I know what some of you expect from me, and that is to be a sex symbol ALL the time, living the glamorous life in Cape Town, partying, living it up at the villa and just abusing the lifestyle of excess.

With excess though, comes excess…

I’ve spoken about this a few times, and we’ve gone over the need to recycle to save Cape Town’s landfills from filling up, and our land becoming a trash can. Some people have commented that the government make it too difficult to recycle in Cape Town.

Well not anymore.

You see there is a company called Clearer Conscience, and they take away all your waste and drop it at the necessary recycling points for you. I’m often asked how to recycle in Cape Town, and I now have the answer. It’s called Clearer Conscience.

Click HERE to recycle in Cape Town

This is how it works:

Separate your recyclable and non recyclable materials and rinse them where necessary. You will need to seperate them completely separately and place each recyclable material in a separate bag. Clearer Conscience take plastic labelled PET 1,2,4,5,6 as well as Tetra Pak which is used for milk cartons and juice cartons etc. Paper, tin, glass and cardboard is also recycled.

Then you simply leave the bags outside for Clearer Conscience to collect them. You can even buy Clearer Conscience bins, and leave those outside, and Clearer Conscience will empty them for you.

This is also the perfect idea for offices looking to recycle goods that they use, to reduce their carbon footprint. Reducing your impact on the planet is not only good on a moral level, but it can also help in marketing materials about your company.

Every single household in Cape Town, and every business needs to recycle. If you find that recycling in Cape Town is a hassle, then why not give Clearer Conscience a call? You’ll be doing Cape Town the world of good.

Pricing is very competitive at around R60 per collection of up to 4 bags. Think about it, that’s two Woolworths microwave meals OR two double vodka Cokes out at the club. It’s really pocket change.

I’ve just looked into the basics here, but for more information on Clearer Conscience and recycling made easy in Cape Town, please click HERE.

Let’s do this for a cleaner Cape Town!

Sean Lloyd

Editor 

I was reminded to write this while taking a wizz in my garden on Saturday afternoon because I found a 1964 South African 1c coin, which is now sort of my good luck charm. I think it’s Al Gores way of giving back to me for saving the planet…

So I realised that one of the easiest ways to save the planet, for guys at least, it to take a pee in the garden or yard. Now I do pee more than average at the moment in part thanks to a liver and kidney herbal formula I’m taking in order to reverse the damage done last year by totally abusing alcohol. Abusing is to put it mildly. I was DESTROYING alcohol.

This liver/kidney formula makes you pee like a racehorse.

Anyway, let’s say the average dude takes four pees a day, and let’s say a flush of the toilet uses 5 litres of water (I’ve heard a flush is more like 15 litres). We could potentially save 20 litres of water per day by peeing in the garden. That’s at a conservative 5 litres per flush.

So at 5 litres per flush times four pees a day that’s 7300 litres saved per year. PER PERSON!

Now if a flush is 15 litres and you take four pees a day that’s a saving of 21900 litres per year. PER PERSON!

That’s damn amazing!

I can’t quite understand why I’m currently single. Surely not for long after chicks see this photo?

And the more you pee, the more you save. So for an alcoholic pissing ten times per day, he is basically an environmental champion if he pees in the garden.

So you come to SLXS wanting entertainment, and you leave transformed into some sort of hippie tree hugging Al Gore.

In a cool, manly, steak eating, meat eating type of way.

And that’s why SLXS flips your world upside down and turns it inside out. It’s that sexy. It’s that naked.

Woes me, where did that last line come from?

Why are there 5 empty Red Bull cans next to me?

Why are my roofies finished?

And this eye drop bottle…*dos*

Sean Lloyd

Editor 

Some of you may not know this, but I kind of stopped drinking two weeks before new years, and then got absolutely broken on new years, and then stopped drinking again.

I then decided to only drink on special occassions, so naturally at the J&B Met I was completely and utterly obliterated.

But now I’m fine, although I did slip up on Wednesday night, I won’t lie. I went out and went mental and was hanging like a bee-atch the next morning. It was so, so, so painful but all had returned on the health front, except for pissing blood and the kidney stones of cirrhosis of the liver.

Anyway, you can look like this and still save the planet:

That was me on Wednesday evening, not even posing, that was the look of a man consumed in alcohol! I realised I had driven out, and there was no chance that I could drive, let alone walk, so I messaged Skateboard J to fetch me, and then slept over at his pad.

I woke up in the morning thinking that I was in some Japanese families wreck room (And they would NOT stop screaming!) I came round a few minutes later and realised I was in Skateboard J’s pad, so I stumbled into the kitchen and got stuck into the pizza his girlfriend and him had shared the previous night. Washing this down with some cream soda I felt like the rock star that I was, and still am.

I was smashing pizza into my face, hard in order to save my life. And little did I know, as I tried to fight a hangover that was set to consume my super powers, that while eating pizza I was saving the planet! Good grief! Check me out, this is the type of person your mother warned you not to date:

Anyway, I can’t say I’m too into writing this right now, but here are some things St Elmos are doing to help save the planet, in a little way (Every bit counts…motherfucker):

• Printing menus on eco-friendly paper
• They burn, wherever possible, alien, water thirsty wood like Port Jackson and Black Wattle

Ah bugger it, I’m over it. Click HERE to read the rest.

So that’s what I looked like on Thursday, but miracles do happen and I managed to bust out the Mane and Tail and polish myself up to this last night:

It’s so funny that I wasn’t even posing for that, the camera caught me completely off guard! It just takes pictures of me wile I’m chilling.

