5 questions on environmental protection were answered by Nyingi Wahome.
*For audio text me: scottiankisoo@gmail.com
By Nyingi Wahome and Scott Kisoo
- Why environmental health?
At 6, I attended a conservation camp with a kid’s club called Juhudi. I enjoyed planting trees and I was good at it. Shortly after, I attended an environment-related conference in Norway which further propelled me in that direction.
In primary school, I became the environmental prefect. The school was already invested in tree planting so it was my obvious place to shine.
When I started high school there wasn’t an environment club so I chilled on it till the A levels. I put together a proposal that quite honestly I didn’t see through since time was limited and parties were lit.
At university, I wanted to get into Medicine but when I didn’t qualify environmental health became an obvious fit for my course. I’m glad I ended up there since it shifted my solutions for environmental problems to be more preventative.
2. Were environmental disasters a concern for you since?
Definitely! People shouldn’t end up in hospitals due to things we could prevent.
While I respect my own efforts and others who are into tree planting and landscape restoration, that’s not where the passion for my fight is. I’m more invested in behavioral change aimed at prevention.
3. What are some of those preventative habits?
To start with, I encourage people not to plant trees for the environment but for themselves. It’s easy to convince people to use their bare plot of land on planting a mango tree because they like mangoes rather than random trees.
Second, people should learn whether their waste can be useful. Biofase uses avocado pits to make biodegradable plastic. At home, you can create art projects using disposable plastic cups with your children.
I also encourage home gardening as a way of getting closer to food sustainability. One can make compost and use it to farm in their backyard. 2 birds 1 stone!!
4. Before we get there, as an individual, I sometimes feel helpless in the face of environmental pollution since big companies emit more waste than I could help solve.
It’s obvious that huge industries have a larger scale of damage. And we cannot stop industrialization. What we can change are our individual attitudes. If we don’t buy from companies that package wastefully, they will be forced to change to what the buyer wants.
Business isn’t bad. Unsustainable business is.
We also need to expose individuals to more information. If farmers knew about hydroponics and aeroponics (vertical gardening) they would be geared towards that for more food production.
We also need to teach preservation for short-term benefits. People cut trees for charcoal to make a living, not as a hobby. Instead of making it illegal how about you teach them to replace the trees they cut with fruit trees they love? Isn’t that a much better deal? Isn’t that a more sustainable and inclusive solution?
5. Let’s talk about water sanitization.
The current solution for people who live near polluted rivers is to get piped water from dams that are kilometers away. If one is unable to afford that, they drink the polluted water. Investment in filters to cleanse the polluted water would be more sustainable and inclusive.
We need to recreate value in nature. Mwarubaini trees were traditionally preserved for their medicinal value. If a community knew they could cleanse water from their river they would value it and they’d even be keener on protecting it from further pollution.
Extra question: Is it the government’s responsibility to enforce laws that ensure sustainable industries and individuals? 🤔
The government is not the giant beast that we think it is. It is a group of people we have appointed to solve the problems WE present them with. If environmental conservation is not our concern, then it is not the government’s either.
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