FOOD FOR THOUGHT

By Emecho Ted

Photo by  Richard Obioma

Somewhere in Delta State, Nigeria 2017
view more photos below 

Did the government do this, or you did?

Every day we throw things in the bin e.g. empty drinks cans, crisp wrappers, paper, left-over food, broken toys, and the likes this is done without a second thought. Thereafter it is carted away; never to be seen again. Where did all those go?  Did they vanish into space?

We admire the beauty of cities like London and Rome. What right do we have to admire the neatness and beauty of these places when we degrade and rape our own? What right do we have to condemn our bad roads when we dump our domestic waste in the culverts meant to appropriately channel water on the street?

Many of us, what we do is ‘drop one wrapper’, ‘dump one used can’, and ‘fling one banana peel’. We simply do not see the immediate and long-term implications of our seemingly harmless actions.

Improperly disposed waste usually finds a way to conspire and to further wreak damage on human existence, besides making the environment sheer unsightly.

Climate change is already devastating African communities and we are fighting an intense battles in the fronts of adaptation and mitigation. Improper waste disposal can result in plugging of water-ways, flooding at road sides and soil erosion  with huge implications on human population.

We can begin by changing our attitudes towards our environment, by showing more respect for the system that sustains us

 We can start by supporting this campaign before we continue in our own ways, as we keep that candy wrapper in our pockets until we find a waste bin to properly dispose it. We can start by keeping that coke can on the vehicle floor until we find a basket when we alight.

Protecting the environment is a collective responsibility. It starts by changing your attitude today.

 E_coG₉₉