Cassia Holtz

If you are anything like me, and you read, watch, or listen to the news, you will have heard a lot about climate change in the past few years. This is one of the most pressing topics of our time. However, much of this news is international and far away: bushfires in Australia, ice sheets melting in the Arctic, droughts, flooding, and sea level rise. But what does climate change look like in South Africa? And how do we know this? 

For context, I am a Master of Science student in Geography at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. My field of research is exploring the health effects of climate change. Broadly, I work in biometeorology, which examines the intersections between biology and climate science. 

The largest measurable effect of climate change in South Africa is how much warmer our country is getting. Many studies have analysed data from weather stations and found that our beautiful country is getting both warmer and drier. Both the total number of warm days and the maximum daily temperature have been increasing since the 1960s. In fact, globally, the last twelve months have all broken previous high temperature records. This is concerning. 

This warming trend is also causing seasonal events to occur differently than they have been. For example: 

1. In Gauteng, Jacaranda trees have been flowering earlier in the spring, at a rate of 2.1 days per decade since 1927. 
2. The Namaqualand daisies are also reaching their first flowering earlier, by about 2.6 days earlier per decade since 1935. 
3. And in the animal kingdom, brown-veined white butterflies are migrating 2.9 days earlier per decade since 1914. 
4. South African apple and pear orchards are also advancing in blooming by 1-4 days per decade. 
5. Conversely, the Sardine Run along the east coast of South Africa has seen delays of 1.3 days per decade since 1946. 

So, what? Why does it matter that seasonal events like these happen at different times? The main reason is that these are a direct result of a warming climate. It affects the tourism sector like tours of the Namaqualand daisies, which must be organised months in advance. This also drastically affects our agricultural sector, which relies on rainfall. If trees grow and flower earlier in the spring season before the necessary rainfall has come, fruit may never grow or ripen. 

But how do we know that these things are changing? Who knows on which day the Jacaranda flowers started blooming in 1976? Well, in the absence of official records on these phenomena, we use proxies. One way that we do this is by exploring newspaper archives. South Africa has several long-running newspapers that have reported daily across the country like the discontinued Rand Daily Mail or more currently, The Star. Through some incredible digitised archives, we can look through all the old editions of these newspapers and find when they reported on Jacarandas in bloom, butterflies arriving in Johannesburg, or the great sardine run event. For example, during my Honours research last year I used newspaper archives to reconstruct the historical timing of the influenza season in South Africa between 1904 and 2019 so we can better understand the flu season. I have carried this method of research through into my Master’s where I am looking at heat waves. 

While I am describing climate change in South Africa, it is important to know that this research is also being done all over the world for other local climates and their changes. This research from across the globe is collected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC. This United Nations panel’s main work is to compile climate change research into reports for scientists and policy makers to share both the risks of climate change as well as adaptation strategies. If you want to read more about climate change and future projections for different places in the world, the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report was published last year and is available online for free. The South African climate is changing and it will affect all of us. 

This post is not aimed at spelling out doom and gloom, but rather to share with you the scientific observations of what has already changed so that each of us can have a better understanding of what climate change in South Africa already looks like. We can measure the increasing heat, the drier rainfall seasons, changes in the migration of butterflies, and earlier flowering of both Jacaranda trees, Namaqualand daisies, apple and pear orchards and the timing of the Sardine Run. So next time someone makes an off-hand comment about how climate change is not a problem for today, you can point them to the fact that our country has already seen a lot of changes. 

Savannalee Hodgkinson

In the world we currently live in we are flooded with Temu and Shein advertisements and hauls. Either you are on the side of intense minimalism fiercely rejecting fast fashion or are an enthusiastic explorer of this mass of products. 

Take a second and close your eyes, imagine all the inhabitants in your home closet, your shoes, bags, jackets, hats, all of it, even the forgotten clothes you insist you will one day again fit into. Imagine walking out of your house wearing every single garment you possess. A scarlet letter screaming out your consumption. Where does all our clothing end up when it is thrown away? While our disposed clothing is out of sight, it should not be out of mind. We cannot afford to live in a throw-away culture because the things we have thrown away end up somewhere in our environment polluting it.

The cost of fast fashion is one of its largest attractions. I could purchase a new closet full of clothes from a site like Shein for a fraction of what it would cost at a local store (with the exception of those sneaky import taxes). But is it worth it when fast fashion clothing is made to expire after a measly seven wears? I think for many South Africans, the answer is yes because we cannot pass up the opportunity to wear affordable fashion-forward clothing that dupes trends seen in international Fashion Weeks. However, we cannot ignore the horror stories associated with fast fashion brands, from their brutal impact on the environment to inhumane, racialized, and forced labour practices. Around 75% of clothing ends up in a landfill while it is still in a wearable condition and at the current rate of clothing being made, the fashion industry is contributing to 20% of wastewater and 9% of microplastics found in the ocean every year. With clothing production and consumption at an all-time high, we must consider the sustainability of our fashion choices. 

An Alternative

Enter thrifting, the practice of purchasing and selling second-hand clothing thereby extending the lifespan of clothing that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Thrifting is not a new concept in South Africa, or indeed globally. If you walk through the Johannesburg city centre or any other areas of informal commerce, you would likely see someone selling second-hand clothing in a huge pile on the side of the road. This is at its core, what we call circular fashion that makes our consumption more sustainable. 

Ironically, some individuals are purchasing more clothes than they normally would, knowing that they can sell them second-hand and get a portion of their money back. This kind of practice juxtaposes the concept of sustainable fashion as it focuses on profit-making as opposed to supporting a circular fashion economy where the life of existing clothing is extended.  Thus, there are hidden environmental costs associated with thrifting that one should be aware of if they are thrifting with sustainability in mind. Another consideration would be the environmental footprint associated with the packaging and transportation of single clothing items thrifted online.  Transport is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and if you are buying a single second-hand clothing item that needs to be packaged (think of the resources that go into packaging) and then transported across the country, that does not scream eco-consciousness.  

Some thrifters are cautious to thrift products that are not associated with fast fashion brands. If this becomes a primary principle of thrifting, does that not mean that such clothing will end up in landfills anyway since they may not be purchased second-hand? Other challenges to thrifting include COVID-19  leaving a lasting impact on the importance of hygiene and many individuals have a perception of second-hand clothing carrying germs, however, all these clothes need is a good wash before wearing them, just as new clothes do. Secondly, purchasing second-hand comes with a fear of being scammed, particularly when you are purchasing from Instagram thrift stores where the clothing you have purchased may arrive in a very different condition to what you were expecting. Thus, credible stores like Yaga and physical stores where people can have a tangible experience with the clothing they want to buy are recommended. 

A final thought

Thinking about the impending doom of our environment can send one into a panic attack and one person alone doing everything perfectly for the planet is not going to save it, but if we all start doing better things with the planet in mind, we can make a change. So next time you want to order something from a fast fashion website, or buy shoes simply because they are on sale, give it a second thought.