Madness!

Or Sparta?

Sean Lloyd

Editor 

I was busting around a nightclub in Cape Town the other night, thinking “Yeah, this party is filthy!”

But I was talking filthy in a good way. Short skirts, skimpy underwear and the like…and I was thinking “This is quite a RAD vibe!”

One thing I don’t like filthy though is my city, which is why I bring you a public service announcement, telling you that if you live in Cape Town you MUST recycle!

A few interesting things here that most people don’t take note of. You drink a can of cooldrink, throw it in a regular bin and that can goes to landfill. It’s not a problem because you can walk into the shop again and there will be more cooldrinks there, in more cans.

But did you ever just stop and think as to how that can got to you?

Massive amounts of energy are spent each year mining metals from the earth, all so that they can be made into aluminium cans so that we can enjoy a cooldrink. A metal that has been mined form the ground, just to provide us with 340 ml’s of refreshment, is in an instant lost in landfill.

When you think about it, it actually seems like a crime to throw that can away. Once you throw that can away, you won’t get that metal back. It’s gone to landfill and no mining operations take place in landfill sites.

The same goes for other materials such as paper and plastic. It’s shocking that so much goes to waste, when it can very easlily be recycled. I see loads of people these days going “Oh I’m so green I bought an organic thing today” or “I’m so green I went to Rocking The Daisies this year and we acted all green and hippie. The festival was SO eco-friendly”

But these are the very same people who recycle nothing in their houses. The amount of energy saved by recycling can be quite staggering. If we take glass, it is extremely heavy. If this glass was not put into dump trucks, it would lighten their load CONSIDERABLY. This would reduce fuel costs. It would reduce landfill space. Recycling glass uses considerable less energy than making new glass.

Not to mention the fact that Cape Town is running out of landfill space. I was chatting to someone the other day, and we found it ridiculous that some 50% of material sent to landfill in Cape Town is from building rubble.

Obviously though it’s all very well for me to tell you to do this, but as always, I need to set the example! I think so far I’ve taught you how to drink and party, and now for something good.

This is what didn’t go to Cape Town landfill this week from SLXS:

I’ve been recycling everything that I possibly can in my house for about a year now including plastics, tin, glass and paper. It really does make all the difference in the world, but the problem is people always need a reason. They want to be paid to recycle, or they fear that it’s not a “cool” thing to do.

I don’t get paid to recycle, and it doesn’t make me cool, but it does help Cape Town a whole lot. I think cool is relative though.

I recycle but I’m cool. I have a 6 pack…in the fridge.

Chicks dig me.

Well…sometimes.

I mean I can’t guarantee that recycling will end up in some chick tweaking your nipple, like what happened to me at the J&B Met a few years ago.

This was prior to me training for Fight Club. I’m ripped now.

But it will make Cape Town cleaner.

And the cleaner Cape Town gets…the filthier my mind gets.

Please guys and girls, it’s important to me that my city doesn’t turn into a rubbish dump. Because I will kick your ass!

True story.

Do it. Recycle. Do it.

Click here for a list of places where you can recycle in your area.

Click here for more interesting facts on recycling.

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I was just perusing, at my leisure, Urban Sprout as I haven’t read it in a few weeks and I came upon some interesting facts relating to Cape Town.

As everyone already knows, the worlds oil is not exactly in abundance anymore, and the struggle for energy is getting more hectic every day. The world consumes some 85 million barrels of oil a day which is a massive amount. With oil running out, everything that the world is built on is in a crisis. No transport to bring us food, no power for lighting, no economy etc.

So it’s interesting to note the concept called Transition Towns, which are basically towns that are gearing themselves up for when oil eventually becomes too expensive to pump and too scarce to find, and we have to change our way of life to more local and sustainable. According to the Urban Sprout article “Transition Towns movement hits Cape Town” , Transition Town communities have been formed for Kommetjie and Hout Bay (Click here for the Hout Bay TT website)

I find that all rather fascinating.

Another interesting article is “Green transport for Cape Town City Bowl — Phase 1 of the rapid transport system goes ahead” Click that article to read it.

And be sure to check out Urban Sprout for a whole host of other interesting and informative green news.

UPDATE:Also be sure to have a look at Urban Harvest. Basically, they design, set up and maintain an edible garden for you so you can grow your own organic food. Obviously this contributes to a more local lifestyle, saving massive amounts of fuel to transport your food to you.

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I was chilling at the villa the other evening and we were all chatting around the braai, having a few drinks and maxing out the vibe. The story turns onto one of the guys and how long he takes to get ready every day, with people calling him “such a chick” They then laughed at how he has to shower, moisturise, do his hair and only then can he leave the house.

Not wanting to let them know that I actually do these sorts of things myself, I sat there quietly, sipping on a Savannah, all the while wondering if I had my put my Philips Bodygroom on charge!

There was no way I was actually going to make a mention of the fact that I had paid Hemporium a visit a couple of days prior to get some body moisturiser! They would have platzed!

Hemporium is a South African hemp company that was founded in 1996 and uses hemp to make their products. The benefits of hemp is that it is easy to grow, and doesn’t require the vast amounts of water and pesticides that cotton uses. Because some 25% of the worlds pesticides go to cotton farming, making the cotton industry an absolute nightmare to nature.

