Repair (Heal) Your World

Tesla Model S: Gallons of Light: Private people making adverts for the cars they love!!

2013-02-08T22:31:00.001+02:00

Grow Green. Strikes, unemployment. Or electricity?

2012-11-19T21:21:00.001+02:00

My letter in the Cape Times today:

There are alternatives to the strikes, unemployment and massive problems afflicting South Africa.

The population of South Africa is being hampered by government legislation that prevents private people and businesses from selling electricity across the national grid. Yet the energy policy white paper of 2003 says that competition should be allowed.

South Africa is at a state of war with itself because of rapidly rising prices and growing unemployment, similar to what is happening in Greece and Italy. The National Planning Commission's report shows exactly how the unemployment figures are massaged and it is not good reading.

However, there is an alternative. Safe, green, sustainable, electricity, with the price coming down every year or at the very least never going up again - ever.

However, the government sees electricity as a cash cow, instead of realising that electricity is there to grow the economy. If the economy grows there will be less unemployment and therefore people who feel better about themselves, who earn rather than receive grants and who therefore strike less and cause fewer problems. People who work and earn a living feel good about themselves. People who receive grants feel terrible, although our government believes this is the only way to get votes, because they see these people as dependent on them for handouts!

If government allows electricity, transport, water, fuel, etc, costs to stop increasing and even start decreasing, by leveling the playing fields, as is envisaged in our policy and strategy, South Africa will grow as fast as the 25 countries in the world which are growing at greater than 5% per annum.

We might even grow like Ghana and other countries and like China has grown, ie at 10%+ per annum. At this rate, unemployment will be gone within 10 years. South Africa will be the richest country in the world. We have resources and we have population growth. With electricity we can turn these resources into finished goods for export to the world and especially Africa which will be the world's biggest market within the next 10 years.

There will be no need to export our raw materials and jobs to countries which are adding Gigawatts to their electricity grids weekly and making the finished goods that South Africa needs, whilst using South African raw materials! Hence making our balance of payments and exchange rate worse at exactly the time these factors should be improving.

Although South Africa'a problems seem complex, they have a simple cause. When will we wake up and realise this?

Follow the para-olympic example. Start Doing instead of complaining

2012-09-09T12:00:00.001+02:00

Some good news and possibilities ...

With so much "bad stuff" going on, I am so happy to have witnessed the amazing athletes at the ParaOlympic Games. The Parallel Olympics.

South Africa has 8 golds, 12 silvers and 9 bronzes, making 29 medals. And we are 17th on the log at the moment, ie in the top 20 countries. I am very proud of our guys and girls. They have inspired me to continue reaching for my ideals and values in this difficult world in which we live.

Initially I felt sorry and compassion for them. But after a few days, I realised that they don't feel sorry for themselves. They are an inspiration to all of us, whether we have physical or mental problems. We can overcome them. We can even overcome our environmental problems which lead to so many mental problems!!

We just have to stop complaining and start doing. As soon as this happens, our world will truly change for the better.

Exploiting South Africa's Energy Resources

2012-09-08T08:40:00.003+02:00

The South African government has forgotten that South Africa's energy resources include the sun and the wind and water and other sources of renewable energy. Instead it concentrates its efforts on fossilised non-renewable fuels which harm the planet and doesn't give us the opportunity to make use of our vast solar, wind and ocean resources.

Now that Government has lifted the ban on fracking, perhaps it will level the playing fields and lift the ban on Net Metering and implement NRS 097 2 1 which allows Net Metering with Reverse Feed and Time of Use Tariffs without a service fee?

This will give the alternative energy supporters time to show that alternative and renewable energy are cheaper and more sustainable than gas in South Africa. And it will level the playing fields and give the small person in South Africa the chance to compete with the goliaths of this world, including our government and Shell.

Warning to renewable energy investors; opportunity for social entrepreneurs

2012-08-10T10:13:00.001+02:00

David Lipschitz, letter in today's Cape Times:

Dear Editor

Alan Winde's announcement of the Western Cape government's "intention" to create jobs in Western Cape is just that: an intention. When business reads this, it invests.

Since 2003, and especially since November, 2008, the local and central governments have been making announcements of their intentions. Companies have invested hundreds of millions of Rands in being ready for these intentions.

