education Programme and it's significance for NGO's

The SASOL Sensory Trail and the Water Wise Garden has been a much used and very successful part of our progammes. It is a source of inspiration to both staff and visitors.  

Workshops were held by Delta, Eco-Access and BP at Suikerbosrant and Roodeplaat Dam for  teachers who work with disabled learners. Teachers from Itumeleng Madiba School , which was built with funding from BP also attended.                            

BOOKS

A number of new books have been bought and donated to the Resource Centre in the past year. Delta wishes to thank all those who donated books for their generosity.

1. Water Demand Management - M. Goldblatt, IUCN from IUCN

2. Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of S.A.,Lesotho, Swaziland- K. Barnes from Birdlife

3. Indigenous Peoples and Conservation Organizations - R. Weber, J.Butler, P. Larsen from WWF - USA

4. NATURE magazines donated by Carla de Paiva of Scottish Trade International.

5. Brochures on biotechnology research underway in Scotland donated by Carla de Paiva - Scottish Trade International.

6. RSPB: Donated by Andy Simpson - posters -RSPB Habitat and teaching activities.

7. Botany Flip Chart.

8. First Aid with Herbs - Yvette van Wijk - Blackwood Herbs

9. Alien Clearing Handbook for Western Cape -J. Croudace, Bo-Kloof Fynbos Conservation and Environmental Information Trust.

10. Planting for Butterflies - Liefe, Published by Lievete Noyons

11. Bring Nature Back into your Garden - C&J. Botha donated by Natal Region - WESSA

12. Marc Chagall - The Light and Origins - H.Smuts donated by Standard Bank

13. Endangered Wildlife - A Vision EWT donated by Tony and Lisette Foundation.

SPECIAL THANKS

to Standard Bank Foundation and Eskom Development Foundation for their sponsorship of Delta's Commemorative Book

to Barry Ronge for taking time to show case Delta on his programme on Radio702

to Blesston and First Paper House for sponsoring this   newsletter.

to Consol Ltd. for sponsorship of the newsletter Wallow in Water Wisdom - interesting water facts and figures -:

* Wetlands help recharge underground aquifiers that store 97% of the worlds unfrozen fresh water.

* Ground water is the only source of drinking water for millions of people.

* Wetlands slow the flow of water encouraging deposition of nutrients and sediments carried in water.

* Plants and soils in wetlands play an important role in removing high levels of nitrogen and even toxic chemicals.

* Cholera is caused by a bacterium that affects the intestines. Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting which can be fatal if untreated. Infection is caused by drinking water contaminated by the faeces of an infected person.

* Fill a clean, transparent plastic bottle with water from a dam. Paint the upper side black and Place on it's side in the midday sun (paint the upper side black) on a sheet of shiny metal for about 2-3 hours. This exposure will kill the cholera bacterium and render the water safe to drink.

* Without water food cannot be digested or absorbed.

* Mild dehydration slows down the body's metabolism  by about 3%

* A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger bad short term memory.

* 97% of all the worlds water is sea water. Of the 3% fresh water on earth only 1.7% is available for use. The rest is frozen in the icecaps.

* If you could colour every molecule in 1 litre of water and stir them into the oceans (making sure to mix them thoroughly) and then took a litre of this mixture from anywhere in the ocean, you would find that there were 10 000 of your original coloured molecules in your litre. Why? Because there are 10 000 more molecules in 1 litre of water than there are litres of water in the ocean!

* More children in the world die every year from diarrhoea than any other disease.

“In  the Amazon Basin, about 1/2 the rainfall ends up in the great Amazon River which delivers an awesome 1/5 of the total fresh water input into the global oceans!”

(H2O A biography of water -Phillip Ball)

Quotable quotes:

Well done! Lets go for the next 25. Maybe by then the world will be sustainable and no need for E.E. Heila

This place is cool! Anon.

Achievement through enthusiasm and encouragement by all concerned. Gordon Summerly.

Congrats! Best wishes ...and here’s to another 25+ years. Eco-Access.

We love Delta! Happy 25th and good luck. from the Hirsch Lyons Girls.

Thank you for a wonderful  example through the years. Karin  Swanepoel.

This is a wonderful facility! Very best wishes for the future. Michael Haskins

A proud day for all of us. Louise and Norman Bloom

*SPONSORSHIP * SPONSORSHIP * SPONSORSHIP * SPONSORSHIP * SPONSORSHIP *

S.A. Breweries Beer Division, Alpha Ltd., The Bidvest, Nestle S.A., B.P. Soutern Africa, Shell S.A., WWF S.A., Ceres Fruit Juices, Pick 'n Pay,  M.S.Parker Trust, Murray and Roberts, Samancor Ltd., Consol Group, Bilston Investments (Pty) Ltd., Tongaat - Hulett Group Ltd., DANCED, Rand Water,  Mazda Wild Life Fund, Anglo American and DeBeers Chairmans Fund Educational Trusts,  Standard Bank Foundation, National Recycling Forum, S.A. National Parks (Honorary Rangers, Johannesburg), SASOL,IDC, Mac Steel, Billiton Development Trust, Hollard Insurance,  Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation, Aluminium Federation of Southern Africa, NEDBANK/The Green Trust, Sandton Rotary Club, Meritor Automotive Trust, ESKOM Development Foundation, JLM Industries, British High Commission, Chamber of Mines.