Unfortunately, many governments see hemp in the same light as weed (Ask your mom to say it. “Mara- joo – wana”) This is not the case though, because it’s not really going to get you high. In any case, the people who want to smoke weed can so easily get hold of it it’s a joke. I can get a pre-rolled bat for ten bucks down the road from me.

You know…if I wanted to…

Industrial hemp has the ability to save so many of our planets resources and it can be used for so many things. One of them being clothing, as Hemporium have shown with their range of hemp clothing.

It can also be made into skincare products, and the one I purchased was the Moisturising Hemp Body Lotion. Good grief, it’s delicious! The smell of it is so natural that I’m tempted to eat it. It’s made with hemp seed oil, vanilla and lavendar essential oils. It also comes in a glass bottle, not plastic, so it’s easy to recycle. It’s not sticky at all and makes you glow, like a runway model! Without the coke addiction…

Hemporium Hemp Body Lotion: All over your body

The problem with government is that they are a bunch of (re)tards. They don’t want industrial hemp to be legalised, but they are so corrupt it’s insane. Do you think that they confiscate cocaine at the airport, and then destroy it? When our cops are getting paid probably less than R5000 per month to put their lives on the line, do you really think they are going to throw out millions of rands of cocaine? Don’t you maybe think it goes back onto the market? Say what you will, but I’m convinced most of the drugs confiscated in South Africa go straight back into circulation. Just an opinion…

Besides, what does our government know anyway? They can’t control the crystal meth (tik) problem, which is far more serious than a couple of stoners enjoying a blunt,going to the corner shop for the munchies and generally not causing any harm.

ANYWAY!

Off the topic, sorry about that.

But Hemporium is an awesome place and they have a great vision and goal of legalising industrial hemp. But as with anything, legalising it will take time. But you can go onto the Hemporium website over HERE and register with them to show your support for the hemp industry, thus further reinforcing and strengthening their goals.

And one day hopefully hemp will become legal. The best way to do this is vote with your wallet and support hemp products from Hemporium. With more demand comes greater trust in the product. and hopefully the clowns sitting in governments around the world will wake up and realise that the cotton industry is killing us and the planet with it’s excessive use of pesticides.

I was a bit bleak when I visited Hemporium because I found a flyer printed on hemp paper. As much as I wanted to blaze the beast up, the lady at the shop assured me that I would not get high. Not ideal.

Hemp paper: Not blazable

Wow, all that writing, and the next thing I know, it’s half way through the morning!

The Hemporium shop in Cape Town is situated in an old cottage and walking in makes you feel right at home. I browsed around, and when the guys called I said I was on my way to play touch rugby, eat steak and drink beer.
Hemporium Cape Town

114 Constantia Main Road

Wynberg

7800

Cape Town

South Africa

Click HERE for the website

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I (“I” being 1.85m, ripped, tanned and toned- Call me Stacy) was browsing the internet the other day, as that pretty much sums up my job. I look for cool stuff! And I party around Cape Town and cause general mayhem wherever I go (Ask Kelvin Grove about Tuesday nights performance) I was looking for this whole organic vibe that everyone is on about at the moment.

Then I was looking at some products in my cupboard and reading the ingredients list, which sounded like a list to construct some sort of atomic bomb. Because my health largely depends on my lifestyle (Let’s forget about the drinking for a moment), and my lifestyle largely depends on what you get to read here every day, I thought it ONLY appropriate that I keep this body working!

I mean imagine…imagine for one day I got sick, your life would pretty much fall apart at the seams. I know… I love you back in the same way!

So I searched around on the Google application (You should try it- Absolutely amazing) and found myself over at this shop called Faithful to Nature. Ok it’s not actually a shop, but it’s on the internet. I don’t know how to explain this, but it kind of shows images to you in (Inside the computer- Insane) the computer, but you can order the products, and you get them in real life.

I know. I can’t get my mind around the concept either.You order a one dimensional product through your internet, and you get the real, usable product in real life.

I was looking for an organic aftershave to keep my skin as soft as a babies bum after dragging my Mach 33 over it. I haven’t touched a babies bum, so I can only go on reports from these “magazines” that are “in print” Interesting concept, not having your magazine online like we do. Very strange.

So I stumbled upon the “Green People Cool Down Moisturiser” It’s used as an aftershave and as an after sports/ sun cooling moisturiser.

I always find that my regular moisturiser makes me feel like I’m putting oil on my face after I have been at the beach all day, or out mountain biking. It makes me all sweaty, so I needed something to cool this engine of mine down.

And what a treat did I stumble upon. “Gorgeous” comes to mind, when trying to utter words on this products. It contains, amongst many other ingredients, aloe and mint to help soothe and cool the skin. You probably know that feeling after gym, where you put cream on your face and it feels too hot. I know, that’s why I’m here to guide you.

It’s not ideal to use everyday as it’s quite light, and makes your skin feel very cool. But it’s a treat, as I said earlier, for after sport, shaving or after bronzing it up on Clifton or Llandudno (God, I’m going to punish summer so hard this year)

And it’s organic, so there is none of that artificial rubbish being absorbed into your body which will probably make you live longer, which is not a bad thing.

While I was breaking the credit card out I also bought some Enchantrix Orange and Amaranth Hair and Body wash, which is ALSO organic. On the bottle it says it “will not harm the environment, the animals or you” and it doesn’t contain any petrochemicals or mineral oils.

And I think we can all nod in agreement, that’s a good thing!

Yeah that’s what I’m talking about!