To no avail. Whilst government is saying one thing, it is enacting every possible legislation to prevent or slow down renewable energy in South Africa. This should be illegal and it is known as Greenwashing. Saying one thing publicly whilst doing something else entirely.

As an example, South Africa has 35 rules for generating electricity using the sun. The USA has 6 rules.

So this is a warning to any new market entrants. Be very careful with your hard won savings and investments. Many companies have come and gone in the past 5 years. Many fortunes have been lost in this latest gold rush where the gold (energy) is lying in the streets, but where government is preventing people from picking it up.

Although we have an ongoing electricity crisis in South Africa and South Africa's biggest exports are jobs and raw materials, due to lack of electricity supply to convert our raw materials into finished products, government is doing everything they can to constrain the economy by its myopic electricity policies. The fastest way for South Africa to get out of its electricity crisis and associated recession is to enact the NERSA legislation allowing "Embedded Generation" with "Net Metering" and "Time of Use Tariffs" for homeowners. This will mean that private people will generate all their own electricity whilst the tariff structure will mean that people will do everything they can to minimize their electricity use at peak time, ie 7 to 10am and 6 to 8pm.

Technically we can solve our problems. And from a money point of view, we can reduce our electricity and therefore petrol, food and all our other costs, by up to 85% over the next 20 years. These cost decreases will enable massive expansion in our economy so that we become one of the world's powerhouses with zero unemployment and massive government health, education, and other social investments supported by taxation rather than borrowing.

Our problems are not technical. They are social. And until we all work together and trust each other, we will continue in this environment of constantly rising prices.

Yours sincerely,
David Lipschitz
Milnerton
7441
Ph 021 551 9935

Follow @SAAEA

Understanding Renewable Energy Opportunities

2012-08-02T12:42:00.002+02:00

Hi Peter

Thank you for the compliment. We appreciate it and it helps with our work. Are you a member of SAAEA?

The first thing people need to do is for us to change the way we think about our capital spend. Eg borrowing R100,000 may have a 20 year repayment period and thinking about it another way, you might be cash positive in year 8, due to the fact that your electricity price is constant, whereas without your system your electricity price would be increasing.

But another way to look at this, is that if you can spend the same amount of money per month producing your own electricity, as you are spending on electricity at the moment, then you are cash neutral in year one and in year two you are cash positive, making approximately R4000 profit in year two from become a power station supplying electricity to the grid.

If you are paying R1200 per month for electricity in the City of Cape Town, then if your rate is R1.50 per kWh, then you are using 800 kWh per month of electricity. This would require a 5.5 kW system which would cost R125,400. R125,400 at 10% over 20 years is R1200 per month, which means that you are paying the same amount for producing your own electricity as you would have paid the City of Cape Town.

Regarding your second question:

This is the standard response we get from the Utility, Eskom in our case. And sometimes from people who are against new technology and also from people who don't understand the renewable energy environment in its totality.

But there are a number of options:
1) The NERSA and SABS Net Metering (Embedded Energy) Standard allow for Time of Use Metering, eg where electricity at off peak time (10pm to 6am) could be anything from 1 cent to 75 cents per kWh; electricity at standard time (6am to 10pm) is R1.50 per kWh and electricity at peak time could be anything from R3 to R11 per kWh. I have calculated that it costs R11.50 per kWh for Eskom to run Ankerlig at full capacity. Ankerlig is a peaking power station that uses 25,000 litres of diesel per minute to produce 1,350 MW of electricity. This at peak demand. So if you knew that you were going to pay an exorbitant amount of money for using electricity at peak time, you would change your behaviour. Not only this, but you would look for ways to supply the grid with electricity at peak time so that you could make this money, eg by running a generator or using a battery bank. We also become much more energy efficient so that we only run microwaves and kettles at peak time and maybe our laptops and TVs. We don't use any heavy users at peak times, eg no pool pumps; no geyser electricity; no stove or hob cooking; no heating or air-conditioning, etc.
2) PV is not the only renewable energy technology. We can get about 1/3rd of our electricity requirement from the gas in sewerage. So during the off peak time we collect the gas and run GE Jenbacher gas-engines at peak time. ABSA have 4 of these gas-engines (generators) at the HQ in Joburg. Eskom are paying them to run them 24 hours a day using gas which is piped to Joburg from Mozambique.
3) With Solar Tower CSP (Concentrated Solar Technology), Spain is running plants at 16 hours of production per day. This easily covers the 6am to 10pm "Standard Time" periods. They have even run a plant for 24 hours per day!
4) Then there are wind turbines, micro-hydro, ocean currents, and many other forms of Renewable Energy one can utilize.
5) And then there is the best battery of all (at the moment), a dam, especially Pumped Storage. Lesotho has 7 GW of potential pumped storage capacity. It would be much better for South Africa to invest in building the Lesotho pumped storage project than in building nuclear and other fossil fuel power stations.

