Stories of Climate Justice Podcast: Climate Information Gap, Wangari Maathai and Activism (Part 2)

To listen to the podcast series, please visit the Stories of Climate Justice on Soundcloud here.

It’s hosted by Cinzia Alberti

Listen to Stella’s podcast on the climate information gap, Wangari Maathai and activism here.

Below is a transcript of the podcast:

Excerpt

“Indeed when we look at the world we live in, and we look at the conflicts and the wars that we fight, as we speak, whether they are conflicts in a small way in my country back home, or big conflicts such as we find in the Congo, in Dafur, in many other parts of the world, if you look at them and remove the superficial layers of religion and politics, quite often, it’s a question of, trying to access resources, trying to control those resources and trying to decide how those resources will be shared. Unfortunately for us, when we leave some people out, when some people feel marginalized, when some people feel like they don’t belong, when some people feel like they are not recognized, their voice is not listened to, sooner or later they seek justice. And sometimes they seek justice in a way that precipitates a crisis and a war. And so, because we live on a planet where resources are limited, we must learn to share them, we must learn to manage them, we must learn to live in a system that allows for the greatest space, which for lack of a better word, we’ll call ‘democratic space’ ”,

Prof. Wangari Maathai (2006), Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Cinzia:

You mentioned your grandma and your aunty, when you mentioned the effects of climate change to the farmers. Do you think women are especially affected by the consequences of climate change in Africa?

Stella:

I don’t know if this is cultural or global, but women are left to take care of the children. So, if you have to do the farming- because they don’t have much assets, or money- so, when we’re talking about farming as the economic activity, it means everyone’s going to the farm; sometimes even with the kids. That means, the woman has to take care of the children, go to the farm- it’s a lot of things happening at the same time. I feel that’s too much, already. But, in central Kenya for example, there’s a very high level of alcoholism, in men, mostly; there’s also a lot of drinking from women but it’s mostly men.

That makes it- so women have to become the breadwinners. That means, now all of the farming that you need to do, to take the children to school, for them to eat, every day, that is on you. And you’re taking care of them at the same time, it’s a bit too much, even to think about.

Because usually what it is- it’s, you go and do the farming and all of that, and then you have to go take whatever you harvest to the market. It feels like physical labour that men could help with, or could be (really) good at, but when you have that on top of taking care of the children, I feel, it becomes (really) heavy.

And, like I said, in central Kenya, with men now going astray, drinking is a really bad habit- mostly in central Kenya, alcoholism there is (actually) in the world- among the worst, and I don’t know why; some people have tried to connect it to colonialism and colonial times, like maybe it’s the trauma since those days, but it’s really bad- so women have to pick up the slack.

For a (really) long time, until recently, only the boy-child, or the man, inherited from their parents. This is land (is the most important asset for these communities because they’re farmers). So, if the man is the one who’s inheriting the land- you get married to the man- the only access you have to land is through your husband. So, if he’s the one who’s drinking and things get difficult at home, most of these women leave. But, you see now, they don’t have a home. Going back to their parents is usually- you don’t see that happening a lot. People who’ve been married go back to their parents? It happens sometimes, but not often. So, these women are (really) dependent on these men and on their parents. That’s the only access they have to land.

They don’t have money to buy land- so if you’re walking away with your children- you find that, even in the village, around the towns, slums are starting to come up. And this is how you find, these women end up there. It’s no fault of their own. They haven’t done anything wrong. Obviously, some of the drunkards find their way there, so slowly you start to have an issue. You have women in places where they don’t need to be. So, I feel like, it can be quite the burden and you know now when they’re in slums, that’s a-whole-nother problem. It’s not the right environment for anyone; for women, for children. It can get (really) dark. The problem can get really dark.

Cinzia: It seems that they already have a situation of disadvantage for many reasons, and if you think about the consequences of climate change, the droughts and the floods, this is just increasing their level of vulnerability.

Cinzia:

(With reference to Wangari Maathai), I thought that Kenya was somehow advanced with these issues, but from your perspective, it doesn’t seem so, why is that?

Stella:

Let’s just start with Wangari first. She was amazing. And she had a very keen interest in women and the youth. (I think I’ve told this story before but) My dad, was part of this thing (back in the village), it was called Kaharo University Students Association (KUSA). He was part of KUSA. Well, there’s these young guys who find themselves in leadership all the time, so I think people liked him (I don’t know); or he was outgoing. But when Wangari Maathai used to take trees to the village- she (actually) bought trees, took them to the village- she used these young people to distribute the trees. Yeah! My dad was one of those people. I think we have Wangari Maathai trees at my grandma’s.

