Posts

Showing posts from June, 2022

CLIMATE CHANGE AND COVID 19: SURVIVING THE ODDS

Image
  The last five years have been known to be the warmest or hottest, depending on your choice of words. The sad irony has been the disposition of some world leaders towards climate change and global warming. Last year 2020 has been the hottest year ever with an almost tie with 2016. It no news to climate change scholars that the volume of carbon as well as other green house gasses emitted is responsible for global warming. Despite the havoc caused by the deadly coronavirus, the environment seems to have benefited from the need to stay at home, work from home and restriction of movements, causing pollution especially carbon pollution to reduce significantly. It is therefore not doubtful that if not for the virus the scale of global warming for 2020 would have been outstanding and unbelievably high. As we beginning a new year, and I write this, tucked under my blanket shying away from the dry cold of the Nigerian harmatan; a phenomen...

TAKE A STAND FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Image
Just like every other living organism man is designed to live, function and interact with his environment. Humans are the probably the only living things on earth that interact with water, air and land. We have even gone as far as outer space. But don’t let the scientific fiction of life on Mars make you think we have a planet B, all we have is earth and we are slowly destroying it. Human are the most complex social beings on the planet; even the great Aristotle called us social animals. Since the begin of time we have come together to make things happen, good or bad. Earthlight International invites and encourages every one of us to take a stand for the environment. This year a large part of the amazon which gives us about 20% of the oxygen we breathe was destroyed by fire. Our industries burn fossil fuel or worse coal, we run cars and generators to make life easier. We dispose waste indiscriminately not realizing that all these things effect on us and o...

DEFORESTATION; THE LURKING DANGERS

Image
Close your eyes for a bit and imagine the year is 2090 and everybody is walking around, wearing oxygen masks because there are no trees around and the air is full of carbon dioxide. This might seem like a distinct possibility but the environment is on a steady decline and if drastic measures are not taken, the scenario I described might just happen. Trees play such an important role in the ecosystem. It’s impossible to imagine planet earth without them. They absorb rainfall and produce water vapor that is released into the atmosphere. Soils are kept in place by trees. Without trees, soils become vulnerable to erosion or landslides. Erosion washes silt from soil down into rivers thereby affecting aquatic life too. Trees serve as storage sinks for carbon. Cutting trees and clearing forests simultaneously reduces the amount of carbon absorbed by the forest and releases the stored carbon into the atmosphere. According to Greenpeace, about 300 ...

EARTH DAY; APRIL 22

Image
EARTH DAY: Our Earth, Our Future Protecting the Environment through Electric Automobiles. It is imperative to trace the evolution of Earth Day in the mainstream international celebrations. Earth Day emerged for the first time as a conscious effort channeled at addressing environmental concerns. It started out to be an avenue to push a global agenda for environmental protection. Over the years since 1970 down to 1992 when the United Nations met for the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and the inauguration of April 22nd to become the global day for action for the Earth, activism and clean up actions have not ceased to the pursuit of one goal: a safer planet earth. Today, the quest for a safer and healthier environment has gone beyond campaign for more trees or taking out trash in filthy areas but an intentional and deliberate investment in a future where the earth and all its elements are secured for sustainability. One of such investment we can make is in...

WHY LAGOS IS SO DIRTY

Image
  According to the vanguard, Lagos, with a population of over 23 million people produces 13 metric tons of waste daily It is impossible to stop the waste, though through education and sensitization campaigns, we are beginning to convince people to refuse (if it’s not important), reduce (as much as possible) reduce (to the lowest possible) and recycle all waste, while also refusing to use all not recyclable products. This message of ours is creating an amazing impact, however the volume of waste Lagos produces is not the reason Lagos is so dirty. Waste management in Lagos is a lucrative and flourishing business. And if this is effectively organized Lagos will be much cleaner. I learnt late last year that the constitution gives local government authority over waste and waste collection/management under the residual list. However, powers in Lagos control the waste, milking the business and denying the local governments its financial rights. This is why Lagos is so dirty, not because o...