I have lived in Nigeria all my life, and
being green isn’t by any means easy, but I’m practising, and getting
better at it. Presently,Nigeria ranks 134 out 178 on the 2014
Environmental Performance Index, and we can increase our ranking by
doing some of these simple things, today and going forward.
1. Turn the water off when you brush
your teeth. Fresh water on our planet is reducing at an alarming rate,
and getting this water to run through your tap, uses lots of resources,
especially energy. So please cut down on how much of it you waste. Water
is actually finite.
2. Recycle and reuse everything you can.
Try to use a product up to its shelf life. Get creative, and upcycle
products/items. An old wine bottle could look good as a decorative item
in your living room. Think about how else to use it before you trash it.
3. Hold on to your waste till you find a
suitable trash can. This one… War Against Indiscipline has to come back
for people to comply. It’s just normal for us to through it out from
the window, like nothing happened. Please don’t litter Naija. Learn to
hold on to your waste, and you will gradually get used to trashing it
right.
4. Reuse your plastic bags. Store them
for other purposes if you have them already. Banning them like
California just did, might be the way to go, but till we get there,
reuse the ones you have consciously amassed. Speaking of bags, buy
reusable shopping bags. Carry along your personal shopping bag. Even
those paper bags could be just get pretty annoying sometimes, especially
the ones distributed at weddings. If you’re offered plastic bags, jump
am pass, dazzallll! Carry along a reusable water bottle, forget
pure water and bottled water. Plastic takes over a 500 to 1000 years to
break down. They also end up in our waters, threatening the existence
of aquatic life.
5. Turn OFF the lights when you leave a
room. This is very easy to do. You get to save a little of the energy
Nigeria has struggled to generate. Unplug electronics when not in use,
this helps save energy, and keeps your appliances safe. Turn the AC off
and open windows for natural air. Natural air needs no energy to get in.
Set your computer to hibernate (or sleep) after 30 minutes or less of
no use.
6. Car pool; have children in same
school go in one vehicle instead of several. Same as workers going to
same area. This reduces the amount of emission single cars could have
added to our already pressured climate. In other situations, use public
transportation. Enter BRT, El RUFAI bus or whatever your State has
offered. I find this very difficult to do also. Very very difficult. We
all want a better transport system, and this change will most definitely
happen.
7. Buy energy-saving light bulbs,
popularly called “white bulbs”. Fake ones are everywhere now, getting an
original that lasts has become serious wahala, and really discouraging. Anyway, just try!
9. Connect to one borehole, instead of
digging several (if you absolutely need one). Some people have portable
water in their area o, but still choose to drill, as a big man. Land
subsidence or collapse caused by excessive and unregulated drilling is
real o!
10. Buy 2nd hand products aka okirika,
bend-down-boutique or even “tusher” from a thrift store. Doesn’t make
you cheap or a bush person. You could make good combo, and look good.
You know na…..Yaba, Ahia Ohuru, or just ask a dealer to come over with
some. That way you comfortably shop in the privacy of your own home.
11. Defrost your freezer regularly, that way, it will perform more efficiently.
12. Use water efficient shower heads or
the good old bucket and scooping cup. Remember that short story I told
you about fresh water? Scroll to number 1.
13. Ask to have your name taken off junk
mail lists! Takes time and power to sort junk and clear them. In the
same vein, print or write on both sides of a piece of paper, better
still, do not print. More paper wasted, means more trees chopped down.
Don’t print account balance from ATM, then dump the paper and walk away.
Just view your balance on-screen. This is one can really vex me. All
that litter below the machine is so unnecessary.
14. Don’t burn trash and don’t pour them
out when it rains. When I was a child growing up in Aba, I often
wondered what happened to all the smoke that goes up when we burn, now I
know.
15. Clean your environment on sanitation
days (e.g Keep Aba Clean days) instead of just chilling at home or
playing soccer on the streets. Sometimes I also do this, but I am
changing.
16. Only wash when washer is full, not with one bra or boxer in it. Air dry clothing. We have plenty sunshine.
17 . Do not waste food. World population
is increasing by the minute, and more people will demand more food.
Don’t waste the one you have. A small holder farmer made it happen, and
same farmer might sleep hungry,just to sell his produce to you, for
money.
18. Plant a tree. Give seedlings as
gifts, like back in the days, when couples got nkwu(palm fruit) seedling
as wedding gifts, to be planted as a symbol of growth, prosperity and
fertility. Used to be common in Igbo marriages. Don’t have space to
plant, take it to the village.
19. Turn your generator off sometimes. Manage without power in this our Naija. Go for solar or other renewable sources if you can.
20. Don’t use your weaves/attachments
once and trash. Reuse or give away. The way you vex when you see a
strand of your expensive Brazilian, Peruvian or Funmi hair on your brush
of floor, use same vex to dash someone when you don’t need it anymore.
21. Have fewer children, stop over-population.
Feel free to add yours to this list.
I am not by any means perfect at doing
all these; but I am at least doing something. New research shows Lagos
will start feeling climate change impacts by 2029. This is so close
compared to other countries, but aint we feeling it already? Don’t say
“Nigeria contributes just a little to climate change, therefore my
action won’t count”.
Remember every local action brings a desperately needed global solution. Join me, let’s keep the going-green discussion going.
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