It says that our bodies can absorb up to 60% of what we put onto them, and this excessive exposure to toxic chemicals in regular products has been linked to disease in people of all ages. And it’s not ideal to have your life membership cancelled, because you were using inferior products on that temple of a body of yours!

But that is not all, I took a little browse around for the ladies and stumbled upon some of the most DIVINE products I have ever seen. I nearly platzed when I saw how STUNNING they are!

I think my personal choice for the ladies (Because I think you are stunning) would be the Esse range, all organic and they are all packaged in very slick looking containers. And the products are not even expensive!

There are things such as the Esse deep moisturiser which, at R189 for 50ml’s, is actually cheap! The cream cleanser, at 100ml’s and selling for R87, is also cheap!

Esse – Like the Mexican gringos

The range looks so good that I would probably use it. You know…even though it’s a chicks range. I mean…not that I have used it before. I mean, clearly I don’t use moisturiser.

No! Are you crazy? I just eat red meat, drink beer and watch rugby. No seriously…you don’t believe me?

Oh…me neither.

I can’t go into all the detail here but I think this information is more than enough to help you live a healthier life that puts less strain on the environment. It’s an absolute pleasure finding out all this information for you. No really you don’t have to congratulate me.

No don’t be silly!

What?

The Nobel Peace Prize?

Come on that’s not necessary!

But I will take it. Thank you.

For the Faithful to Nature website, click HERE. They deliver within South Africa and also to Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland. I just want to buy everything on the website, but that would be a bit over the top.

Look, after this post, my reputation as a tough guy might take a bit of a beating. So to reinvent myself I’m off to the Kruger Park to shoot an elephant. Then I will probably fly to Dubai and get my drill out, and drill for some oil. Then I’m coming back on Friday so I can play rugby on Saturday. Apparently I’m replacing Nick Koster on the bench…

One last thing. Thank the Lord I have my Elton John and Phil Collins DVD’s to keep me entertained after the rugby.

What? I never said I have a Phil Collins and Elton John DVD!

Oh I did?

Whoopsie daisies!

What?

Guys don’t say whoopsie daisies?

Whoopsie daisies!

Sean Lloyd

Editor

Four things consume my weekends:

1) Shagging supermodels

2) Drinking alcohol

3) Staying in luxury accommodation

4) Dancing

Sean Lloyd: Wednesday Nights: FTV Bar Cape Town

And so I didn’t have too much time to read the newspaper this weekend, but my Butler, Barton (More on him later) delivered me the weekends papers today, Monday 21 July 2008 and insisted I read them. I insisted he bring me a bottle of wine (Which I later spilled on the carpet) while I go about my job of writing and inspiring the Cape Town masses.

I was fairly bored with the news as I actually had no interest in anything in this country if it didn’t have something to do with luxury and excess.

I ended up meandering to page 13 of the Weekend Argus where I cracked wood because there was an article that had blood rushing from my overworked brain directly to my Jack Johnson, which produced a magnificent bone.

I stumbled upon an article entitled “Clubbers combat climate change” with a byline of “Dance floor to generate electricity”

To quote:

“Cape Town clubbers will soon be doing their bit to save the environment by dancing the night away in the world’s second multi-million rand eco-friendly club”

“A ‘sustainable’ club will open in the city in September”

“The vibrations caused by dancing bounce off springs in the dance floor into a series of power generating blocks. Through a process known as piezoelectricity, the blocks, which are made of crystals, produce an electric current when squashed.”

The man behind these clubs, which are known as Club4Climate, estimated that if clubbers were to dance vigorously all night, the dance floor could supply about 60% of the club’s electricity needs.

It’s quite a radical idea and personally, I’m amped for it.

The club’s water requirements will be harvested rain water, and instead of a dress code to enter the club, party goers will be required to sign a pledge at the door to help save the environment and fight global warming. The club will also include waterless urinals, solar panels and wind turbines.

Apparently the club will cost more than R60 million to set up.

In my personal opinion, I don’t think this will combat global warming at all. I have been known to heat up to over five times the natural human body temperature whilst dancing. Some people call me the “Sun God” while dancing and I have been known to raise the temperatures of the females in the club to such an extent that they douse themselves in Smirnoff Spin. Some even believe old age is coming on and complain of hot flushes.

Don’t blame me, hater.

The reason most people don’t recognise me in night clubs is because I am sometimes mistaken for John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

And the rumour that I have banged 100 runway models in Cape Town?

It’s not a rumour.

But I really believe in this idea and I’m really excited for it to come to Cape Town. I think it’s brilliant that Cape Town is heading on the eco-friendly direction. I personally, even though I am excessive, believe in recycling and helping the environment because Cape Town is running out of landfill space, and the planet is in Dire States (Excuse me, I was listening to Dire Straits on DVD)

I’m hectically excited to try out this club when it opens in Cape Town, and no doubt SLXS will be the first to try it out. I guarantee I can produce as much energy in an hour as Koeberg would produce in a week.

I’m that smoking hot.

I’m really impressed though that Cape Town is seen as a destination for projects like these, as it is something that I am passionate abou, and pretty much recycle anything I can in my house. More on that later…

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I was thinking the other day of who uses more electricity in the world, males or females. Obviously it’s impossible to calculate(Because my brain is the size of a small squirrels), but we can draw up a fun table to see how each of the sexes abuse the world’s energy situation. From oil to coal, we are cleaning up at a rapid rate! In the first part of this two part series (If I feel like writing the second part…probably not), we look at men. That’s me!

We don’t recycle and then say things like “Recycle. What? That’s gay!”

