Anglican Church supports Campaign to 'Tread Lightly', to leave a sustainable legacy

This statement was issued by the Office of the Archbishop on 5 September 2011.

This Heritage Day, 24 September 2011, environmental organizations the world over – including in Cape Town – will take to the streets to call for a new way of moving, a way that moves beyond fossil fuels and a dependency on private vehicles and leaves behind a sustainable, low-carbon legacy.

Cape Town’s ‘Tread Lightly’ parade will start at 10.30 am at the Cape Town Station Forecourt, and proceed an easy 5km through the central city. Everyone is welcome – on foot, by bicycle, wheelchair, skateboard, pram, and any other form of low-carbon transport you can think of. Expect floats, puppets and other surprising ‘non-motorised’ vehicles en-route.

The parade is part of international activist organisation 350.org’s global Moving Planet Day of Climate Action. ‘We know that the only way to avert climate catastrophe is an emergency mobilisation to cut carbon emissions to zero as soon as possible,’ says 350.org. ‘That's why we're encouraging greater use of renewable energy and low-carbon transport wherever we can.’

In Cape Town, 40% of carbon emissions – an important cause of climate change – are from the transport sector, largely single occupant private cars. Yet there are other ways of moving: walking, car-pooling, cycling, travelling by bus, train or mini-bus taxi, or not travelling at all (with technology such as telecommuting, email, instant messaging and simple better planning).

Parade participants will also raise awareness about other ways in which to tread lightly – from recycling, eating and purchasing locally, to solar power, indigenous gardening and water saving.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the parade will show that treading lightly doesn’t have be done with a heavy heart: it’s fun, it’s cool, and it’s the only way to ensure that we have a heritage left to celebrate.

When: 24 September 2011

Where: All over the world … and at Cape Town Station Forecourt (outside the station building itself) at 10.30 am, to leave at 11am.

How: Take the train, the bus, car-pool or ride (Metrorail will permit bicycles on board for the day)

The route: The parade will begin in the Cape Town Station, and will proceed up Waterkant Str and take a left into St Georges Mall. We will turn into Shortmarket Str, then left into Long Str, and left into Wale Str. From there we will return to St Georges Mall and make our way back to the Cape Town Station Forecourt.

SOME OF THE ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED IN ‘TREAD LIGHTLY’

350.org, Project 90 by 2030, City Climate Smart Campaign, Greenpop, Ecobuzz, LitterAWEH!ness, IlithaLomsa, Fairtrade South Africa, G&D Live , Free Life on Earth, Hearth Heritage, EcoDoc Africa, Cape Town Diocesan Environmental Church Group (Anglican), HangbergHoutbay Garden of Peace and Hope, Treasure the Karoo, Ride Your City and the Cape Town Bicycle Map, Mobility Magazine, Skateboarders Association, UNIMA South Africa, Jungle Theatre &Mzantsi festival, Green Your Art, COPART, Bicycle Empowerment Network, Earth Artist Collective, UCT Green Campus Initiative, Stellenbosch student societies, UCT drama students, SAFCEI

For more information, visit www.moving-planet.org or mail movingplanetcapetown@gmail.comorTahirih Cook, on 0848734711, or schools@unimasouthafrica.org