How do you showcase climate-smart initiatives in a country powered mostly by coal? At the COP17 Expo, held in Durban, Cape Town answered with action.

We built a fully self-sufficient pavilion that created zero waste, drew zero power, needed no air-conditioning and even grew its own food. All this to allow visitors to learn about all of Cape Town's climate smart projects. 

The structure was built out of scaffolding, which we rented from local contractors in Durban. It was anchored using barrels filled with the rainwater caught on the roof during construction. We made the walls with used milk crates that were packed with recyclable packaging. This trapped the heat from outside, which kept the interior temperature naturally cool, and meant we didn’t need any air conditioners. Along with this cladding of waste, all the building materials were sourced in the tightest possible radius from the site. Timber was sourced locally from the alien-invasive timber mills run by the Working for Water project. We collected all the power we needed with a wind turbine and solar panels, so the stand operated entirely off grid. The entire stand was built by unemployed men seeking work on street corners around Durban. The rainwater tanks irrigated 3800 organically grown vegetables planted in crates around the stand, which we used to create canapes to feed our guests. 

This all helped create a comfortable environment inside to host workshops and allow people to linger. Delegates could play POP17, an interactive game that pulled live air-quality data and challenged them to clear the air. In the run up to COP17, we built awareness in the press, with staged 'demonstrations' with crowds petitioning for clean air, clear bike lanes and more mindful living. We got news coverage and sparked debate before COP17 had even begun.

With COP17 over, the stand was broken down and the materials returned to Durban. The crates are reusable, wood went back to Working for Water, milk bottles were recycled and the labour we use to build the stand helped us make it disappear. A truly zero-waste building and a structure that could be built again wherever needed by local materials, local help and local waste. And as a beacon of our campaign, it demonstrated that when the world talked about the future, Cape Town showed it's already here.