6) And there are still other options, for example Eskom pay rebates to large users who can remove electricity from the grid at short notice. Eskom are currently paying R300 million per month in these incentives, which are called DR or Demand Response. But the big users are complaining and withdrawing from the DR program, because they are losing market share because their factories aren't operating at full capacity. You might have read that South Africa's iron and steel and aluminium production is down 20% since last year. This is directly caused by a lack of electricity, although Eskom and the ANC and DA government would have you believe that the reason is because of a "recession." All that is happening by this lack of electricity is that we export more raw materials (note the huge additional investment happening in the railways and harbours at the moment) and we export jobs to China, Korea, Mexico, Germany, Australia, and the many other countries that are producing goods for South Africa and the over 40 other countries which don't have enough electricity. The country with the biggest crisis at the moment is Greece. The crisis is being blamed on a banking crisis, and yes, that is because the banks have invested in fossil fuel imports instead of making electricity from renewable sources. Greece's problem is a lack of electricity. This is impacting on all parts of its society.

I pray that this has given you a taste of the renewable and alternative energy spectrum and you will join the SAAEA in its quest to get Renewable Energy adopted in South Africa in the shortest possible time.

Feel free to ask more questions :)

Ke nako (the time is right for Renewable Energy),
David

Mad Activists

2012-07-19T09:47:00.004+02:00

To all my activist colleagues:

I humbly suggested that we activists are the stupidest people on the planet. Although we have the planet's well being at heart, we spend our hard one earnings and savings trying to help and most people just don't care, are myopic, are disinterested, apathetic, or worst of all, are simply in such a fossilised fuel mythology induced daze that they are simply dead people walking.

We put huge efforts into commenting on new laws; into commenting on newspaper articles; into being on the radio; into going to conferences free of charge; into giving; but what do we get out? And how much financial debt is worth all this exposure? And why do we allow ourselves to be used?

The government spends Billions on Consultants and then asks us activists to use our extensive knowledge to comment on what the consultants have said and written. We must be completely mad to do this for free. We are essentially doing the consultants work and filling in the blanks. Helping and giving without any sort of financial compensation. Yes, we feel good. We feel like we are helping. But we are putting a strain on our work and our families.

I believe now that we need to get together us activists, eg Muna, Marina, Jonathan, Mariette, Antony, myself, Ninette, and many others, and put ourselves into a team of people who trust each other and then offer our environmental services to people who wish to pay for these services.

So far I have spent R4 million of time and money on this venture over the past 5 years. I've had a lot of fun, spoken at many conferences in Cape Town, Joburg and Durban, including in parliament, and met political leaders and mayors. But I haven't made any new friends, amazingly. And getting to meet business leaders is proving impossible. I know not why, except I have a hunch that they want to be charged and we don't charge anything.

I look forward to working with you all on solving our planet's problems and at the same time earning enough to put food on the table without having to get further and further into debt.

Love and respect,
David.

What's really happening in South Africa? Why are we in a recession?

2012-07-01T11:11:00.000+02:00

So what's really happening?

South Africa doesn't have enough electricity. Similar to Greece, Syria, Spain, some of the more than 40 countries worldwide whose energy imports either exceed their total exports or are more than 60% of their total exports.

South Africa doesn't have enough electricity.

Our capacity is around 35 GigaWatts, and was around 38 GW 20 years ago. Plus peaking power stations taking us to around 38 GW today. At 3.6% average electricity growth worldwide in the past 20 years, South Africa should be at 80 GW today and in 20 years time should be at 160 GW.

To "solve" the problem, the South African government has had to be very inventive. Especially whilst giving another 2 million people electricity since 1994. It has closed the textile industry, moving almost this entire industry to China. It has closed several smelters, hence the reason South Africa's iron and steel exports have plummeted. It blames our problems on China, but China adds 1 GW to its grid weekly and for the first time will install the biggest share of renewable energy worldwide this year.