We only work hard, so we can afford money for big cars and private jets in order to impress the chicks. Uglier guys use more fuel than good looking guys(Me) because they need a private jet to impress the ladies. Whereas in my case I can drive a terrible car but to pull the angels I just use my super chiselled cheek bones, cheese grater abs and slightly dry twist of humour all the while sipping on a rare whisky. That’s right, you read that all correctly.

We do extreme fuel abusing sports. From car racing, to motorbike racing, to wakeboarding, to flying fighter jets, the more fuel we use the more extreme we are. Our fuel use is almost directly proportional to our score rate. The more fuel we use, the more titties we get to see.

Chicks dig it

We like to get away. While girls are sometimes happy with just chilling round the pool at the apartment, guys freak out when they are in the city too long, and just pack up and go on massive road trips across the country. Because they can. While on road trips they use petrol to make fires and also make petrol bombs with old t-shirts and beer bottles. Once again, only because they can.

We make huge braais. Sometimes, and this is no joke, I will use two or three bags of wood to cook a few pieces of chicken. Because I like to sit around watching the first two bags burn down while I try hammer my way through a case of beer. Then on the last bag, I will cook my chicken. And then watch the rest of the coals burn out while I try hammer my way through the bottle of Absolut vodka.

One piece of chicken? Don’t pan fry it, coal braai it!

I still find it amazing to this day that myself and my guy friends can have a get together and just chill. We invite all the girls and while they sit inside, no doubt talking about us and what idiots we are, telling their friends that we need to make more money, drink less, do more work around the house and whatever else…15 of my guy mates and myself can just stare into the flames while getting absolutely broken on home brewed beer…with no drama whatsoever. We don’t have to say a word…there is a mutual understanding that standing at the braai with a beer is a good time, interpsersed with the odd grabbing of a piece of boerie, looking towards the girls and shouting “Want some of this?” which is met by replies of “God you guys are disgusting!” and “I’m not your girlfriend tonight”

Throw 15 girls into a room and they need to get the low down on everyone…and inevitably one of them ends up crying about boyfriend problems even though their boyfriend treats them so well you would think they are royalty.

Older guys drive everywhere. Many years spent drinking beer while watching the fire burn down lead to conditions such as arthritis and gout. Unable to possibly walk to the shop, we drive, using up loads of fuel in the process.

We like imported things. While girls are happy buying wine from a local winery, or drinking Savannah which is locally produced, guys like real manly drinks. I like my whisky to come from Scotland and America(Whiskey), and I like my vodka to come from Sweden. I also like my women to come from Brazil. With a Brazilian…I thank you!

We just like to eat meat. It’s well known that to rear animals takes up a lot of resources, and eating vegetarian is kinder to the planet. Men like to eat steak and drink beer(I meant to say funnel beer). But this is negated by the fact that men live shorter lives due to these dietary choices. We have massive heart attacks at the age of 50, while women like to live until about 90. And in these 40 years, they use a lot of the worlds resources(Especially mens money)

We fly across the world to visit girls. They broke up with us when they moved away or we moved away. They kept in contact, saying they still love us. We made lots of money so we could afford plane tickets to get overseas. We get overseas and find out they have been shagging Antonio, the greasy Italian who works at the pizza joint. My God…what a waste of petrol!

We burn everything. It’s so much fun to burn things. Guys just get together and burn old stuff. That wooden chair that you inherited from your grandparents but is ugly as sin? Don’t sell it, burn it! And release C02 into the atmosphere.

We like to blow things up. Look at wars all around the world. Guys just like to use fuel to make bombs and blow things up. For no particular reason. George Bush however does have a reason- To get his hands on more oil! Which will then be used to abuse the planet even more.

We go into industries that use lot’s of oil because there is lots of money to be made in these industries. We do this to make money to impress all the beautiful girls. Eventually we make loads of money only to be rejected by these girls because we are in a “dirty” business. Then these girls go shack up with Bruno, the ugliest man in the world who was at school with you and was 1st team chess and a 1st team mathlete. He went on to find out a way to effectively store electricity from wind and solar farms and then put it into the national grid on demand. Now he gets the hot girl and we quietly take a box of rat poison and wash it down with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

We invent cool things. All the coolest stuff in the world has been invented by men. I’m actually just taking a wild guess but it’s probably semi true. Cool things use loads of power. It’s a curse…

We don’ think “Local is lekker” we think “Foreign means no worryin’!” We are convinced foreign products are better and that’s why we like to use dirty shipping to get our hands on products that are only available overseas.

We like to have extreme mind adventures. Drinking absinthe is the most fun you can have without really doing drugs. Imported absinthe makes you see fairies. Guys enjoy this sort of stuff, and therefore import products, just so their minds can see things that are not there. Girls will just do bus loads of cocaine and champagne. I guess these cancel each other out.

Guys watch extreme movies. While girls enjoy tame, soppy rubbish like the Notebook(Admittedly, most guys did cry. Obviously not me. I cried tears of rusty CV joints) and Must Love Dogs(Gay), us guys like to see Tom Cruise in movies where there are lot’s of explosions caused by oil that the earth has painstakingly produced over millions of years. We also like to see Marky Mark Wahlberg blowing things up in Shooter, because it’s fun and makes us feel alive.

