AWARD YEAR
2015
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Climate Action
KEYWORDS
sustainability, flag, climate change
COUNTRY
South Africa
DESIGNED BY
Guy Lieberman
WEBSITE
https://www.giantflag.co.za
Giant Flag: South Africa
A top ecological attraction to reduce economic hardships and help modernize a community.
When it's completed, it will be so large as to be visible from space. It's the Giant Flag of South Africa, and it's an ambitious project by almost any measure. Located in the Camdeboo Municipality of Karoo, an arid region between Cape Town and Johannesburg, it will transform a patch of desert into a living national flag spanning about 163 acres, the size of 66 soccer fields.Some 2.5 million red, yellow, blue and green desert plants, including cacti and spekboom, will be arranged in a pattern like that of South Africa's flag. The flag's black triangular area will contain a 4-megawatt solar-panel field, generating much-needed electricity for the region. Organizers say the succulent plants will reintroduce nutrients to the soil and sequester upwards of 200 tons of carbon every year. With the looming threat of climate change, this can only be a good thing.