Let’s act now to save planet from destruction
Yesterday was Earth Day. It was an occasion to take stock of the massive challenges facing this fragile planet, the perils that face our future, and how we can overcome them before they overwhelm us.
The day was first celebrated in 1970, and today encompasses 193 countries. It is reportedly the largest civic-focused day in the world.
People march, sign petitions, meet elected officials, plant trees and clean up towns and roads.
Most significantly, on Earth Day 2016, United States, China and 120 other countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement aimed at enforcing the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference, which had been drafted in the same city.
The theme for Earth Day 2020 is “climate action”. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.
Moreover, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us another side of life that we did not want to admit.
That is, we are the ones who are damaging the earth through our destructive activities.
Videos from around the world show clean air and clean water channels where it was all smog and silt. With the lockdown, industries have shut down and people have parked their vehicles.
Human beings are not all over the place polluting the environment, which has been exacerbating global warming.
Indeed, cities are key players both in the generation of greenhouse gases and in strategies to reduce this generation, especially in reducing our dependence on carbon-based fuels.
Cities also concentrate a large proportion of those most at risk from the effects of climate change.
Climate change remains one of the biggest dangers facing mankind’s existence.
According to environmentalists, the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people will be affected by what is done (or not done) in cities with regard to climate change over the next decade.
The world is now all agreed that we must act to reduce vulnerability to climate change. We are back in time to the place where it all started. Let’s act now and save the planet from burning down!
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The Covid-19 chronicles continue. As they say, there is never a dull moment in Kenya.
As usual during times of heightened crisis, the so called KoT community does not disappoint.
There are several jokes doing the rounds on the pandemic. According to one version, this is the best time to do a wedding.
Due to various rules governing the quarantining measures by the government, you do not need the headache of a budget to cater for the hundreds of people who would ordinarily attend your wedding. Fifteen pax, pap!
In another version, a policeman stops a motorist for a traffic offence. He then informs the motorist that he is reeking of alcohol.
The motorist responds that the reason why the officer can smell liquor in his breathe is because the latter is not adhering to social distancing rules.
But the one that took the day is where Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says, “God has protected us, we do not have any deaths in Uganda up to now. But God is busy also.
He has got the whole world to look after. He cannot be here just in Uganda looking after idiots.”
Seriously, though, things might never be the same again. We will have to revise our social lives, especially our penchant for crowding in events like weddings and funerals.
But you may see the silver lining. We will be saving the billions of money and countless man hours needlessly spent on these events every year.
Just have a small group of people who matter most in your life and spare everyone the bother and expense of contributing to the cost of their attendance. — The writer is a communication expert, and public policy analyst —[email protected]