We enjoy the smell of petrol. I never want to fill my car up with corn, or sugar ethanol or any of that stuff. I don’t want an electric car. I want to sit there and get high on proper petrol, from the earth. I want to stop my car at the petrol station after sitting in an hours worth of traffic. I want to arrive in a bad mood. I then want to sit there while the tank gets filled and inhale real petrol fumes. I want to get high, so that when I leave I am in a good mood and I don’t drive home. I fly home.

This is the world I envision. A real tough guy, Chuck Norris world.

Sean Lloyd

Editor

Ja well no fine!

I’m about to give you a link to my latest article that I have written.

To be truly honest I don’t even remember writing it. I probably wrote it in the hours after the J&B Met, when I was in full blackout mode. Writing something like that is very taxing on this fragile body that normally only accepts things that fit under the “leisure and pleasure” format.

Have you ever listened to Eric Clapton on a DVD? It’s good. I won’t lie to you, it’s really good.

It’s nice weather today.

I’m useless today.

HERE is the link.

No problem.

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I must confess this is NOT a food website and it might never be. However if the money is right I will take my kit off and do some naked cheffing to earn the paychecks that Jamie Oliver does. Then I too can put on loads of weight and try promote healthy eating in schools.

I’m chilling in Woolworths today thinking how bizarre it is that most of the things in our lives are from overseas, which makes our carbon footprints massive. It’s all very well flying or shipping things in one way, but to make something cruise all the way round the world and back is bizarre. Which is why Woolworths have had me greatly amused with their Baby Spinach. I bought it at the Woolworths in Belvedere Road today(That part is either Claremont or Rondebosch. Not very bright today)

The Spinach was sold at Woolworths in Cape Town, but was under the Marks & Spencer brand name, which is basically the overseas Woolworths. But the spinach itself was grown in Kenya. So if I’m correct here, the spinach has been grown in Kenya. Fair enough. Then it has been packaged for Marks & Spencer which is in the UK. I take it that it has been flown there or shipped there or whatever they do.

Bizarre!

Then Woolworths in South Africa have decided to import it back to Africa to sell in Cape Town.

Is this not a tad irresponsible, considering that the world is fast running out of oil? According to Royal Dutch Shell( I read this in the Business Times, January 27 2008, page 7), world demand for oil and gas will outstrip supply within 7 years. That’s pretty crazy. And here we are flying things across the world when we don’t really need to.

So that’s a bit of a schoolboy error on Woolworths part. No doubt!

It’s quite excessive nonetheless, but in a bad way.

Sean Lloyd

Editor

I actually never wanted to write about this because everyone else was and they were all complaining and saying Eskom this and Eskom that and why don’t we have more power? I’ve never really been too stressed out in life about people who complain because it just amuses me. I’m always chilled out and laid back and if there is a problem I don’t stress but rather just figure out what to do next.

Now most people in Cape Town and South Africa are constantly blaming Eskom for our power supply problems. However, as with all problems you need to look at yourself and see what you can do for the situation. So while I was out and about yesterday doing various groundbreaking things(Ran 10km’s and then climbed Lions Head with the co-anchor. No jokes. It’s true. I am iron) I had a little think over what positives we can get out of this situation. Like Richard Branson, I don’t think along the lines of everyone else but rather just do my own thing.

So instead of complaining, I came up with a few positive things.

Firstly, Eskom have made a bit of a stuff up, but as with anything in life it all happens for a reason. I think it’s brilliant that Eskom are incapable of supplying us with enough power. Granted that in the short term it’s a major inconvenience and the image of South Africa is going a little bit down, but nothing too hectic. I can’t see tourism being affected too hectically looking at the next four days of weather:

I won’t be needing any electricity seeing as though every one of those days will be SPENT on the beach!

Obviously industries in South Africa are the major users of electricity, but as we all need to survive together, we all need to make a difference. I cannot believe how many people still leave lights on during the day when Cape Town is scorching hot. They leave radios on, TV’s and just waste electricity like this each and every single day. And then they complain that we don’t have enough electricity. Well I wonder why?

Our power stations need to burn coal to produce electricity and naturally this is a big strain on the environment. If Eskom are to produce more electricty, that means more pollution in the atmosphere. They say that Eskom are way behind and that we will have power cuts for the next couple of years.

Brilliant!

What this will do is create awareness about how fragile the world is. We cannot just use and abuse as we have in the past. Naturally the people with huge wealth in Cape Town are going to be using way more power than anyone else due to their lifestyles that are equipped with the most advanced electronics. These people are the ones who need to take a bit of responsibility as well instead of complaining.

My biggest wish for these power cuts is that they make people search for alternative sources of energy, solar power being something I am particularly interested in. If these houses were outfitted with solar panels, their reliance on the national grid would be greatly reduced. There is absolutely no reason why every house in Bishopscourt cannot afford to kit themselves out with solar panels. I’m not only saying Bishopscourt, but it is a wealthy area. But anyone who can afford to install solar panels should in fact do so. Look at yourself. You’re driving a R1 million car. You have a private jet. Can you not spend a few hundred grand kitting your house out with solar panels?

Not only will this help halt the inconvenience of power cuts, but it will greatly reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Other small things like fitting geyser blankets can also help, but how many people do you know who have actually bothered fitting a geyser blanket? I doubt it is a huge amount.

Industries will also be forced to make use of solar energy as they rapidly see their profit margins declining. That is the problem with business- greed comes into play. No one wants to put up the money to run renewable energy sources because in the short term it harms the fat cats wallets. The ones who sit sipping a gin and tonic on a Friday afternoon at 1pm. But with years of power cuts ahead maybe it’s just what we need to kick everybody into action.

