Welcome friends and family. This weblog documents our experiences during 2016. Please enjoy!
Experiments and a Final Goodbye
In a recent evening presentation, Mark discussed unprecedented levels of “experimentation” occurring around the world regarding sustainability, transitions, alternative economics, and energy. Many people, it appears, are noting the challenges faced by societies and trying small-scale solutions, prototyping a way forward: performing experiments. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this in recent days, and I believe there are some very good reasons for the phenomenon that Mark observes.
The first reason for experiments is that challenges are real and urgent. From CO2 emissions to stagnant wages to declining net energy to deforestation to extinctions to soil degradation to declining water quality to sliding economic growth, the problems are difficult and important, and both people and the planet have it hard the world over. Transitions to something better are needed, and problem-solvers and societal change agents try to fix things. Starting in their own backyard. On a small scale.
The second reason for experiments is that systems at all levels (firm, municipality/city, province/state, national, and world) are designed to reject destabilizing factors, to regard them as pathogenic. Full-scale transitions are resisted by entrenched interests, and, as a result, it is devilishly difficult to change today’s socio-political-economic regimes.
Third, and related to the second item above, society-wide transitions will take significant financial investment. Proposed transitions are, more often than not, comprehended as (financial) risks, and the recent instability of the world’s economic order contributes to risk aversion in decision-makers at all levels. It is perceived that there is simply not enough cash for a full-scale overhaul of our energy infrastructure, for example.
When the three elements above are combined, the only option for societal change agents is experimentation. Doing nothing is not an option! And they can’t risk being gobbled by the systems that reject transitions. They must remain small. They must experiment.
What I don’t know is whether, on balance, this is a good thing. We need to undertake significant, large-scale transitions now, at speed. But we’re not. On the other hand, I’m not sure we know exactly what should be done and how to make needed transitions without causing significant harm (unintended consequences!) to the planet’s human and non-human inhabitants. Thus it seems that experimentation around transitions is an important aspect of defining a new society; it provides a means of uncovering the way things ought to be and explores options for how to get there.
Which is precisely why, as a scholar, I find South Africa in general and Stellenbosch University in particular to be both incredibly rewarding and endlessly stimulating. Sustainability and energy issues are at or just beneath the surface always, the present water crisis being a good example. And there are at least three entities on campus actively engaged in important experimentation: the CRSES, where I was a visiting scholar; the Sustainability Institute, where I spoke and where I have several friends; and the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, which shares a site with STIAS and where I had the fascinating meeting Friday with Jannie who asked “When are you coming back?” at our parting. (How is it that I connect with him on my LAST working day in the Western Cape?) The challenges faced by the world are big, but South Africa is small enough to see them up close and to have access to important decision-makers and creative thought leaders. I will miss so much the day-to-day immersion in these issues that stimulates my thinking and provides opportunities for collaboration. The time was, simply put, far too short!
Despite my deep sadness at leaving, I take heart from previous experience. In 2010, I was also sad, even resentful, at departing Stellenbosch. But it came to be that the end of my physical presence in South Africa was only the beginning of projects that continued without me; of further teaching opportunities (at CRSES in 2012); of additional visits (2014); of invited lectures to the CRSES Energy Policy module; of new, rich collaborations; of other invited talks; and of the courage to try new things: to experiment! So now, in 2016, I’m encouraged to think that the coming years will be full with more of the same. I’m sad but not bitter. Let the experiments continue!
For the above reasons and more, South Africa has been a very good friend to both Tracy and me throughout our careers. As I wrote from Ghana, “all of this raises the questions: how good of a friend am I? are you?” I have tried very hard to be as good to South Africa as it has been to me, to give back as much or more than I get. I can only hope that I succeeded.
To all the friends to whom I’ve said “goodbye” in the last few days: Dankie! (Thank you!) And to South Africa: Sala kakuhle! (Stay well!)
Now one final goodbye: to this blog. I’ve enjoyed writing, and I hope readers have enjoyed reading. “Until next time …”
—Matt
Half Marathon and Goodbyes (8)
This is my last day in Stellenbosch and a final packing day. But to start, I ran 13.16 miles, a half marathon. Just because! I had been slowly increasing my distances on weekend runs and made 10 miles two weeks ago. So I thought I would try the challenge of a half-marathon. I ran to the entrance gate and slightly into the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve to achieve the required distance.
