Bicycles, locally known in Kenya as "boda boda" was for a long time a major means of carrying passengers for short distances in most towns in Kenya. But today, most residents have shifted to motorable transport
I’m driving with a friend along a “heavy traffic” street in the outskirts of Nairobi and then I notice some young man being cycled to his destination. I’m excited to notice this guy wearing a www.wedonthavetime.org T-shirt broadly written at the back “Together we are the solution to the climate change”.
As the traffic drives us all to a halt due to the ongoing road construction, I take time to wonder about the significance of everything at the moment: here we are stuck in traffic, and the guy on the bicycle is uninterruptedly being taken to his destination on a bicycle. At the end of the day, this guy will get to the destination probably before I do, has caused little or no harm to the environment, and here I am in a more expensive second-hand car that is in so many ways causing harm to the environment as it burns the fuel *(whose sources are definitely fossil fuels) as, by our side, trees are being cut to make way for the expansion of the road to allow more vehicles to pass through.
The message “together we are the solution to the climate change” cuts deep. But ask any person who has some basic understanding on the topic of climate change, and you realize that very few have the basic knowledge on what harm they cause to mother earth on a day to day basis, in their small ways. Indeed, much focus on climate change has been directed towards big companies, forgetting that the main forces behind these carbon emissions are human themselves.
It is not encouraging that climate change intervention attention has been focused on engineering-driven research involving, for example, solar panels and wind turbines, whereas information-driven innovations have received scant recognition.
There is one basic agreement that the growing population has put too much strain on natural resources, pushing humans to clear more land to make room for roads, industries, housing, farming, and other economic activities that enhance their chances of survival within their environment. These large corporates look at the population in terms of demand for their goods and services, and with the growing population, companies see an opportunity to make more sales. And most of these corporates with this new opportunity exploit natural resources with some form of impunity, with little or no concern about the harm they are causing, about applying sustainable approaches that would guarantee that their production systems do not leave wounds on mother nature; wounds that would take decades to heal and still the results of their effects would be felt for generations to come.
It is sad that we have left the responsibility of charting the global sustainability agenda to the political class. Yet evidence suggests that too many politicians are either ideologically constrained from recognizing the existential threat of climate change or reluctant to implement policies that foster structural transformations of production, consumption, transportation, finance, and energy systems.
The impact of climate change and environmental degradation appears slowly and affects a public good, the environment. The cause-and-effect relationships related to climate change are complex and nonlinear. The effectiveness of interventions in any complex system is difficult to measure because of the many alternative attributable forces.
For the global climate war to be won, there is a need for a close-woven engagement of the society with the scientific and business communities to help bolster the case for creating a more sustainable society through renewable energy, cleaner air, less waste, and more circular material flows.
As the traffic eases up and I get to move, all this flows in my mind, but then, how many in our generation are ready to surrender their comfort for the sake of the environment? How many would rather ride a bike to work instead of the comfort of their cars? How many are willing to take the small steps to drive change in how we look at the environment?
Truth be told, we cannot solve global climate change without significant interventions and lifestyle changes.
Patrick Kiarie. WDHT-Africa/Kenya Chapter.
www.wedonthavetime.org
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95 w
"Together we are the solution to the climate change" truly inspiring message.
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143 w
Inisghtful
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147 w
Thats a great and brilliant article.
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147 w
Patrick, Very well written and I agree with you 100 percent, but it is hard to give away "good life", so I believe the solution is to show people that the alternative way (the more sustainable way) actually could lead to a better life for the individual.
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147 w
Truly encouraging and insightful! Thanks Patrick
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148 w
Great article, Patrick! Thanks for sharing.
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148 w
Interesting.
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148 w
Very well said. We have to realize that we as individuals are a part of a larger system, and we have the power to change that system if we work together. We also have to combat the notion that acting on climate change is an inconvenience and a disruption in how we have it now, and rather see it as a new way to have a rich and good life. I think a lot of people would act more sustainably if they understood what a sustainable life could look like, and what the benefits of doing it are!
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148 w
Very interesting for that infomative massage
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148 w
Great article
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148 w
Thanks for this very well written article Patrick! You are absolutely right!
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148 w
Well written and elaborate piece.
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148 w
Lovely!
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148 w
Oh what an Insightful article giving solutions in one way or another