In the midst of all the gloom and doom, environmental organisation WWF is taking a positive spin on the state of the nation and giving us a case for optimism. Now in its fourth year, WWF-SA’s Living Planet Conference takes place in Sandton on 28 July 2016. It will consist of keynote speakers and lively panel discussions on today’s biggest challenges and issues.
In a recent survey conducted by WWF-SA in the lead-up to the conference, it was found that on average 70% of media stories in national and regional papers are negative. The most commonly used words in page one stories are murder, protests, and violence. There was not one instance in the sample where positive impressions outweighed the negative.
"With this kind of news crowding our personal and mental bandwidth it’s hard to have space or curiosity for anything else," says Morné du Plessis, CEO of WWF-SA. ‘’However, if we are to successfully tackle the rising inequality and meet the government’s National Development Plan Vision 2030, there are some positive signals that we can harness to steer our society onto a better pathway and ensure our long-term environmental resilience. And it’s these signals that WWF will highlight.’’
Running from 9am until lunchtime on Thursday 28 July 2016, WWF-SA extends a wide invitation to join the online #LPC2016 conversation (which is being live streamed at WWF LPC) where interesting opinions, facts and figures about South Africa’s social, economic and environmental issues will be debated.
Framing these aspects positively and from a fresh perspective – while honing in on food, energy and water as key elements of our daily lives – WWF-SA intends to inspire South Africans to look at the ways in which our country is collectively making great strides towards a sustainable future, and to consider what else can be done.
With engaging political analyst Eusebius McKaiser as the host, the conference brings together exceptional new leaders in business, politics, science, religion and the arts. Panellists include futurist Clem Sunter, activist Tasneem Essop and WWF experts Saliem Fakier on energy and Dean Muruven on water.
Keynote speakers consist of passionate water expert Jackie King, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and 25-year old eco-entrepreneur Ludwick Marishane.
A large part of the physical audience will be made up of young South Africans who earned themselves a seat by posting a "selfie" on WWF’s social media channels and sharing why they think they are the future in response to the hashtag #IAmTheFuture! This energetic group is the future of our country, and hence why WWF wishes for them to be involved in the #LPC2016 conversation where they can hear the facts first-hand about why our future is brighter than we think.
The entire event will be shared in real time online for those with a good internet connection who wish to join individually from a laptop or to coordinate a live stream gathering in their organisation.
