How a magazine is educating communities on climate change
When Sam Dindi enrolled in UN CC:Learn’s Introductory e-Course on Climate Change in March of 2015, he already had years of experience with environmentalism in East Africa. Dindi holds a diploma in Tourism and Wildlife Management. He briefly interned at the International Centre of Insects and Physiology (ICIPE–Duduville) in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2013, Dindi co-founded Mazingira Yetu (Our Environment), an online magazine — now in its 17th edition and dedicated to environmental awareness.
With all of this experience working with the environment, some would ask: why take a UN CC:Learn e-course?
Advocating for environmental awareness and education in learning institutions and the public, Dindi says that a question always arose on what climate change is and how it can be addressed. Dindi says his “knowledge on matters related to climate change was limited,” even with his years of experience, both academic and practical, in environmentalism. There was a weakness in his understanding of the world, and UN CC:Learn provided the understanding and perspective he was, for all his experience, lacking.
“The e-course on climate change,” he says, “had a profound impact with my line of work.” In the editions following Dindi’s enrollment in the course, Mazingira Yetu has published over six opinion pieces about climate change, how to adapt to it, and how to mitigate it. Beyond the magazine’s pages, ten university students were trained to disseminate information about climate change and climate change initiatives. Four public and private universities faculties and environmental schools have begun using the magazine as a consistent source of reliable information on climate-change and its related issues.
In the community, youth groups such as Kumekucha in Busia County have learned about environmentalism and climate change by networking with the magazine’s guest writers. Through this experience, some groups have adopted “climate resilient measures,” growing drought-resistant crops such as cassava and engaging in agro-forestry. The impact is being seen in primary and secondary schools, too, where five environmental clubs have been formed to address climate change. Clearly, the impact of UN CC: Learn’s e-learning courses are flowing from Dindi into his magazine and out into his community and its schools.
For Dindi personally, the e-course has resulted in numerous invitations to give talks about climate change mechanisms to schools and farmers. Since taking the course, m
- Don’t Convert Africa’s Savanna to Agricultural Land
- Climate Change is Hurting Children the Most: Here is How to Protect Them
- How Ready is Africa’s Tourism Industry for the Impact of Climate Change?
He has also appeared on China Global Television Network Africa (CGTN), Radio France International (Global Focus) and Deutsche Welle (Made for Minds) to discuss the relationship between environmental conservation and development.
At its core, Dindi says: “the course has greatly assisted me in shaping my thoughts.
Sam Dindi’s experience demonstrates that even with years of experience in environmentalism, a dedication to learning can have incredible benefits not only on a personal level, but for your community at large. The informed, written word has the capacity to educate youths and academics alike, inspiring them to create change in their own communities — be it by planting cassava or taking up other climate-change initiatives.
UN CC:Learn’s e-courses encourage and develop individuals’ abilities to discuss green solutions and climate change, spreading knowledge from the individual to the individual’s community and beyond.
For more information on Sam Dindi’s initiatives, visit:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mazingirayetu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mazingira.yetu
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samdindi/
About UN CC:Learn
UN CC:Learn is a partnership of more than 30 multilateral organizations supporting countries to design and implement systematic, recurrent and results-oriented climate change learning. Through its engagement at the national and global levels, UN CC:Learn contributes to the implementation of climate change training, education and public awareness-raising.
