Dear Kenyans, Let’s Talk About the Weather
If you want to get the most self-controlled man in the world to lose his cool, just say something negative about their mother.
Yet, for some strange reason, our Mother Earth is being defiled every day and we could not care less. The earth is dying. Natural fuels are depleted, food is getting less nutritious as the soil on which it grows gets more unhealthy.
For the more cynical of us, the universe is unfolding as it should and there is nothing we can do about it. Many of us hear talk about “Climate Change” and we zone out. No phrase evokes more yawns than this one.
Two main categories of people are pulling at both ends of this mysterious phrase: there are those who believe that it is our fault the earth is dying and those who think this is just nature taking its course.
The first group of people are persuaded that human beings can reverse the damage, but the second group has taken a more “let’s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” posture.
Two weeks ago, thousands of delegates from 174 countries gathered in Nairobi to talk about the weather — or the climate, if you insist. Some 120 government ministers of environment were among the group which spent five days deliberating at the United Nations offices in Gigiri.
At the end of the week, the group left the building more persuaded that it is not only our fault that the earth is dying, but it is up to us to do something about it. Few Kenyans even noticed that the conference had happened.
Almost five years after Wangari Maathai died, many people still don’t understand why she was so obsessed with trees, or why she won a Nobel Peace prize for it. Many of us look at the online rants of “elephant lady” Paula Kahumbu and shrug in bewilderment. We just don’t get what the fuss is about. We assume she is obsessed with elephants the way some people love cats — as pets.
One reason why Kenyans do not care about the environment is because of the scarcity of impact data. We care about a car accident when the number of people who die in it is higher. The Garissa University terror attack is etched in our collective memories not just because the victims were so young, but because they were so many. But there is little to no data on the effects of climate change on people’s lives.
Yet, I learnt from the just concluded United Nations Environment Assembly that more than 14,000 Kenyans die every year from health conditions traceable back to indoor air pollution. That’s seven times as many deaths as the average annual fatalities from road accidents!
Children are dying every year because their mothers cannot afford to buy cooking gas and would rather use the more dangerous wood fuel. But, for some strange reason, we just don’t care.
Studies done in other countries have shown a direct correlation between the IQs of children and their exposure to lead found in batteries and paint. A recent UN report revealed that some 143,000 people die every year from lead poisoning. Indeed, research studies and more data on the environmental impacts of human activities could help Kenyans appreciate the problem better.
Why is it so difficult to care about the environment? Perhaps it is because climate change is a problem that is too big to notice. It is as big as the earth. Most human beings are wired to care easily about problems they can define and address with a witty tweet on social media. We want an enemy that we can bomb or shoot down like the Al-Shabaab, one that doesn’t take a rocket scientist to define.
Unfortunately, climate change does not give us that option. Some problems are simply too big and complex to summarise into quotable phrases and click-baity headlines. The effects of climate change often manifest too slowly. But that does not make them any less serious.
As we observe the World Environment Day tomorrow, fellow Kenyans, the least we can do is talk about the weather.