She understood that, for there to be peace- she was also a leader for a really long time- she understood that, for there to be peace, no conflict, we need to be able to manage our environmental resources, so that everybody has access to food, has access to water- and that’s how you find peace, in a country. She was very focused. Very (sort of) enlightened. She understood quite a lot more than we did- then! Even some of us right now.

The thing with our leadership- the level of education in Kenya, is very high- my mum was (trying to) explain to me ‘that’s why we have such a high rate of unemployment’. Everybody is so very well educated. Everybody has papers. Everybody is going for a Masters. Everybody is so educated! There’s not enough jobs for all these people. So, compared to Uganda (our neighbours), and Tanzania, we have a (really) high rate of unemployment.

What I’m trying to say is, we do have some of these people, who are educated, who have access to this information; like, to do with the environment. Her background was very much into these biological sciences, and the environment was therefore- she understood it. She was able to interpret and translate a lot of things with regard to the environment and the society as a whole.

We have a few of these people, who are, well educated, (geniuses)- we have, like you said that ‘you thought Kenya was ahead with regard to these issues’, I would say so. Like I said, even our documents, when you read anything legislative that Kenya comes up with- our constitution, I think I heard someone- ‘it was the most well-researched, articulated, globally’- (I’m not sure about that, but I heard someone say that- so, when it comes to anything to do with, that intellect, you can find it here. That’s not the issue.

The issue is, we have these people, who are usually- it’s a handful of people who have access to this information, very few of them are translating it or bringing it to everybody else. I don’t think it’s an issue that’s specific to Kenya, I think it’s an African issue. We have information gaps and communications gaps (it has to do with phones). People in the village, most of them, don’t have smart devices. Just recently, I’ve learnt that most of them have devices now- but not smart. So, their access to information- there’s some gap.

If you want to reach them, it has to be through vernacular tv or vernacular radio, and not many people are talking about climate change in vernacular languages. So, again, that brings another gap. It’s an African issue. In Kenya I think it becomes more pronounced because the more educated you are, means you speak a lot of English- you go to the universities, where people do all this research- It’s NOT in vernacular. That adds to the gap.

Cinzia:

It’s funny to hear, that your referring to vernacular language like your language, the original one. The colonial language, which is English, is considered the official one. Is this what you mean?

Stella:

Yeah, that’s true! Our national languages are Swahili and English. But, the more you start working with people in offices (official settings), people just immediately switch to English. So, less and less of- for example, I am Kikuyu, so, less and less of Kikuyu (you leave that to you talking to your grandma or your aunty). Even at home, people in Nairobi, not many people are speaking in their native languages. So, it’s more and more English, the more educated you are. So, you see the distance — when you said about Wangari, and how come we have this really big distance, it’s because there are things and layers, that are putting us apart from each other. You can find people who — we have the UN here (UNEP, etc), it’s based here- so there’s people who are the mind-space of this conversation, that’s where they live. And then again, you go to the village, it’s not getting through.

Cinzia:

How do we solve this issue?

Stella:

I think- you know what? — back to Wangari Maathai, she’s the perfect example. Because, first of all, she‘d go to the village and she’d talk to people in Kikuyu; like often our President does that as well- we’ve had tribal politics for a really long time, so I think, people try to move away from vernacular languages, because there can be political tensions. But when they go to the village, that’s how they connect with people there.

But the thing with Wangari is, whatever she said, whatever her leadership was, she involved the youth. If she’s talking about trees, she’s taking the trees to the village. She’s walking her talk. I think that’s the difference. We don’t have much of that anymore.

(Cinzia: She was leading by example)

She was leading by example. And she came early on, I don’t know why people are not following the example.

I was working (before I went to do my doctorate)- I was working for a green sustainability company, for construction. That is to do with LEED and GREENSTAR rating. But, I wasn’t settled. I think it’s like you told me in your previous job, you feel like there’s ‘something else’- ‘I am not feeling this’.

I went and did my doctorate, that’s where I met with climate resilience for the first time. It made sense to me in the context of, ‘Africa’s the most vulnerable, so the priority should be to reduce this vulnerability’. So, I started to get involved in this. Reading it. Trying to find out how you could really, do anything with it (about it). And I wanted to connect it to my background in construction, so that- I’m not losing all of my education (just because).