Next, to Stellenbsoch United Church for a final time and more goodbyes. Then to purchase a newspaper for Tracy at Checkers. Then home to pack, bring stuff to storage at the Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Faculty (thanks Karin, for letting me in and taking a final photo in my “office”!), load suitcases, and depart for the airport at 7 PM for an 11-PM, 12-hour overnight flight to Amsterdam.
As in 2009, my luggage was overweight. One piece was 2 kg under; the other was 12 kg over. One can pay for an overweight bag, but only up to 10 kg. So I moved 2 kg from one to the other and paid the overweight charge, about $100. Ouch!
Sad to leave Stellenbosch. Not looking forward to the flight. Can’t wait to see Tracy, Mark, and Catherine.
—Matt
The Mill and Goodbye (7)
Much packing today: stuff to storage, stuff to Michigan.
And more goodbyes. I met Louis at the Mill Coffee House for a rooi cappuccino. He graciously used his well-earned loyalty cards (Mahala!) to cover the cost.
—Matt
K404 and Goodbyes (6)
This was my last day of work in K404. I spent much of it in my “office” on the porch, because the temperature reached 26 C on this sunny day.
At mid-morning, I had an amazing meeting with Jannie at the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition. In our recent book, my co-authors and I used the metaphor “the economy is society’s metabolism” to interpret the economy through the lens of ecosystems and cellular respiration. Jannie, on the other hand, is a biochemist who writes articles titled “Regulating the cellular economy of supply and demand.” He studies the cell using market economies as inspiration for innovative models of cellular dynamics. We were amazed to find that we draw the same supply-demand graphs, albeit with flipped axes, when discussing the energy sector (me) and cellular metabolism (Jannie). Our one-hour meeting ran for two hours fifteen minutes. He was late to a faculty senate meeting.
I have been wanting to push the metaphor further but had not found the right collaborator. Today, Jannie said “You found the right guy.” It is too early to tell where this might go, but I’m thrilled about the prospects!
I spent a lovely evening with friends Riaan and Jeanne-Marie. Of course, we braaied: kudu boerewors, kebabs, a nice salad, and a cauliflower-rice dish. Then, more goodbyes!
—Matt
Ceres and Goodbye (5)
Ed and I packed our things and departed Gray Rhebok at 8:30 AM. Rather than returning to the Cape via the standard and faster route (N7), we decided to take dirt roads through Cederberg to Ceres, South Africa’s fruit basket. Ed had never taken that route, and I had never been to Ceres. After two hours through forbidding landscape, we descended to the Ceres valley. Throughout the journey, we marveled at the factory farming of apples, pears, and peaches; noted the desolation of remote farms; discussed South African politics; and simply enjoyed riding together.
The final pass into the Wellington-Paarl-Stellenbosch-Cape Flats-Cape Town area is called Bainskloof, named after Andrew Geddes Bain, the engineer who designed the road and supervised its construction. Like other Bain designs, Bainskloof Pass impossibly hugs the side of a cliff to provide safe transit over the mountain. Begun in 1849 and completed in 1853, convicts provided labor for its construction, and their graves are at the summit. The pass itself is a national monument.
After travelling through Wellington and Paarl, we stopped for lunch at Bistro 44, a little roadside restaurant that serves, among other things, Bobotie, the quintessential South African dish. Being both hungry and tired from the past two days, we enjoyed it immensely.
After a quick goodbye, Ed drove to Simonstown. I unpacked and did laundry. I have one more day at the office (tomorrow) before tidying the flat, putting stuff into storage, and packing for my flight. Only three days remain.
—Matt
Wolfberg Cracks and Arch
Wolfberg is a mountain in the eastern range surrounding the central valley of the Cederberg Wilderness Area. At its peak, there are several “cracks,” narrow passages through which hikers must walk to summit the mountain. Further along the Wolfberg crest, there is a natural arch feature that draws adventurers. We wanted to do both and return via the “alternative route.”
