CapeAflame

Thank you Namhla at the People's Post for the great article on my shortlisting in the Standard Chartered and Royal Meteorological Society Weather Photographer of the Year Award.

Truly honoured and humbled to considered.

If you like my image, please vote for it in the public vote

https://www.rmets.org/weather-photographer-of-the-year/photos/1335905?g=1310599

Please VOTE to Support a Wildland Firefighter and Photographer. LINK below. My photo from the fireline has been shortlisted in the prestigious global Standard Chartered and Royal Meteorological Society Weather Photographer of the Year 2024.

I'd love it if you could vote for my photo, if you feel it should win.

https://www.rmets.org/weather-photographer-of-the-year/photos/1335905?g=1310599











-experience The Smokey Generation VWS Members Winelands Fire Protection Association Hotshots Wildland Firefighters European Wildland Firefighter The Wildland Firefighter National Geographic Into Nature Films The Mountain Club of South Africa - Cape Town Section CapeNature Sony - Alpha SA TREX Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Smokejumper Wildfire Updates

Exciting news! One of my photos from the fireline has been shortlisted in the Standard Chartered and Royal Meteorological Society Weather Photographer of the Year 2024.

I'd love it if you could vote for my photo, if you feel it should win.
PS: Voting by phone can be 'buggy', best is via computer.

https://www.rmets.org/weather-photographer-of-the-year/photos/1335905?g=1310599

It’s not just that our towns and cities have led us to pave over our Fynbos. Bringing food and goods to our people has led us to slice, dice and crisscross the Western Cape with our transport (road and rail) networks to such an extent that no Fynbos habitat has been left untouched. Most (and, yes, that means most) of it is now covered or obliterated by highly-cultivated commercial farmlands and, with an ever-increasing population fed by an agribusiness economy driven by increasing growth and profit, our Fynbos is on to a proverbial hiding to nothing.
And, by nothing, I mean nothing. It’s being beaten to hell and gone [https://www.mikegolby.com/2020/03/biodiversity-quo-vadis/].

Biodiversity: Quo vadis? - The Cape Aflame We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate in the Western Cape. How do we reverse a process that threatens the global web of life?

Currently, simplistic notions of afforestation and reforestation enjoy immense public and private-sector support. Their inordinate popularity, predominantly driven by media and market forces as tools for climate-change mitigation are used, increasingly, to argue for the afforestation of areas not suited to trees of any type – including areas falling within Table Mountain National Park (TMNP). Such arguments not only fly in the face of ecological sensibilities; they are wrong – and dangerously so. [https://www.mikegolby.com/2020/11/the-trillion-tree-planting-scam/]

The trillion-tree planting scam - The Cape Aflame Billion and trillion-tree planting campaigns profit only greenwashing financiers and academics fronting stranded-asset management strategies.

"The problem with this Draft TCIP is that it mixes the good with the unconscionable. By sticking to the context and process originally set for stakeholders in the TCMF PPP, SANParks would have eliminated unfeasible, impractical or illegal proposals from this draft." We consider SANParks' long-awaited revised draft of its Tokai and Cecilia Implementation Plan ... and, um, aren't impressed. [https://tinyurl.com/3s7d6dfj]

Meet SANParks' new TCIP... - The Cape Aflame Same as SANParks' old TCIP. With apologies to Pete Townsend of The Who and Won't Get Fooled Again from the album Who's Next (1971).

ChatGPT, the Internet's new BFF, addresses an Open Letter to SANParks' Managing Executives, urging the clear felling of pine at Tokai Park. [https://www.mikegolby.com/2023/05/open-letter-sanparks/?swcfpc=1]

An Open Letter to SANParks' Managing Executives The Cape Aflame ChatGPT, the Internet's new BFF, addresses an Open Letter to SANParks' Managing Executives, urging the clear felling of pine at Tokai Park.

Friends of Tokai Park's new film, Extinction Rebellion - The story of Tokai Park's plant diversity, is now out. It's a must-watch if you care about climate change, biodiversity and the sixth mass extinction as they affect us in one of the world's key biodiversity hotspots. [https://youtu.be/CShC_pFwnro]

Extinction Rebellion - The story of Tokai Park's plant diversity This is a story about the conservation significance of Tokai Park, South Africa, and the threats it faces. Containing two vegetation types that are criticall...

Living with Wildfire Wildfires are an inescapable and necessary function of healthy ecosystems. However, in the past decade they have increased in severity and duration, killed more…

"[I]nvasive alien plant species are proliferating faster than authorities can remove or manage them. This is also despite the efforts of Working for Water Teams working in the park, as well as over 20 volunteer groups working hard to clear invasive alien plants on the Cape Peninsula and beyond."

"In an article in 2019, scientists warned of the areas of highest risk at the urban-fynbos fringe, and gave clear steps that could be taken to mitigate this risk. But these issues have been identified as early as 1995. Could Cape Town have been better prepared to deal with this disaster?" [https://tinyurl.com/nh8pcr3m]

Why 2021's Devil's Peak fire was so devastating | The Cape Aflame Following 2021's Devil's Peak Fire, The Conversation asks what could and should have been done to avert catastrophic cultural heritage loss.

SANParks would like to announce that...Table Mountain National Park, with the exception of Boulders Beach and Cape Point, will allow access to visitors from Monday, 1 June 2020 [https://tinyurl.com/yczp9dh2].

Please note that the following areas will remain closed under Alert Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown: Boulders Beach; Cape Point (Cape of Good Hope); Silvermine Gate 1 and 2, Upper Tokai and all picnic sites – until further notice. In accordance with Alert Level 3 lockdown regulations, please wear a face mask and maintain a social distance of at least 1.5m when undertaking recreational activity. You are allowed to exercise between 06:00am and 18:00pm and Table Mountain management asks that you adhere to this. No overnight hiking is permitted in the park.

South African National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations Official Website. Experience the beauty and diversity of South African National Parks, Travel and explore South Africa! Nature Conservation, Accommodation, Activities, Reservations