Climate resilience means adaptation. Adaptation is really, infrastructure. And now, that’s where it makes sense to me. When you talk about, building a dam or building a flood wall or a sea wall. The conversation starts to make sense to me. So, that’s what LOABOWA- that’s how it started.

I wrote down, a few things that were serious and I wanted to work on. That’s low carbon, zero waste and climate resilience and awareness. For me, climate resilience and awareness is the highlight. That’s where- most of the- where I would say- where I want to really involve myself. That’s where the need is.

LOABOWA is really, if we’re talking about floods, that’s going into the actual adaptation and technical ways to solve it. If we’re talking about droughts as well, there’s a way to deal with that using infrastructure. You can use check dams, to make sure as the water is flowing, it’s flowing slower so that you give it time to infiltrate into the soil.

With low carbon and zero waste, that is also more- it’s saying that they are not the priority, but they are also important. It’s sort-of-like- a type of awareness creation or educating people.

We have a ban on plastics, which is great, but if people don’t understand why, there was a ban on plastic, then they end up importing plastics from neighbouring Uganda. You find plastics here, but they’re banned. So, people need understand why these things are (actually) happening, it’s for their own good, for the environment, so that they don’t use it, even if they’re given for free.

LOABOWA is, right now, mostly to do with awareness. We are creating awareness on social media mostly; which I find is not very effective- like I said- if you’re trying to reach the most vulnerable people- who actually need the awareness- it would have to be using vernacular languages and it would have to be on radio (I think)- radio and tv are the most effective. And right now, we’re doing social media which- they’re not connected to social media; so we’re learning as we go along. Maybe we’ll find a way to get into radio. I think, in a nutshell that’s it.

Cinzia:

What is activism for climate change in Africa? or, what do you think about it. And, how can we involve more people in the movement?

Stella:

I think, activism in Africa is- when I just got involved, which is (late 2019)- I’ve been around for about a year and a couple of months- in that time, I can tell you that the activists, who are mostly the youth- they have such a wealth of knowledge. I’m learning every time I see a post. I see someone talking about the Okavango Delta. Every time someone is doing a campaign, I’m learning a lot.

Activism, in Africa- people have a bad attitude towards it. In Kenya for example- in Nairobi- when people do that kind of demonstrating, showing up with placards, immediately people start to have a feeling of dread, because you know the police are going to show up and it might get violent. So, it has a (really) bad connotation.

And the other thing is, people take advantage of- when they see other people demonstrating- they take advantage of that to go break into stores and steal stuff. So, even the people who are organizing such actions- sometimes you feel like you don’t want to, when you know what the results could be. So, there’s a lot of negativity towards it.

Which is why, maybe you see, just one person, showing up with a placard. It’s just one person. They couldn’t do much damage and they are not moving. They are just standing there and, that might be more effective than people showing up in numbers.

How we see activism in Africa for good reason, is not very good. We don’t see it in good light, and I think there’s a reason why. But also, my thoughts are, that we need it. Very many times- like in Kenya, there’s a time that the Ministry of Tourism, was planning a project inside the Nairobi National Park.

‘They will market it as, something that is green, is going to be sustainable, is going to co-exist with whatever ‘natural’ is happening there’. But then activists pick it up, and you start to see- this is just- ‘you’re trying to kill the park!’. Because, as soon as you start building inside there, you’re taking space from nature. And, we keep doing it.

In the 1960’s Nairobi National Park was- it was huge! (I don’t remember the numbers, but if you go back to it), it was huge. The population of animals, THOUSANDS! Right now, it’s scaled down to tens of hundreds if you’re lucky. Leopards have gone down to, about 10? It’s a disgrace. So, it’s already shrank, and someone is thinking to build something inside the park.

People are very greedy for land- and for tourism, the more pristine, the more natural it is- that’s where they want to take the project, so that, tourists can come and see our nature. But that’s already a mistake. That’s not how to do it. These are places that we should be staying out of and protecting.

So, for me, activism- I don’t think we can do without it! It’s very important. It’s very important that people continue to make leadership feel like they need to be accountable. They need to think before they do something, and when they are communicating it (also), that they need to be telling the truth. Activism makes sure that that is happening, and when it doesn’t, obviously, they call them out. And I think, we need that!

Stella Nyambura Mbau PhD

Founder & CEO LOABOWA

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