The South African government needs to limit growth, otherwise the citizen (voter) will find out there is a problem. So the government does this with laws that limit growth or which limit the ability of small companies to employ people or which limit the second hand market from selling goods. Examples? The Consumer Protection Act which protects big business whilst preventing small business from doing business; The new Labour Legislation which has outlawed companies from employing casual staff thus preventing small companies from trying out people before giving them permanent employment. If a big company employs a person who doesn't work out, its not really a problem if the company already has 200 people. But when a small company with 2 people wants to employ a third person, its a massive investment. And in order to buy second hand goods at a market, a customer needs to show their ID book!! When last did you show your ID at Pick 'n Pay or Woolworths or Tafelberg?

Wanting to outlaw labour brokers who help people get jobs is another example.

And there are others.

All because South Africa doesn't have enough electricity.

And the way South Africa will solve this problem is to borrow R2,300,000,000,000 (R2.3 trillion) and the only way South Africa can repay this vaste amount of money is to give away the Karoo, ie allow it to be fracked; to prevent South Africa from having its very own car, the Joule, and in other ways.

But citizens can take back their rights by taking responsibility for themselves. And thus reduce their costs by up to 70% from 2012 prices. Its so simple, that people just can't see it, as they've bought into the Fossilized fuel energy Mythology.

Where to today? That is up to us!

Complain about price increase or Make money off them.

2012-06-21T19:35:00.002+02:00

Eskom Tariff to Double by 2015. So what to do about it. Don't buy electricity from Eskom. Instead sell electricity to Eskom! We can make electricity on our roofs and sell it to Eskom.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/eskom-might-double-tariffs-by-2017-1.1323974#.T-NRMCsth9c

Dear all. Instead of complaining, South Africa's favourite pastime, do something about it. Like NetMeteringSA and Mandelaton.

When we get to 1,000 likes we will start changing our world. When we get to 50,000 likes we will be Eskom's biggest customer! We will also be their biggest competitor.

And our prices NEVER, EVER, have to increase again.

It starts with us working together.

Still unsure. Watch: The Five Winners.

Please start by liking the two Facebook links as well as my video. It won't cost you anything to do this.

Ke nako (the time is right for the people to take responsibility for themselves and to NEVER have another electricity price hike).
David

SAAEA Gold Membership and Green Merlin Award

2012-06-16T17:58:00.001+02:00

David Lipschitz and My Power Station awarded SAAEA (South African Alternative Energy Association) Gold Membership and Green Merlin Award for services to Renewable Energy in South Africa.

David Lipschitz - The Five Winners

2012-06-06T22:00:00.001+02:00

We're at Grid Parity. Watch David Lipschitz of My Power Station discuss The Five Winners.

* The customer wins.
* The suppliers win.
* Eskom wins.
* The government and cities win.
* The environment wins.

With special thanks to Neil Webster and Adrian Charles of FixerFilm (http://www.fixerfilm.com/) for this magnificent quality photography and editing.

"It starts with us working together."

Government has become big business and has lost its way

2012-05-21T09:26:00.002+02:00

Government has become big business and has lost its way

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/fear-and-loathing-as-utilities-grasp-impact-of-solar-pv-15262

Many governments of the world are reducing Feed In Tariffs (FITs) as fast as possible as they see their electricity revenue streams possibly diminishing, or maybe as they start running out of money. However, this is a myopic view and those countries that keep FITs going will reap the rewards as their economies grow and their tax base increases. Note that South Africa doesn't need FITs as we have already reached Grid Parity, i.e. the price where consumers can make electricity at the same price that we can buy it. Only two things are missing in South Africa: deregulation and Net Metering. With Net Metering, the consumer gets paid the same price for electricity we sell to the grid as for electricity we buy from the grid. With deregulation, protectionist laws are removed and the paying field is leveled.

The governments of the world are removing themselves from the mainstream 21st Century technologies on a daily basis.

The reason is simple: government has become big business.

Government used to be able to provide goods and services cheaper than the individual homeowner, but those days are over. Just as the railways had to adapt when cars arrived, and just as the shipping industry had to adapt when it moved from coal to oil 100 years ago (started by a UK government official named Winston Churchill when he was Lord of the Admiralty), so the governments of the world will have to adapt.

