I am so much attached to my motherland. You will pardon me for making it a reference point most of the time. I am sited outside my grand ma’s house, in a home-made bench referred as ‘orindi’ just next to the granary so as to lean on comfortably and rest my legs. I am facing the East just to be in the right angle to enjoy the sun and to also watch at the beautiful view of the several hills in front of me. They are named ‘Got Ndonyo’, ‘Got Gembe’ which is just next to Ruma National Park, and ‘Got MaKOwaga,’ actually this specific hill is named after my Grandfather. That is so incredible and intimate.
On the hills, a beautiful view of the landscape and the wilds is clearly visible. The wilds is composed of mostly shrubs and acacia trees. It looks so green. On several occasions I normally go to the hills to eat wild fruits ‘olemo’,’sangla,’ ‘nyabende,’ among many others. I only know them by their native names. My grandma also use to get herbs from the hills. The wilds on the hills offers a rich and diverse resource to the locals here.
My motherland is not the only place I share great intimacy with as far as environment is concerned. I was raised up in Muguguga, a hub of many environment research institutions- KARI, KEFRI, and VERTINARY among others-Whose key objective is to protect the lives of living things. This area is a serene environment, just as Karura forest is. I am not certain if it is still the same. I was there last, more than 10 years ago. I am sure I will be visiting soon.
Last week was set aside just to celebrate and emphasis on the importance of environment. I was privileged to attend one of the events courtesy of UNEP and the Columbia Embassy. This occasion was resourceful. The key message was for every individual to understand that environment is the caretaker of lives. There is a need to stand for its conservation efforts. Each and every individual should feel obliged to ensure that the environment is taken care of, bearing in mind that this is for the good of the current and the future generation and there posterity.
Environment is basically our surroundings, both living and non-living things. It is made up of natural environment which is composed of things which exist naturally, and built environments which is manmade. Now that we have familiarized ourselves with the definition of what an environment is, we need to know why its state is getting worse and find solutions to rectify.
In most of our homes we use timber, firewood and construction poles. Apparently, all these come from trees which are part and parcel of our environment. What is much disheartening is the fact that most of those who depend on this valuable commodity, make no attempt to plant more trees in order to counteract the depletion of the same. Trees in their natural state have an important duty of supplying living creatures with fresh air as well as being habitat for the same. The uncontrolled cutting down of trees not only destroys natural habitat for animals but also depletes the supply of fresh air.
Our methods of farming mostly employ techniques harmful to the environment. Farmers are using heavy machinery powered by diesel engines in their farming activities. These machines emit harmful gases such as carbon monoxide to the atmosphere and this eventually leads to the global warming and climate change. Also, the farming chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers have negative side effects to our surroundings since they cause pollution to waters, soil and air as well and hence man and other living things is vulnerable to ill health.
In the industrial sector, environment has not been spared either. Some of our industries pollute water through emitting harmful effluents which contain chemical residues to the surroundings. This water eventually finds its way into water bodies. When animals and humans are exposed or drink this contaminated water they are likely to suffer from waterborne diseases. Many of these diseases can cause death some of them include typhoid, amoeba, cholera among others.
On the other hand, most industries emit harmful gases to the atmosphere. Some of the gases emitted from industries are oxides of nitrogen, carbon, and sulphur among others. These gases cause global warming, air pollution and acid rains as well. Acid rain affect plant chlorophyll and result into withering of plants. Global warming has led to melting of glaciers, which in turn results into disastrous increase of oceans’ water levels. This consequently leads to submerging of the lowlands that border the oceans and cases of drowned people and destruction of property being reported. Also, polluted air causes harm to the respiratory systems of man and animals. Humans can contact respiratory diseases such as asthma, reduced energy levels among others when exposed to polluted air.
There are also other human activities that highly contribute to the pollution of the environment. First of all, taking into account trade as an economic activity. In supermarkets, shops and other outlets packaging of products is done by plastic materials which are non biodegradable. These plastic materials end up in landfills or incinerators leading to water and soil contamination, and air pollution when burned. Secondly, the humans residential sector. Due to increased population, residential sector is counted as one of the major sources of environmental pollution. Household wastes end up finding their way into the environment to the landfills or municipal incinerators. Most of the household wastes do no decompose fast making burning of waste as the only alternative to reduce wastes. Eventually this leads to air, water and pollution.
There are various ways through which we can conserve the environment. In our homes we can make effort of trying to conserve the environment through using environmental friendly sources of energy and building materials. These alternative sources of energy may include solar energy as source of power in our homes and energy conservative stoves for cooking. This will help in the environment conservation since people will cut down fewer trees for energy and construction purposes.
However, farmers ought to use environmental friendly methods in carrying out farming activities. The diesel consuming machines used for farming ought to be replaced by those that consume bio fuel. This will help in reducing large amount of gases that is emitted into the atmosphere. The farm chemicals such as insecticides, fungicides, pesticides and fertilizers which cause soil, water and air pollution ought to be replaced by organic farm inputs which are less harmful to the environment.
In the industrial sector, government should come up with strict measures of controlling methods used by industries in emitting their effluents. In order to reduce water and soil pollution by industries, government needs to ensure that no industry or firm that is located near to a source of water, releases its effluents which has not met the minimum requirements into the waterbody. Also government should ensure that emission of gases is done according to international standards and regulations. On the other hand, the government should ensure that industries which are likely to pollute environment are located far from residential areas and continuously monitored.
The other important method of environmental conservation is to carry out campaigns aiming at persuading the public to plant trees for the purposes of afforestation or reforestation. Also, public need to be sensitized on the importance of increasing the forest covers in our planet- both to humans, animals and biodiversity preservation-Government should input strict measures of environmental conservation such as prohibiting illegal cutting of trees, waste disposal methods by the public.
In conclusion, there is this story about the “people of the Jaguar.” They live in ‘centre of the earth’, deep in the Amazon forest. This region is the epitome of a virgin land, very fertile, and has never been exploited by the outside world. Very beautiful indeed! The people living here are indigenous to the place, with absolutely no exposure to the so called ‘modern civilization’. They are fierce on protecting their environment, they never allow any stranger to get in, because they probably fear for their environment. This place has remains to be the most probably the only un-exploited region on earth, and it is our responsibility to keep it that way. We should not make any attempt of making contact with these people, not even as tourist so as to let it remain as pure and virgin as it is. We should desist from conducting exploration or expeditions seeking economical exploitation opportunities. Instead, we should make effort of keeping this place pure for the sake of the people there and their environment, keeping them safe from us.
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