What happens when a city runs out of water? Day Zero was the doomsday of looming climate catastrophe which was almost reached during the Cape Town water crisis of 2015-2020. A holistic geographical perspective places this local crisis in global context, and recognises a physical geography phenomenon of drought amid global warming as also a human geography phenomenon of class and racialised inequality and poor and corrupt governance and planning. The Cape Town water crisis is as much a story of climate change as it is of the legacies of South African apartheid. The Atlantic documentary below, “Scenes from a Dry City”, captures a vast range of issues that illustrate this point, notably: the parched earth; the social protests against the privatisation of water, inequality and injustice; the human privileges and sufferings that intersect with class and ‘race’ / ethnicity; the religious and spiritual movements seeking to intervene with climate crisis; and, the police and government controls on everyday life. In sum, the lessons from the Cape Town water crisis can be comprehended best through a holistic geographical lens.
(Featured image from Wikimedia Commons: A portion of Theewaterskloof dam, close to empty in 2018, showing tree stumps and sand usually submerged by the water of the dam)
Anaemic On A Bike 