Winston Churchill was heavily opposed by the thousands of stevedores who moved the coal around in the bottom of the ships and on land - as, with oil, one flicked a switch or moved a lever and oil flowed - but Lord Churchill's vision was the huge growth that oil would enable - and now we need a leader with this vision to enable Renewable Energy (RE) growth - the main leader the world had died last year. His name was Dr Hermann Scheer and he introduced FITs in Germany in 1991.

The RE growth is the enabler for the economy. Electricity is not the economy. Just like labour and resources are not the economy. It is the putting together of the enabling "levers" where government should be playing a role in the modern economy.

Dr Scheer looked 25 years into the future and saw massive constraints in the coal and oil industries. These constraints would cause huge price increases, environmental destruction, water scarcity, and potentially the world's biggest war, and Dr Scheer knew that an incentive program was required to get industry and research and development institutions working towards an alternative. His vision has seen a 90% reduction in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) prices over the past 20 years. In the past 5 years in South Africa, prices have dropped 80% and at the same time our electricity prices have increased 150%.

If we carry on on our current path, we will run out of coal and oil by 2050, but the sun will continue shining for billions of years.

The abolition of slave trade in Britain in the early 1800's led to the establishment of the railway industry. Would governments rather that we have slavery? Actually the modern electrical system is a form of slavery where people pay exorbitant prices for their electricity. The same with water, rates, roads that are being tolled, etc.

The main thing in my eyes is that governments have forgotten their role.

Government's role should be an enabler to get business going, and thereby employment, education, medicine, etc, could be paid by the employee rather than by the overweight state.

Humans, as opposed to slaves, need cheap, reliable, environmentally friendly, resource provision, to enable the economy to grow cheaply, affordably and sustainably. Governments, as big business, can either fall over and cry and create self protectionist "laws" which will eventually lead to civil wars, and thereby be left behind, or they can fulfill their ancient mandate.

Ke nako,

David Lipschitz

The SEC enters the CES

2012-05-19T14:37:00.002+02:00

Make up to R1000 per month for every R1000 investment.

Net Metering

David's comments on the ANC's strategy for South Africa till 2030

2012-05-01T15:12:00.000+02:00

I have completed my 42 pages of comments on the National Planning Commission's 444 page 2030 Strategy for South Africa http://netmetering.co.za/wp/2012/05/01/david-lipschitz-comments-on-the-npc-strategic-plan-for-south-africa-2012-05-01/

Why are we suffering? What can we do about it?

2012-04-18T17:34:00.002+02:00

The real reason for sluggish growth in South Africa!!

http://netmetering.co.za/wp/2012/04/18/the-real-reason-for-sluggish-growth-in-south-africa-2012-04-18/

What can we do about it?

Join/Like https://www.facebook.com/NetMeteringSA and show that you care and that you want a better environment, a more healthy lifestyle, that you want to save money, and that you want a better life for yourselves and your children.

Saving money on your electricity bill

2012-04-06T09:31:00.001+02:00

More on what Net Metering is all about: Green Power Network: Net Metering

Also see Net Metering web site and Net Metering on FaceBook.

Please fill in our survey if you'd like to save money on electricity.

Make your own electricity cheaper than you can buy it survey

2012-03-19T09:15:00.001+02:00

Make your own electricity cheaper than you can buy it survey

If you'd like to make your own electricity cheaper than you can buy it and prevent Fracking and Nuclear Energy, please fill in this Survey. 25 people have already replied. I'd like to get at least 1000 replies asap.

What if we could make our own electricity cheaper than we can buy it?

2012-02-25T16:28:00.003+02:00

Read my Net Metering article and see for yourself.

The Green Capitalist Party, The Rondebosch Common and the Occupy Movement

2012-01-29T19:20:00.000+02:00

I just posted this on Facebook in reply to a question about the Green Party's view on the Occupy Movement and Rondebosch Common, and thought I should repost it here.

"On January 27 2012, 42 members of a group called "Take back the Common", were arrested by the SAPS for holding an illegal gathering on or near the Common". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondebosch_Common

The FB Green Party isn't the official Green Party. In fact, I started a FB page called The South African Green Capitalist Party and got so much flack that eventually I started this one. The good thing about the SAGCP party was that there was a huge amount of correspondence - And I have been considering going back to the original name. What do you think?

