Crypto, AI, plastics and dry taps — Daily Maverick's May round-up of #LiveJournalism

Daily Maverick

3 days ago

At Daily Maverick, our events and webinar department links public service journalism with audience engagement. We host webinars to deepen community connections, enhance understanding of key issues and bring stories to life through interactive experiences.
We hosted six webinars in May, all of which can be found on our dedicated webinar platform or YouTube.
Here's a peek of our latest live journalism webinars, the topics covered and key takeaways, just for you.
To Crypto or Not To Crypto: A personal finance perspective
We started this month with a Money Cents personal finance webinar, led by Neesa Moodley, editor of the Money Cents newsletter and Business Maverick. She was joined by her colleague, Lindsey Schutters, a Business Maverick journalist and editor of the Crypto Corner newsletter, to figure out how cryptocurrency fits into your personal investment portfolio. A cloud of scepticism around digital currency and Bitcoin was dissipated by Schutters's sobering sentiment that as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream, it needs to be taken more seriously.
An audience member said the webinar was 'very insightful and addressed various important questions'.
Watch the recording here
Dumpster Dive: Where is our recycling going?
As South Africa grapples with mounting waste and a struggling recycling system, tough questions are being asked about what really happens to the materials we toss in the bin. We followed Our Burning Planet journalist Kristin Engel in conversation with the founder and co-director of Waste-ED, Candice Mostert, and the acting CEO of the Waste Management Bureau in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Masopha Moshoeshoe. The audience learnt that only a small portion of the country's waste is actually recycled once it leaves the blue bin.
One attendee said: ' The reality is that plastic is the number-one profit-making product of the fossil fuel industry. They're on record to double plastic production by 2040. Single-use won't end without bans.'
Watch recording here
Practical AI: Tools Worth Your Time (and how to use them)
Sarah Hoek, Daily Maverick's audience development and community manager, sat down with Jeremy Caplan, director of teaching and learning at City University of New York and Wonder Tools newsletter editor, to explain how to make artificial intelligence work for you. The overarching message: AI is changing the world as we know it, just as the internet, social media and smartphones changed our approach to life. So, according to Jeremy, you might as well know how to use it, and use it well.
One viewer said it was ' an hour well spent – will take up the challenge i.e. try something new each week'.
Another said: 'For a person who has not wanted to give AI airtime, especially in my work as a lawyer, I'm convinced that it is not bad after all. Let me go check these out. Thank you.'
Watch the recording here
Decrypting Crypto: The building blocks of digital assets
In a follow-up to the crypto personal finance webinar, Lindsey and the webinar team kicked off his three-part webinar series, Decrypting Crypto, featuring Christo de Wit, country manager at Luno, and Diketso Mashigo, head of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's licensing department. The big takeaway: research the product, know what you're buying into and understand the risks.
'Thank you to the presenters and Daily Maverick. A very necessary discussion, particularly for novice investors,' said one attendee.
Watch the recording here
Holding out for H₂O: Examining water loss in SA cities
Across South Africa's cities communities are waking up to either a trickle from their taps – or no water at all – while treated water spills down streets from leaking pipes. In this webinar, Our Burning Planet journalist Julia Evans had a chat with Dr Ferrial Adam, executive director of WaterCAN, and Professor Mike Muller, former director-general of Department of Water Affairs and adjunct professor at the Wits School of Governance. They explained and reaffirmed much of what South Africans have come to realise on their own: that the country's water problems are complex and multifaceted. Moreover, it's not enough for civil society to keep playing watchdog – a concerted effort on infrastructure repair, municipal debt and reinvestment is necessary.
Audience input:
'Besides supply of adequate quantities of water to all, the other discussion is management of quality of supply and sewage plant effluent.'
'Private sector generally struggles to manage provision of water to indigent users. Free water provision and the reticulation network to get to poorer residents is financially challenging.'
'Thank you for this even-handed and informative discussion. I have a much better insight on where the problems are.'
Watch the recording here
Single-use shake-up: Rethinking plastics and policy in South Africa
Following the recycling webinar we noticed an appetite for a conversation focused solely on plastics. And, with the Global Plastics Treaty's goal to end plastic pollution by 2040, South Africa's position in the global initiative may be worth considering. Kristin Engel, joined by Dharmesh Shah, a senior campaigner of the treaty at the Center for International Environmental Law, alongside Johann Conradie, co-founder of Myplas and vice-chair of the South African Plastics Recycling Organisation, the implications of the treaty for big plastic producers in South Africa are arguably profound. The overall view from the audience? Extended producer responsibility regulations, which require plastic producers to reduce plastic packaging waste and fund recycling efforts, are essential and long overdue.
'I am Buyback Centre in Durban where I educated households to bring all their household products to us to buy as they were dumped into rivers. We need tough laws from government to charge all companies.'
'My entry is that government must enforce laws that make the manufacturer of plastic pay a green levy.'