The ascent from the carpark to the cracks is steep and relentless, but it affords excellent views of the valley, with Dwarsrivier Farm in the distance and Ed’s car below. Halfway to the top, a massive block clings to the side of the mountain, having fallen millions of years ago. Ed was proud of his stylish hiking shirt until it began to chafe. Like yesterday, the route is marked with helpful cairns; one is always in view.
A final scramble to the top runs past an eroded cave and leads to red rock that forms the soaring walls of the approach to the cracks. We chose right, the crack that is wide enough to drive a bus through. We would have chosen left had we known it to be the narrower and more-challenging crack, a fact we surmised only after we were through.
The cracks take a few minutes of level walking to navigate. There is a window between the cracks, but the view into the valley is amazing. When you emerge, you’ve reached the top of the mountain and can look back. There is a helpful sign if you’ve walked the top of Wolfberg and desire to descend.
The climb from the car park to the cracks was about as high as the climb from Kirstenbosch to the top of Table Mountain. But the terrain is very different. Up Smuts Track, everything is green, a river runs through Skeleton Gorge, and the trail is wet. Up Wolfberg, there is no water, the ascent is unrelenting, and the walls both sheer and red. Because the space is rather confined, it is impossible to take a photo that provides a sense of scale for both the height and narrowness of the cracks. They were truly amazing.
However, ascending to and passing through the Wolfberg Cracks was only a small part of our day. At this point, it was only 10 AM, and we had a full day ahead of us. Our next destination was Wolfberg Arch.
The route from Wolfberg Cracks to Wolfberg Arch runs west northwest along the top of the mountain. This is walking on the level, and the well-marked trail passes a large cave while moving through a moonscape. Unusual fynbos and flowers, several balanced rocks, and animal prints decorate the alternating sandy and rocky path. The route is quiet, very quiet: the loudest sound is a footstep. Eventually, Wolfberg Arch is visible in the distance.
After another 45 minutes of walking and climbing, we reached the arch, a massive structure. We ate lunch, arriving at exactly Noon. As I lay relaxing in the sun for a few minutes, I looked up to take a photo of the top of the arch and looked out to take a photo of a distant koppie.
We took the “alternative route” down, adding more than an hour and at least three more kilometers to the hike. After a bruising descent that passes some of the few remaining ceders, we walked along a rocky/sandy Jeep track for many kilometers until we reached the car park! If we were to take this hike again, we would go down the way we went up. The alternative route was longer and offered no reward. But at 3 PM it was great to be done. We estimate that we covered 24 kilometers: 6 yesterday and 18 today. Add to that my 11.6 km run yesterday morning, and I’m at 35.6 km over two days. (That’s about 22 miles of running, walking, climbing, and descending.) Ed and I are tired, a little sore, but happy!
We returned to Algeria and the Gray Rhebok Cottage with its braai porch that overlooks a river and mountains opposite. I watched the sunset while preparing a braai of lamb and pork chops. Ed’s salad was awesome, the meat was done to perfection, and nothing was dropped into the fire! (Next time you see Ed, ask how many times he dropped the same leg of chicken into the fire yesterday. Hint: more than 2 and less than 4!)
We’ve had two extraordinary days with perfect weather and amazing scenery; I’ll never forget them. It has been fantastic spending time with a good friend in a stunning part of the world. Thanks, Ed!
—Matt
Maltese Cross
Dawn is the best time to run. Port Owen sunrises come over the many inland estuaries. Water from some is siphoned into pans for salt production.
The west coast of South Africa is known for its displays of Spring wildflowers, and Ed and I saw yellow, orange, and purple daisies, often arranged in blankes covering the roadside, as we drove. We saw several inland lakes sporting flamingoes and pelicans. We stopped at Elandsbaai and saw some unexpected human behavior: standing on water while outrunning a wave. (Amazing!) We saw rooibos and onion farms. We saw the Clanwilliam Dam which was spilling its water rather liberally.
Our destination was the Cederberg Wilderness Area which we reached about Noon, in time for lunch but too early to occupy our cottage and too early to obtain permits for a hike to the Maltese Cross (available only at 2 PM). So after a quick lunch and after stuffing our perishables into the fridge, we decided to head south.