Note that there is an official South African Green Party which has been registered, but I have never been able to get hold of the people who run it.

See http://mypowerstation.wordpress.com/article/what-is-capitalism-anyway-213ev1gehazzh-2/ for how I feel capitalism should be defined and why I coined the term Green Capitalism. Also note that Capitalism as we know it is becoming more and more like Communism as we know it. In Communism a few people own everything.

I'm reading Richard Branson's new book "Screw Business As Usual" and he has also doesn't like what's happened to Capitalism, and he has invented a new name, Capitalism 24902; 24902 for the distance around the equator in Miles!

The Green Party doesn't have an official position on the Occupy movement, save that I personally support what they are doing.

As for the Rondebosch Common, it was proclaimed a National Monument in 1961 and the Common was originally much bigger. It included The Red Cross Children's Hospital, for example. As a monument, it is given in perpetuity for the use of the Citizens of our beautiful city and country. I agree that it is underutilised, but it is one of the few Green Lungs left in a town with sprawling overdevelopment and no thoughts for parks. Think London other great cities with their amazing parks and public spaces all over the city. The Common could have a running track and a cycling track, toilets, and small stall type shops around the outside supporting local indigenous industry where the wealth remains in Cape Town. Any organisation which sends profits overseas will not be allowed to use the common under this scenario.

PS: I visited the occupy London site outside St Paul's Cathedral when I was in London in November. Photos on my David Lipschitz Facebook page.

2011: The Year of The Forest?

2011-12-16T13:04:00.002+02:00

In 2012, the year of the forest, at least 50,000 (check number of trees) have been felled on the Table Mountain National Park and within Cape Town. The reason given is that the trees consume precious water resources. However, this is only one variable in a complex equation. Millions of birds, their chicks, snakes, other fauna and hundreds of millions of flora that live under the forest canopy have been murdered in this process. Billions of essential bacteria living in the ground has been destroyed. And we are left with a more acidic environment, with less ground cover and fewer trees holding the soil, thus erosion will be increased radically. Trees remove toxins from the ground, provide oxygen to the air, provide an environment where people can go walking and stay fit, and provide a myriad other environmental needs. Removing the trees has also dramatically increased South Africa's carbon footprint, just at the time that ministers are saying South Africa needs help from the "developed world" at COP17. If we don't start in our back yard, we cannot expect help.

We have spoken to the chief director of environmental affairs of PAWC environmental department who told us that the trees should have been replaced with indigenous trees. This has not happened and in the process we have lost a forest that was planted by our ancestors whose vision saw a massive growth in the population of South Africa; a population that would need trees to survive. And this population has allowed our trees to be chopped down and sold to the highest bidder.

As far as water goes, it is true that the water table decreases when there are trees, but the benefits outweigh this particular disadvantage. Furthermore, the Table Mountain Range has something like 35 springs that could provide enough fresh water for half the citizens of Cape Town, but most of this water is allowed to run into the sea. South African Breweries, Woolworths, and some other companies make use of this water. Citizens fetch water at a couple of the strings, for example in Spring Road, in Newlands.

New research in Israel and Germany, the only two countries in the world that ended the 20th Century with more trees than they started with, show that creating a indigenous rain forest makes weather patterns less erratic and we can see that weather patterns in Cape Town have started becoming more erratic with storms in the middle of summer, cold temperatures and new snow on the Ceres mountain range.

In Gaviotas in Columbia, a non-indigenous forest was planted as a way of getting trees into an arid area. After 10 years, local seeds that had been dormant in the soil for perhaps thousands of years germinated and the natural forest canopy took over. If the seeds in the soil of Table Mountain had seen the opportunity, they too would have germinated.

So we have cut down trees which supposedly use our water, whilst at the same time wasting the water from our springs. And furthermore, most of our water in Cape Town comes from the huge dams in the Hottentots Holland Mountain Range, 60km South East of Cape Town, so what is the problem?

It is time for the Citizens of this beautiful city to get together and prevent more destruction of our precious environment. We cannot rely on our leaders and government to do it for us anymore, be they ANC or DA. Our government is meant to be an organisation that are "public servants", but unfortunately governments today see the public, who pay their salaries, as their servants and this situation must change.

