Written by: Adetomi Olanitori Esq.
I am sure we know that as we grow in life, we have to learn, relearn and unlearn so that we can fit perfectly into our unique positions. That is life. It’s called accountability, most of us hate to hear that word, myself inclusive because it entails a lot of things which includes but not limited to commitment, responsibility and due diligence. Now, it is time to learn, relearn and unlearn things on our environment.
So my question to us is what is our level of commitment and responsibility to our environment?
To an average person reading this, the first response is, I take care of my environment by sweeping and cleaning it. But I am sorry to burst your bubbles that it goes beyond that.
The world we live in is a global village, I remember when this phrase “global village” was introduced to me in secondary school, I was always questioning what these teachers were saying but now I understand better and I am sure you do too with this covid-19 pandemic.
It’s time for all of us to brace up and be totally committed and responsible to our environment, our action or inaction is gradually affecting our wellbeing.
Environment is the surrounding where we live. When God created the world (sea, land e.t.c) He said it was good.
Good according to God’s standard is better than our best. So how did we get to a place characterised by flooding, deforestation, water pollution, air pollution, climate change, oil spills, gas flaring, and an endless list of unsustainable actions.
As we have established the fact that our environment is a gift from God and we have to be deliberate and intentional in safe guarding it.
Let's xray some of our habits that are unsustainable and are having a large effect on our environment
- Poor recycling culture
The large amount of cans, plastic bottles and papers we have at our landfills speaks volume of our poor recycling culture. The large numbers of wrecked and abandoned ships on our waters, cries for solution.
It’s overwhelming to know that the energy required to make a can of malt is proportional to the energy required to power a household. Also, if we know that the amount of energy and deforestation that goes into the production of paper and tissue papers I am sure if we know we will have a re- think about this poor culture and get to work fast. We will stop complaining that we do not have electricity in our homes.
I salute the people already in the recycling business, but we need more people to be involved. Our landfills are full. We can no longer be careless, this waste indirectly find their way to water bodies and block them leading to flood. This also kills some marine and aquatic fishes and fishes not killed ingests the microplastic and they are eventually consumed by Man.
- Overwhelming use of plastic bags (nylon)
Nylon bags are everywhere in the our country. I think we just like collecting them when we do our groceries. For some people they don’t mind collecting nylon for every unit of what they purchase at the market. We use so much of this single use nylon and dispose them shabbily. This is unfair to Mother Earth. We need to talk to ourselves, nylon takes a long time to decompose, they eventually find their way to landfills and water bodies.
In the long run we are doing ourselves a lot of disservice. Most countries in the world are now banning single use nylon. Alternative use of packaging are now being done. Paper is now adopted instead of Plastic container for packaging in other countries.
Do you remember a time in Nigeria when traders used leaf to pack locust beans (iru)?
Now what is been used is nylon and plastic containers.
Moimoi used to be wrapped in leaves; I’m sure we enjoyed eating it because of the leafy scent and it’s freshness, the story is different now. Unfortunately today nylons are now used.
Let us note that nylons are non- biodegradable.
- Throwing of dirt in our public space
Yesterday I saw a mature man after finishing his drink in a Pet Bottle throw the empty bottle on the road without caution, I was so dazed. Most of us claims to be educated, it’s not about formal education, I have seen many people corporately dressed drop dirts on the ground from their cars.
It’s unimaginable. Yes, I know we have indulged in this habit for a long time but we need to unlearn it. It’s not helping us, our environment is so dirty and the ecological crisis this brings is enormous. Government alone can’t do this, we all needs to invest our time into it.
- Driving cars with bad engines
Have you ever been in traffic and your car’s windows are wound down for whatever reasons, with heavy duty trucks in front, beside and at your back? You can guess how that journey would have been.
Countless times in Lagos you will see cars and trucks puff out heavy, black and smelly exhaust, Exhaust contains carbon monoxide which causes air pollution. Inhalation of this is detrimental and hazardous to human health.
That is the reality now in Nigeria. We need to change this narrative and cultivate a more sustainable environment. If you know your automobile’s engine is puffing out bad exhaust kindly work on it and not manage it for the good of all.
