This column by Simon Gear first appeared on the Don’t Be a Passenger blog (www.dontbeapassenger.com) in February of 2010.

South Africans revel in their frontier mentality.  We like to think of ourselves as tough, rugged and adaptable.  It shows in our newspaper headlines, our holiday choices and our international ex-pats’ reputation as hard workers.  It certainly shows in our driving.  So, why the constant whinging around greening?  I see it all the time.  Unless people are actually a part of a neighbourhood separated waste scheme, the whine is that ‘the government does nothing’.   Unless I personally come over and steal your geyser and replace it with a solar one, we cry that it is ‘too expensive’ and ‘too much hassle’.

How about we see some of that Saffer ‘can do’ applied to green initiatives around our homes?  Because the fact is, most of the stuff that you need is already in place.  True, with a few exceptions, the council system doesn’t currently support waste separated at source.  But I’m not sure if you’ve noticed that you do in fact have a fairly sophisticated waste management scheme operating on your doorstep.  Every garbage collection day, a steady stream of waste pickers wanders around our suburbs.  One guy does paper.  Another plastic.  A third specialises in tin cans.  They make their unsavoury living by going through your trash and sifting out the valuable waste for you . By separating your rubbish yourself and leaving it out in clear (or clearly labelled) bags, you make their lives easier and probably decrease the number of wheelie bins you need to hire from the municipality.  Or, if your faith doesn’t extend that far, one trip a week up to the local dump (where I bet they do have a recycling facility) to drop off your paper, plastic, glass and metals takes twenty minutes out of your day and keeps you in control of your waste stream right into the hands of the recyclers.

Eskom has just announced a doubling of their rebate on solar geysers.  It is now possible to get a geyser installed with low initial cost and monthly payments less than what you are saving in electricity.  And you’re still whinging?  Come on, that’s as good a deal as you’re going to get anywhere in the world.  You don’t need to wait for feed in tariffs or Green Peace or the next power crisis to get that done.  Click onto the DSM (Demand Side Management) section of the Eskom website to get a list of suppliers.

We’ve sat around for 15 years.  Depending on our political affiliation, we’ve either had our arms folded waiting to see how “they are going to stuff it up now” or with our hands outstretched, demanding to be handed our slice of the pie.  It’s enough.  We’re a bright, butch and beautiful people living in the best country in the world. The least we can do is put our own hands up and commit to playing our own part in making it even better.  Don’t be a passenger.  Life’s much more fun up front.