Cape Town Goes Green for World Cup 2010
World Cup fever has been gripping the country since the start of the FIFA World Cup on 11 June. Last Friday, 18 June, England played Algeria in their Pool game in Cape Town. It was a beautiful day in the Mother City so I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to go and check out the Fan Walk which goes from the Grand Parade at the Cape Town train station, right through the centre of town until you reach the Cape Town Stadium in Greenpoint. We caught the train from the Southern Suburbs and experienced a very pleasant, quick ride into Cape Town station and then set off on the 2.4km walk to Greenpoint.
I was pleasantly surprised and pleased by the amount of rubbish bins which lined the fan walk as well the recycling bins slapped with the slogan “Zibi says Recycle OR Zappit” (see picture below).
The other really postive initiative displayed on the fan walk was the ´recycled tree´ on the corner of Somerset Road. The tree is made from re-used waste including used council rubbish bins, milk bottle caps and yoghurt containers. At first glance it just looks like a really funky tree but on closer inspection you get to see the real message behind this tree and hopefully it will make passers-by think about their current consumption patters and help bring about a change in their lifestyles.
If you haven´t yet done the walk, make sure you do it before the end of the World Cup in July. If you can, take the train into town. It´s super safe and a really fun, not to mention eco-friendly way, to experience the city. It made me realise that if our public transport was always this well policed and reliable, I would out of choice much rather use the train than my car to get around. Perhaps this is something that the City of Cape Town should look into on a permanent basis as I know I´m not alone in this sentiment.
So even though Bafana Bafana haven´t really performed for us at least there are other good things that have come out of us hosting this event. I like many other car-driving citizens have rediscovered how to liveeco when it comes to getting around town so c’mon Mzansi, lets take these lessons and put them into practice!
Check out the picture gallery of the Fan Walk below.
Ke Nako!
Nics
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