NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 4 February 10:30 am

Good morning, here is your Eco Minute:

# Failure to wholeheartedly embrace the generation of renewable energy is out-and-out business folly. This is according to Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen. She says the cost of renewables comes in at less than 50-percent of what they are currently paying for energy. Viljoen believes the value that renewables can have for South Africa is being underestimated. She adds the economic stimulation that could be provided by stable and secure solar, wind, and storage is massive, and provides the opportunity to deliver near-zero-marginal-cost excess green energy.

# The Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism says the young male lion which was spotted on Wednesday walking alongside the R71, not far from Phalaborwa, has been captured. The department’s Zaid Kalla says the situation was quite hazardous due to speeding motorists ignoring attempts by authorities on the scene to slow them down. Kalla says the animal was eventually successfully darted, immobilised, checked for injuries, and taken back to the Abelana Game Reserve:

Play sound: ENG ZaidONLion

# And finally, the deputy minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Makhotso Sotyu, will take the Green Back-to-school campaign to Summerville Primary Farm School in Bultfontein, Free State, today. A spokesperson says during the visit, she will also hand over 100 eco-furniture desks and garden tools to plant trees, As part of the recently launched Ten Million Trees departmental programme, which seeks to mitigate the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, 45 indigenous trees will be planted this year at eight farm schools and 100 fruit trees at community homesteads.

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