The Klein River Estuary mouth opened during the early hours of Tuesday 14th August

This is a historic victory for the proponents of the western breach to the mouth of the Klein River Estuary 14 August 2013 

This blog site's reporting and support for west breach has been vindicated. Read previous  posts to this effect.

http://truthabouthermanus.blogspot.com/2011/10/klein-river-estuary-breaching-disaster.html 

http://truthabouthermanus.blogspot.com/2011/09/klein-river-artificial-breaching.html

The Scout Camp (see below) water's edge has now been revived and rescued from the horrors of putrification of the major pollution morass found there last year.

http://truthabouthermanus.blogspot.com/2011/01/municipality-pumps-sewage-into.html

This is the pollution morass (see below)

Lest we forget this is the Scout Camp pollution we been talking about. Reported last year.

http://truthabouthermanus.blogspot.com/2011/01/municipality-pumps-sewage-into.html

Promoting a SLOW VILLAGE culture in STANFORD

Some examples from around the world

BELOW ARE PICTURES OF STANFORD VILLAGE 

ILLUSTRATING COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES AND ROAD SIGN SUGGESTIONS WE CONSIDER APPLICABLE FOR CONSIDERATION AND DEBATE

                                                     

 

 

 

WHY NOT A 30 klm SPEED LIMIT 

THIS SIGN COULD BE ERRECTED AS WELL!

STANFORD SLOW VILLAGE CULTURE

Is the Overstrand municipality on the Damascus road of environmental awareness?

For those who have read some of the postings on this blog site, however brief, you may have asked yourself; So what do they believe in?


Well, let us answer that in two words, SUSTAINABILITY & SELF-SUFFICIENCY  as it pertains, primarily, to the communities living within the Overstrand municipal boundaries.


We are all on the Damascus Road of awareness, an awareness, in our opinion, that should be considering the vulnerability and fragility of our limited resources found between the mountains and the sea, on the WHALE COAST. 


Where do we find examples of the practical application of sustainable living and self-sufficiency, where do we look to develop this awareness, understanding and inspiration that local government, commerce and community in our region can learn and benefit from?


We can begin with these benchmark web sites and initiatives both global and local.


GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY & SELF-SUFFICIENCY 


PATH TO FREEDOM  
www.urbanhomestead.org


SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
www.sustainable.org


SUSTAINABLE CITIES
http://blog.sustainablecities.net


LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY & SELF-SUFFICIENCY


GREEN LIVING
www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com
www.urbansprout.co.za


GREEN BUILDING
www.gbcsa.org

Country's greenest municipality

Hermanus Unpublished would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Overstrand municipality for winning the Greenest Municipality Competition in the local municipality category, an award which comes with R3.5 million in prize money.

It may interest environmentalist to know that the competition evaluates waste management, energy efficiency and conservation; water and air quality management. landscaping, tree planting and beautification: leadership, institutional arrangements and public participation.
It is by no means co-incidental that all these categories, falling within the competition's evaluation process, are the central issues pertaining to municipal governance, that are dealt in this blog site. 

We await with much interest how the business plan proposes to apportion this prize money in the context of the completely overlooked atrocious record of environmental disasters befalling the communities in the Overstrand.

This should not be deemed inappropriate 'sour grapes' of Hermanus Unpublished, but a call to examine the record where such accusations stem from, in the context of the accolades pouring forth in praise of the Overstrand municipalities good governance record.
In this context and in summary, here are the key issues that this award has raised, where the municipality, in our opinion has failed to achieve the desired standard of excellence pronounced.

• Waste management: The ongoing pollution of the Klein river and estuary, together with the catastrophic Onrus lagoon pollution levels.
• Water management: The management of the Onrus river catchment pertaining to town planning decisions affecting agriculture water use.
• Institutional arrangements: The approval of town planning applications for highly unsustainable retail and  tourism accommodation structures.
• Public participation: The flaunting of environmental legislation pertaining to development on municipal land with specific reference to the Schulphoek development pertaining to public participation processes.
• Tree planting and landscaping: The lack of tree planting and beautification throughout the Overstrand with specific reference to Gansbaai and Hermanus central business area where no tree's have been planted since the Overstrand municipality was formed. 
• Beautification: The inability of the municipality to rein in the proliferation of illegal signage throughout the municipality. 

THIS SITE ATTEMPTS TO DEAL WITH DEVELOPMENT PARADIGMS AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL

USE SEARCH WINDOW AND EXPLORE FURTER