Earthlife Africa

Initially conceived of as a South African version of Greenpeace, the group began by playing a radical, anti-apartheid, activist role.

Earthlife Africa was chosen as a conscious attempt to avoid the split affecting two factions in Greenpeace who were vying for control of the organisation.

In attendance at this historical inauguration of South Africa's green movement were various members of related environmental organisations and ecology groups including Peter Lukey, Henk Coetzee, Mike Kantey, Elfrieda Strauss, David Robert Lewis, and Rachel Brown.

At this conference 325 civil society delegates resolved to redefine the environmental agenda in South Africa in broad terms and to move beyond the loose anarchist constitution which had bound members with 'values' as opposed to 'rights'.

The exposure of pollution by Thor Chemicals, a corporation which imported toxic waste into South Africa, by Earthlife and EJNF working closely with the Legal Resources Centre, the Chemical Workers Industrial Union, affected workers and local communities was the crucial turning point in the re-framing and 'browning' of environmentalism in South Africa.