The human race is under siege. There are multitudes of diseases that we have been contending with for Mother Nature knows how long and then there is the Covid-19 to cap them all. But hold it, to cap them? Maybe – or “Definitely”? – we haven’t seen the worst of these pandemics. Whatever the case, the worst killer of them is yet to write us off. And it’s been with us all along. If we don’t act now as the human race, we’ll soon be choked breathless in a boiling greenhouse. What is assaulting us, we’d have a better chance of repulsing it if we recognised the fact of being one. Under the powerful wings of mighty Mother Nature, we are little earthlings. We must pay homage as a family to this, our natural preserver and protector. Giving homage requires us to avoid doing anything or behaving in ways that violate Mother Nature’s sanctity. The way we found Her when we came into being is the way we should maintain Her in our time here and the way we should leave Her when we make our little exit. We must partake of what She offers responsibly; not seek to milk more than She has tendered. Efforts to overly harness Her without regard for Her wellbeing will be the end of us. The fact alone of failing to recognise that we are all equal little earthlings in Her care has set us on a collision course with Her wounds. The culpable and the innocent, we are all spinning full-scale in the eye of the hurricane of Her kicking and screaming that’s sure to toss us into extinction. Ever since some started to scramble to be the first to exploit Her resources by engaging in energy use and production, they have been burning fossil fuels that release gases and chemicals into the air. These emissions are in the form of carbon dioxide and methane whose effect is to raise the earth’s temperature. The ensuing smoke and other pollutants turn into haze or smog and soot that envelope the earth’s atmosphere. The greenhouse effect out of these processes is now playing havoc with the climate. And so yesterday our rich brethren were boasting about industrialisation but today we are together mourning about climate change. Hapless poor countries are paying the price before the chance of industrialising and getting a taste of those riches, so as to also improve their living standards. It’s unfair for the poor because they should be allowed to reach this stage. Then they can cut down on industrialisation using fossil fuels since they will afford to adopt green technologies. Well, it looks like the damage is done. We are told global warming has already hit 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and the picture isn’t in the least rosy. We are increasingly in dire straits. It’s said the icecaps are melting. They are generally in the industrialised world but imagine the implications on us all. If the global warming rises another notch, apart from releasing torrents of rivers to swell up the oceans, none can tell the gases and chemicals icecaps will emit. The oceans may sweep beyond islands to swallow whole continents. And it’ll be bye to us little earthlings. The emissions may let off viruses that’ll make Covid-19 look like a bothersome sneeze. For example, some countries are in lockdown because there is no clean air to breathe. All that apart, in our African neck of the woods the seasons have gone haywire. Season patterns no longer exist as we used to know them. Deserts are raiding areas as floods are overrunning others. So, we must together rise to the urgency of the moment. Ditch COP27 or any other COPs! Dillydallying in “scaling down” or similar bunkum in these talking shops will get us nowhere. The developed world must fund climate-impacted developing world; get carbon capture technologies; fund and step up forestation; stop methane emissions; get renewable technologies. Stop use of fossil fuels; coal economies, go for something else. Mother Nature demands this now! Climate change is not the preserve of the elite as it affects all citizens of the world. The globe’s citizenry must therefore own awareness, knowledge and mastery of it. Because its deterioration calls for global efforts. This means that the more global citizens are made aware of global warming and its causes, the more they will understand and effect what needs to be done to reduce the negative impacts on the climate. It behoves us all then that we let our brain dominate our feeling of being different. Developed or developing, we are all little earthlings and must recognise that divided into superior and inferior, we will sink as miserable minutes of earthlings. But united as equals focused on putting Mother Nature in Her deserved place, we will swim together in the glow of Her pleasure. Earthlings of this globe, for our climate’s sake, let’s “twese nk’abitsamuye” go green now! The views expressed in this article are of the writer.
