Environmental :You don't fix it by running you fix it by fighting

Environmental :You don't fix it by running you fix it by fighting


Hello my fellow environmentalist comrades. Welcome to day one of environment 254 .Kenya is the host of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme ), kenya is also the home of the late Prof Wangari who was international recognized for her environmental works, last but not least Kenya is the home of some of the Goldman Prize winner the likes of Ikal and Phyllis .
Phyllis defended her community against Lead poisoning in Mombasa while Ikal who organized local people to fight the construction of the massive Gibe 3 dam that would block access to water for indigenous community around lake Turkana. She wasn't just one in a million but one off a million.( http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/ikal-angelei/)

I will begin with a story of China .We all know about China.The way they have infiltrated our market.the common saying ("wewe ni mchina" ,"everything else is made in China apart from courage which is made in Palestine").my story will be the untold story, how China neglected the environment in its industrialization period. Let me just go straight to the point.China cities such as Shanghai, Beijing which are among the most polluted cities.In these cities (shanghai, Beijing ) there has been various red alerts for pollution, leading to closing of schools, construction sites and also restricting the number of cars on the road. These challenges were brought as a result of depletion of the environment. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html?_r=0)

One may ask why am I telling you this story? ? Just stay calm. During the industrialization period in China their developments were not sustainable. There was no inclusion of environment . they did care about the environment; thus leading to degradation of their environment. In china most polluted cities, people are selling imported bottle of air to Chinese buyers.one bottle of air is going for $115 per bottle. Which is equivalent to ksh 11,500. Yeah you heard me . people are buying a bottle of air. ( http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/08/world/fresh-air-britain-china-bottles/)

Initially people thought that it was ironical to sell a bottle of water but now people are comfortable buying a bottle of water.The same story may happen in kenya(buying a bottle of air) if we are not careful.

Kenya we are a developing country, the relevant authorities have failed us.We have heard of lots of stories where the environment is comprised.i.e draining of our wetlands, Ruthless cutting down of trees in kakamega forest, mau forest, encroachment of Nairobi national park just to mention but a few.

Tree act as our lungs they help us in purification of our air. They act as a sink for carbon and other gases. Wetlands provides us with multiple ecological services such as control of flooding, source of biodiversity.

If we continue to ignore our environment in our development, some years to come the consequences may reverse all what we have ever worked for.

As I conclude ,a history of man is not written by chance but by choice.As a Kenyan citizen this is not the kenya that I want.my choice is clear, I choose action and not to keep quite when I see any environmental injustice.We the youths and other stakeholders, we are thank full for environment 254 for providing us with an open community platform where we can talk about our environment and come up with innovative ways of solving the environmental problems. Now is the time to act.



Join us in our online conversation

Monday's from 8pm

and Friday's from 8pm

Our hashtag is #Environment254



( https://m.facebook.co/story.php?story_fbid=1038736632858035&id=220591711339202 )

My fellow change makers I want you to remember this. "You don't fix it by running you fix it by fighting " a quote by Antony Ngure .

Antony Ngure was recognized as male environmentalist of the year 2015 and served as the tunza Eco-generation Ambassador(which is a partnership between UNEP and Samsung engineering )