South Africa has already come up with a great invention for efficient solar energy. Read up on that HERE very quickly. It’s not that we don’t have the people to come up with the technology, it’s that we need to change the mindset of people. In essence, we need to make it “cool” to use solar power. If I had to ask my parents if they are interested in harnessing the power if the sun they would probably not be that interested.

Just in the same way that most people their age are not interested in hybrid cars or learning about new ways in which we can supply the world with power. I’m always reading up on new technologies because it’s a problem that I am going to be faced with. And my kids and grandkids will have an even harder time if we don’t stop wasting the earth at the rate we are.

We need to make it cool to use alternative sources of energy. We need to make it cool to recycle. Because as with everything, humans need a reason to do something. Celebrities have great power in this regard, because as soon as they start outfitting their houses with solar panels and start driving electric cars, then everyone else wants to do the same.

It’s an entire mindset that we need to change, and just by writing this and creating awareness around the situation, I hope in a small way it can help.

For other interesting things I am currently reading regarding the environment, please see the links below:

Run your car on water- I have no idea how true this is but it’s interesting anyway! Click HERE for the story.

Ships to use sails to reduce fuel consumption- I’m not sure how this works and how they get the kite into the air, and what happens to it when the ships stops. And what happens if the wind changes direction. It’s interesting though. Click HERE for that story.

That’s it for now, I will keep a check on this whole power situation. We need to come to some sort of a deal before the 2010 World Cup! Because it’s going to be HUGE!

I can’t wait…

Sean Lloyd

Editor

We all know that the world is in QUITE a state at the moment, as can be seen from the whole green revolution. In Cape Town stores such as Pick ‘n Pay and Woolworths are now expanding their range of organic produce(With Woolworths easily taking first place and scoring the podium chicks) Organic foods obviously don’t use artificial pesticides or fertilisers and are produced like in the old days which means it is kinder to the earth and does not destroy the planet we have been born into.

One of the major worldwide problems is that of plastic, something we have come to rely heavily on. Everything we buy comes packaged in plastic from fruits, vegetables, tablets, cooldrinks to magazines and virtually anything you can think of. We are being told to use re-usable bags for our shopping, but while this might make a difference, even if it is a small one, the world needs to make a huge change. We need to substitute something for plastic, something that is not harmful to the environment.

There is a fundamental flaw in the design of humans. We are just too clever! We managed to evolve to such an extent that we are flying into space, building bigger structures, drilling into the earth for oil to fuel our lives and basically doing whatever we want. The problem is that we were never given a blueprint for how to live life. No one ever told us that burning fossil fuels would destroy the planet or that plastic is destroying everything. We were never told what was right or wrong and so we have had to learn from some monumental mistakes.

In my mind, 2008 is going to be one of the greenest years yet in the minds of consumers. Granted, carbon emissions will probably not go down as places like the USA refuse to sign into things such as the Kyoto protocol. And then places like China open up coal burning power stations constantly which does not help either. It’s not to say South Africa are any better as our public transport system leaves a lot to be desired, necessitating that everyone needs to drive their own car to work. Well obviously not everyone, but most people do drive their own cars to work. Add to that our coal burning power stations and we are also a disaster.

I suppose no one is perfect but it’s the small things that are going to make a big difference. I was chatting to my mate Gary a while ago and we were speaking about Heath Nash. Heath Nash is a pretty famous South African designer who focuses on re-using waste and turning it into designs for the house. From used milk cartons to those white clips on bread bags, he uses it all. Gary was recently featured in House and Leisure, and the aim of his project was to make a design based on sustainability, with Heath Nash as his mentor.

Gary made a light of sorts, featured below:

You see, according to an article in Mens Health Best Life, the world produces some 60 billion tons of plastic every single year. And it basically goes on to say that other than the small amount of plastic incinerated, and it’s a very small amount, every single bit of plastic ever made still exists. If we don’t recycle it, it ends up being put into landfill, thus destroying the planet and having consequences that we cannot even begin to fathom. It eventually starts to break down and enters the food chain, poisoning us.

Just think back to when you were a kid and you had that plastic baby bottle. Your mom threw it in the bin. That bottle is probably still somewhere in the ground, just waiting to wreak havoc. Imagine seeing evil in your baby bottle? When you begin to think about it, it seems the destruction of the planet cannot be stopped. What are we going to replace plastic with?

How are we going to clean up all the plastic that has been put into the earth? I guess no one really knows the answers to that.

What we can do for now is to recycle everything instead of blindly throwing it into the bin.

Instead of doing what I say, you can now in fact do what I do! Cape Town is quickly running out of landfill space. Cape Town has six landfill sites and only three are in operation. So it is imperative that we recycle. Friends of mine who live in Pinelands now have to recycle and the recyclable waste is put into seperate bags which is then picked up from their houses. More than 3000 households in Pinelands are involved in this pilot project called Think Twice.

In November 2007 alone the entire initiative collected 84 tons of recyclable waste in Cape Town(According to The Tatler) It also says that Cape Town generates up to 6000 tons of waste every day, which is to say the very least, a monumental amount!

In other areas however people have to drop off their own recyclables. Which is not a problem, but seeing as though most people in todays world live a life based on convenience, they want their recyclables to be collected from their home.

I believe it will not be too long before all areas need to recycle. We will need all our recyclables to be collected by the refuse collectors. Yet still, according to the Men’s Health article, only three to five percent of plastics are recycled in any way. It also goes on to say that only plastics labelled with a triangle and the numbers “1″ or “2″ on them have much of a life after they have been used.