Showing that we are concerned about our trees will change this behaviour pattern and make Cape Town and the Western Cape into an environment that we all want to live in. Positive energies created will lead people to look at creating their own electricity, collecting their own rain water (as our grandparents used to do), dealing with our own sewerage, collectively growing our own vegetables and chickens, and generally leading to an increased vitality and health, unknown in the past couple of decades.

WHERE IS GOD IN THE WORLD?

2011-12-13T20:49:00.002+02:00

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America .

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

The Energy Internet

2011-12-12T12:47:00.000+02:00

Japan Group to Build Smart Power Grids That Treat Energy Like Network Data | PCWorld Business Center

The Fight for Clean Air - Article in Tabletalk 16 Nov 2011

2011-11-16T16:41:00.001+02:00

Dear Editor

Your article about Chevron and pollution refers.

It says that Chevron "complies with SA air quality laws." But where are Chevron and other big corporations Values, Morals, Ethics, Social Responsibility?

The world is in a huge financial mess because many large banks, corporations and governments have "obeyed the law" but have left the really important things called values and ethics out of their business dealings in the singleminded pursuit of profit. The huge loss is to humankind and nature. This loss is becoming more and more visible each day as many corporations and governments destroy the very environment that supports humankind by creating laws which ignore nature and ethics.

Chevron's values statement, on the internet, says: "We are honest with others and ourselves. We meet the highest ethical standards in all business dealings. We do what we say we will do. We accept responsibility and hold ourselves accountable for our work and actions." I wonder how many of Tabletalk's readers agree with this statement? Does Delight Chandler, PR Manager for Chevron, agree with this statement?

Yours faithfully

David Lipschitz

Day 2

2011-10-30T11:02:00.000+02:00

The Mayan Calendar Ended on the 28th October 2011

The world ended on the 28th October 2011.

Actually the world as we know it ended. The world will never be the same again. In the past month, Desmond Tutu said that the new regime is worse than Apartheid. And ANC NEC member Fikile Xasa called for an end to corruption.

World wide Photovoltaic production doubled. We are already at parity with City of Cape Town electricity under certain circumstances, ie the price of buying electricity is the same as producing it yourself!

Every Day is a Bonus Day.

We are now in Day 2. Love Day 2. Embrace it. Nurture it.

A Jewish "Niggun" or rhym: "Return to the land, return to the land, return to the land of your soul. Return to the land, return to the land, return to the land of your soul. Return to who you are, return to what you are, return to where you were born and reborn again." This is not about going back. It is about finding out who you are, why you are here, and getting onto the path that God has given you. A Buddhist Meditation (called Meta): "May I be filled with loving kindness. May I be well. May I be peaceful and at ease. My I be happy." Replace I with we. Replace I with "my family." Replace I with "our world." etc.

We are in Day 2. Do we need to call it week 1 or month 1 or year 1? I don't think so. Let's just call it Day 2. If you want to name it, perhaps call it StarDate 2.

Maybe I'm nuts. Maybe I'm eccentric. But Genesis 1, 28 informs all our actions on Day 2 and every day henceforth: We should "go forth and multiply, and replenish the earth." We cannot simply take and take, but must consider how we can put back. We are also told that the "sins of the fathers will be on the children to the forth generation" (Deuteronomy 5, 9). Four generations are about 100 years. This sentence means that we should consider 100 years time in all our decision making. The warnings are in our most ancient teachings. It's about time we heeded them.

With all my love and support for us all,
David

PS: It's a beautiful day.

The Crash of September 2011

2011-09-23T17:26:00.000+02:00

Who needs to be bailed out anyway?

The usual rhetoric on the radio from the managing director of the EU Central Bank. "Banks balance sheets are weak and they need to be bailed out so that they can lend to business which keeps the economy going." The only true bit here is that business keeps the economy going.

The USA, with its QE1 and QE2 bailout programs has pumped TRILLIONS ($1.7 per annum) into banks over the past 3 years. Most of that money went into the stock market pushing up market prices. Now the market crashes because there is no QE3 which means the US$ increases in value and becomes worth something again.

So now the banks have weak balance sheets again because their stock market investments have just crashed.

If the USA and EUCB really want to help, they should lend the money that they want to give to banks directly to the people who create the jobs and make the world a better place - sustainably.