Our first stop was the Stadsaal (City Hall) Caves at which Ed displayed his affinity for biltong. These caves are famous for the San rock art arranged on the walls. A well-preserved example shows more than a dozen people and six elephants, huge in size (about six feet wide) and breathtakingly beautiful. Other examples showed a lone archer and an archer taking aim at an eland.
These caves are the site where the National Party was born in the early 1900s. This is not verdant country; aside from the fynbos, it is a moonscape, and the NP schemers would have been left alone here. To immortalize their presence, several scrawled their names in the stone, including D.F. Malan (25 October 1919) who was later to be prime minister (1948—1954), the first apartheid leader of South Africa.
We needed to obtain permits and move to the trailhead, but we stayed longer at the caves than we should have done because they were so very interesting. We reached the end of the Jeep track and starting point for the Maltese Cross hike only at 3 PM; our goal had been 2 PM. Ed’s book indicates the hike should take 3.5 hours round trip. With sunset at 6:15 and unsafe temperatures to follow, our dallying at the caves put us in danger of missing the cross. We decided to set out anyway. We were not disappointed by that choice.
The route provides majestic views of the unforgiving landscape, and it took only 1 hour 10 minutes to reach the cross. Hundreds of small cairns indicate the preferred path.
The cross is a huge sandstone formation in the middle of an amphitheater of fynbos and rock. It is almost as if the nearby (much shorter) rocks are bowing down to the cross itself. We approached from the east, meaning the the cross was backlit by the late afternoon sun. I went around to photograph the sunlit side as Ed stood at the foot. Can you find him? There he is. It appears that someone (amazingly) scaled the cross and installed rope at the top.
After I took a selfie, we departed and headed back down. Along the way, we saw an extremely rare Cape rock hopper. At the bottom, the low sun provided nice lighting for a photo of me. Ed took the last few steps along the path toward our car. As we crested the pass driving back to our cottage, one final treat: a take-your-breath-away sunset. I gasped when I looked up to see it.
Of course we braaied for dinner and of course it took forever. We ate at 9 PM, and it is now 11:30 as I finish this post. It was a day I will remember forever.
—Matt
Seminar and North!
I gave my second talk at Noon today. I was glad of putting in the effort and practice yesterday; pacing and timing went well.
Thereafter, Ed picked me at the flat and we headed north through Klipheuwel to Malmesbury to Port Owen where we’re staying tonight. On the way, we saw two wind farms, one of which I photographed against the late afternoon sun. Ed and Viv intend to build a new home in Port Owen, and we checked out the land. The sunset was stunning.
After dinner we made some plans for our Cederberg adventure. I’ve never been there, and Ed hasn’t been in forty years. We’re both looking forward to it. The weather looks to be perfect: three days of mid-20s and sun, sun, sun.
—Matt
Coopmanhuijs and Goodbyes (4)
After attending Stellenbosch United Church this morning, I worked on tomorrow’s noon presentation. Good thing, too. I made significant changes after a couple dry runs through the material. Rain was today’s weather feature, and I didn’t mind staying inside.
For dinner, I went Helena’s Restaurant at Coopmanhuijs Hotel with collaborator Stan. We had a great time chatting about the history of South Africa’s democratic transition, our research projects, and my Forum presentation.
After tomorrow’s presentation, I’m off to hike in the Cederberg Wilderness Area with friend Ed. Blog updates are unlikely until end of the week.
— Matt
Goodbyes (3)
With two public lectures in four days, a big picture presentation yesterday and a technical research-y presentation on Monday, I’m doing nothing but composing slides. Keynote and R/LaTeX/Beamer are my frenemies.
It was a shame to be working during another high-quality Western Cape day. But I made the most of it, preparing my talk in the garden near the mountain stream that runs through town. The birds of paradise kept me company.
Although I spent the day working on my technical lecture, I spent the evening with Richard and Sherine. They kindly invited me for dinner as a way to say goodbye. Richard and I took a short walk through their neighborhood to overlook the Durbanville valley. From that point, Table Mountain is barely visible over Tygerberg. The sunset was beautiful and the food was great. Thanks Richard and Sherine!
—Matt
