The instructions seem quite easy: recycle, reduce, reuse, afforestation, well pretty much all changes we should be making to preserve and save the environment, and yet, nothing seems to be moving in the direction of progress. What’s holding us back? 

Individuals and organizations all over the world have converged on several occasions to come up with a way forward, but ALAS! Seminars, conferences, campaigns, infomercials and yet so little has been done to save the environment. 

With each passing day, mother earth bleeds a little bit more yet we still pose the question, “How can we make significant changes”?

Research has it that in more than half a century, we have produced 9 billion tons of polythene globally, and though we have a growing awareness of how it is choking rivers, smothering and strangling marine life, and even ending up in our food, it is more pervasive than ever.

Then there is the issue of poisonous fumes from factories, cars but no one is willing to give either up. In 2018, the Daily Monitor ran an article dubbed “Quality of Kampala air: A death-trap”. “Kampala City tops the list for cities with the most polluted air in East, Central and Southern Africa. Here, 90 minutes of exposure to the fumes are enough to cause damage to your health let alone the environment. Other cities in Africa include Bamenda in Cameroon, where 45 minutes on the road are enough to cause harm. And, after 105 minutes in Kaduna, Nigeria, you are likely to catch complications from dangerous gases in the air”, wrote Walter Mwesigye.

I will not pretend that I am willing to give up my car and cycle to halt the carbon monoxide but what is it that I am willing to do?  Plant a tree or two every month? Volunteer to clean water sources? Change my mind-set in regard to relevance of my car?

Whatever it is that I or you choose to do doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that we each acknowledge the fact that it is our responsibility to fix the damage we have done, contribute to said fixing and that way collectively save the environment, then maybe that way we can see some progress. Leaving it to individuals or organizations is clearly not working. Leave it to you to fix the mess.

I ought to do something, you ought to do something because at the end of the day we are not only killing the environment but also drawing dooms day closer to the human race.

By;

Sheila Nabafu

WEBSITE OFFICER-KAMPALA WATER