The carbon monoxide released into the atmosphere causes air pollution, greenhouse effect and climate change. We also call on all necessary government agencies to do their work accordingly.
- Poor disposal of engine oil and electronic waste
We change our cars or generator’s engine oil and pour them on the ground, they don’t just stay there, they move and contaminate our waters. We dispose our electronic waste ( used phones, used batteries, damages laptops/computers and used electronics) casually.
These waste are non-biodegradable, these means that they don’t decompose. So, our electronic waste get stuck in the environment with us, some lands in the landfills,
if we are fortunate they get picked by those scouting for aluminium, the remaining are carried by flood to the watersways where they are been swallowed by fishes and other aquatic lives leading to their death.
When you hear news that aquatic lives are being lost daily, know that we are the ones killing them indirectly by your actions.
- Wasting of potable water
How many of us like seeing water gush out of a tap? Children likes this most and we enjoy seeing them play with water. We use quite a lot of water in doing our laundry, washing dishing, for hygiene especially brushing our teeth, we flush our toilets with clean and potable water.
We now see car wash almost everywhere now, we admire the way they use large volume of clean water to wash a car. This isn’t sustainable. It is good for cars to be washed but a lot can be done in this industry instead of allowing the used water to run off our street and roads thereby damaging them, we can re-channel and recycle it so that the same water is treated and re-used.
So, we are all guilty of wasting this resources. Some countries are already lamenting inadequate rain, drought and famine. The fact is the resultant effect of these practices are unwholesome and inimical to the environment, it will do us a lot of good if we reduce this waste by cultivating sustainable water practises.
- Leaving electricity bulbs and gadgets on without being in use
Can we talk about this habit? I know we all know it’s bad but we still indulge in it partly because we feel it’s our house and we can’t be arrested. If that is the case, we will still continue to complain about inadequate electricity supply for a long time.
We can not sustain this practise with our fast growing population. Our energy consumption is unhealthy. Some people believe that it’s government’s light so let’s help the government to use their light. NO! It’s OUR light ooooo.
- Urinating and defecating indiscriminately
Nigerians engage in this uncultured habit. Don’t be too quick to say it men that engages in it. Females do too. Yes, it’s a “call of nature” but we can be discreet about it.
Please let us discourage the habit of urinating or defecating in the open, on grasses, water bodies and against the wall. These contaminate water and air thereby causing diseases and sicknesses. Some bacteria like Escherichia coli (Ecoli) find their ways into the food chain by this action thereby causing the burden of sicknesses and diseases. Even typhiod disease is spread by open defecation.
WAY FORWARD
There is a popular saying that goes thus
when the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable.
Let’s change this narrative to a better one, We are all custodians of our environment.
As we have gone through some habits that are inimical to a sustainable environment., these are habits we have to unlearn as we have established that they are habits that can not take us anywhere.
To achieve a sustainable environment enjoyed by all, we have to diligently and intentionally invest into it and all hands needs to be on deck to achieve an eco friendly world.
Our government needs to be proactive on issues that pertains to our environment, they should make policies that are environmentally friendly and should implement and enforce them, we can’t continue to wait for international aids.
Corporate entities needs to give back to their host communities, clean up polluted waters ways, eliminate or reduce air, water and noise pollution by using eco-friendly equipment, build standardized public toilets that can recycle used water and perform more CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to host communities and the nation at large.
Private individuals should be more conscious of their environment, unlearn the bad habits, learn and relearn sustainable habits like sorting out your wastes in different bins, recycling those waste that can be recycled,
It is time to find new ways of reuse our trash and make effort to reduce the trash we generate daily.
let us reduce the use of the nylon we consume, save water and energy.
We all are stakeholders in this matter and we need to work together to make our environment better.
Lets make sustainable environmental decisions.
Her write-up spans decades inspiring many.
She makes legal and ADR representation, drafting of legal and ADR documents.
When she is not wearing the hat of a Lawyer she focuses on the environment, spoken words, poems and behavioral writeups. She is also a lover of good music.
Awesome 👍