The Cape Town Ecology Group was a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

-based radical environmental group, founded in 1987, as a "child of Koeberg Alert", and active until the early 1990s. It espoused a more political-oriented

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

ideology as opposed to the apartheid-based conservation groups of the time. According to founder Mike Cope: "We felt the need to view ecological issues on a broader level and recognised the connection between politics and ecology. Ecology is definitely a political issue because environmental issues are about where we live." It co-hosted South Africa's first conference on the environment,Lewis, D, "Differences set aside at Ecology Conference", South, 18–24 July 1991. p. 10 in conjunction with the Western Cape Branch of the

World Conference on Religion and Peace Religions for Peace is an international coalition of representatives from the world's religions dedicated to promoting peace founded in 1970. The International Secretariat headquarters is in New York City, with regional conferences in Europe, As ...

and the Call of Islam in 1991. The National Conference on Environment and Development was held at the University of the Western Cape and some 231 representatives from a wide range of organisations discussed the links between environmental degradation and the political situation in Southern Africa. The three-day conference aimed to "Ecologise Politics, Politicise Ecology" and was considered a breakthrough for its time. According to conference organiser, Phakamile Tshazibane: "For the first time groups such as the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union expelled, ...

(Cosatu), the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), the

Pan Africanist Congress The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (known as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)) is a South African national liberation Pan-Africanist movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that ...

(PAC) and the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC), found common ground around the issue of the environment."

Founders

*Michael Cope (author, anarchist and son of

Jack Cope Robert Knox ″Jack″ Cope (3 June 1913 – 1 May 1991) was a South African novelist, short story writer, poet and editing, editor. Life Jack Cope was born in Natal Province, Natal, South Africa and home-schooled by tutors. From the age of 12, ...

) *Julia Martin (author, academic, active member of the Steering Committee for seven years) *Karen Rolfes (tobacco heiress) *Henri Laurie (mathematician) *Donna Metzlar (activist) *George Petros (activist)

References

{{Political history of South Africa Environmental organisations based in South Africa Organisations based in Cape Town Defunct civic and political organisations in South Africa Environmental organizations established in 1987 1987 establishments in South Africa

Founders

See also

References