By James Propa
None of us is a saint when it comes to doing things that have negatively impacted our climate. The little things we do that we are unaware are negatively impacting the climate when combined actually have a huge impact on our climate.
This could be anything like irresponsibly printing emails or misuse of paper, unintentionally throwing away a water bottle or polythene bag after use. We all need to have responsibility over our planet and not wait for the government or city authorities to teach us or do certain things.
We all need to hold our selves accountable and pay the worthwhile price to make sure we make up and pay for the damage we have made however small or unaware we may be. We can pay the price in small ways still that could range from just posting a line about Climate awareness on social media or joining in for a community activity on tree planting or trench cleaning. These are the small ways we can all be held accountable for the things we and our forefathers have done to destroy the environment.
How about one Saturday you decide to walk around the city rather than driving your car to 1km destinations? Do you know how much carbon would have been saved from getting into the atmosphere? If 100 people do this for a year then we shall be healthy and our environment protected.
Many people are in positions where they can influence the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ activities that their company will do this or the next financial year. How about you influence them to go plant trees in a government forest that had been previously destroyed for maize growing or Charcoal making? This can also be followed by a community outreach to tell the locals how important the protected areas are for our future. These are the small ways we can all be climate champions.
On the side of us who work in the media, we have the capacity to reach 90% of the population but we have put in less efforts forgetting that the audiences we serve largely survive on agriculture and with the rate at which the climate is worsening the agricultural produce is also declining hence affecting their livelihoods and muscle to spend on the products of our advertisers. We need to help the audiences understand their roles in protecting the environment by dedicating a minute or 2 in every show/ issue.
The government owns 1 hour every week on each radio and TV house operating in Uganda, but there is still more effort required in teaching the people the protocols that Uganda has ratified and what the local person can do and how the media can effectively communicate. In my thinking the hour should rather be split into minutes into the different most listened to/ viewed shows to communicate the crucial issues regarding the climate and environment in general.
As the Luganda saying goes, “Kamu Kamu gwemuganda”, I hope all of us can go ahead and champion this very important cause.