Consider the fact that a disposable nappy takes some 500 years to degrade, and we are in some serious trouble.

But until something new comes to replace plastic, we are going to need to recycle and that’s what I’m doing here at SLXS, in the hope that you all follow me! It’s the least we can do.

Here is the VR3 two weeks ago, drowning in plastic, paper, tins and glass from SLXS, all going to recycling:

Chicks dig the VR3

I hope we all follow this example and reduce, re-use and recycle.

Sources:

Heath Nash at INCAPETOWN

US not signing into Kyoto Protocol- MSNBC.COM

China open coal burning power plants- COMMONDREAMS.ORG

Geothermal power- WIKIPEDIA

Cape Town landfill sites- CITY OF CAPE TOWN

Souther Suburbs Tatler 10th of January 2008

Men’s Health Best Life June 2007

For links on where to drop recycling in Cape Town please see:

PETCO

Faithful to Nature

Sean Lloyd

Editor

Be GENTLE on the big guy!

Recently something in Cape Town caught my eye and that was Red Brick Building. But trust me…it’s more exciting than it initially sounds!

We are obviously all aware of the effect of global warming and in Cape Town we are more than aware of the power shortages we have due to Eskom not being able to supply enough power to us. Everyone blames Eskom, but at the same time we need to take responsibility and look at ways to conserve power and also use other resources to generate power. Forget about the hassle of being without power for a couple of hours and think about the damage done to the planet form burning coal to power our lives.

Red Brick Building will be situated in Cape Town, a block away from Cape Technikon and is hopefully the start of a “greener” Cape Town. I think all buildings and apartments should be constructed this way.

You see, Red Brick Building makes use of grey water recycling, an energy efficient design, low energy lighting and solar heating. It’s a step in the right direction, or at least a leap looking at the other buildings in Cape Town. Nothing else I have seen seems to be designed this way.

Personally, I believe to further strengthen it’s green credentials, they could make more use of solar technology. Instead of just solar heating, solar panels could be used to supply power to the building, which would remove the strain on the national power grid. In addition, they could further enhance their eco friendliness by encouraging apartment owners to recycle. This could be done by having an area of the building where owners can leave their recycling(Tins, paper, plastic etc) and this can be collected by an independent company once a week, or as needs be.

The Red Brick Building is however, hopefully just the start of something bigger in Cape Town.

This brings me to another point regarding accommodation. The future relies heavily on all of us doing our bit to recycle,make use of solar power, biofuels and just live cleaner lives with regards to carbon emissions. People are not only going to want to live like this at home, but abroad when they travel. Cape Town is a major travel destination for people worldwide, and as people become more conscious of their carbon footprint, they will be interested in saving resources even when they travel.

It would therefore be interesting to see what sort of a response overseas visitors would have to staying in houses/hotels/apartments that make use of solar power, grey water recycling and the like. Would it be beneficial to equip your rental houses with these methods of energy conservation? Would your house be more likely to be rented by an overseas visitor if it has better green credentials than another similiar house? I believe in the future this will be a great deciding factor on where people choose to stay when abroad.

I’m not quite so sure if this will have an effect with the 2010 World Cup, because that is very soon. And I’m also not too sure if soccer fans are that concerned about energy saving because they are just here for the worlds biggest party!

But I do honestly believe that people who rent property should consider looking at ways to make their rental properties more energy efficient, and where possible, create their own power. It sounds cheesy, but the future is now, especially with regards to saving the planet. In addition, the money saving on electricity will benefit the person who owns the property. Maybe not short term, but long term it will definitely have a benefit. Not only to their wallets, but to the planet as well.

And saving the planet for future generations is surely far more important than financial gains in the short term.

Click HERE to go to the Red Brick Building website

Sean Lloyd

Editor

Once again, the cat in my head has been let out of the bag and it is running amok. Ow! It just scratched my eye from the inside. Oooooh it burns!

Excuse me meow?

So anyway, a while ago I had this idea that fast food chains should start collecting their used cooking oil and turn this oil into biofuels. They could all partner up, and together open up a petrol station, or petrol stations(Well diesel at least). Then I thought that all restaurants in Cape Town should actually get their used cooking oil taken away to be turned into biofuel. This could then be used to fuel any vehicles that run on the diesel liquid on the earth.

So the idea has been jumping around inside me like an ADD kid on a 2 litre Coke(Umm…Coca Cola) attack. So I started the internet machine this afternoon and opened up the Google application. One quick search and I had a website which told me more than I needed to know. Read THIS to get the high up on what I’m talking about.

Basically, I’m not going to go into detail here, but they are based in Denton, Texas and collect used cooking oil in the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex and then turn it into biodiesel. This biodiesel is used in local garbage collection trucks, commuter buses and other fleets serving the Metroplex. Even better, people in the area can stop at one of the filling stations, and fill their diesel vehicles with this cooking oil biodiesel.

It’s too clever!

So Cape Town, who’s going to start this business up here? I think it’s not such a bad idea, considering the world is in a a spot of bother at the moment.

Remember, if this idea does take off in Cape Town, you heard it first at SLXS. Unless of course you heard it somewhere else before. And if it goes on to be a success, I might just kick myself in the head with a steel toed boot for not actually starting it off myself.

Wow…I’m on top form.

Move over home school, ‘cos there’s a new Sheriff in town.

Sean Lloyd

Editor