Breaking: No silent Environment Day

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:46 pm

As a result of the Covid-19 outbreak world over, a number of events falling within the affected dates have perhaps been celebrated differently or slip with the wind as shutdown to tame the spread of the virus continues.

For the first time, the historical day that was on the calendar this week, Madaraka Day, was rather different in Kenya as His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta led the nation in honouring the 57th celebration from State House, Nairobi.

Who would imagine such a huge and important occasion would go down virtually? The pandemic has for sure disrupted a lot but made us digital innovative.

Today, another very important occasion on the calendar, World Environmental Day is on but the restrictions on movements and just general guidelines in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 won’t allow us to observe the day as it should be – a day that should be full of activities to encourage worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.

That is not to mean we shouldn’t advocate for a better and healthy environment. If the world is to remain a supportive habitat for humans and other species at large, there are top environmental problems that must be solved — because nature is all that life depends on.

The world’s population is increasing by the day and according to documented statistics by the United Nations, the figures have increased by almost 50% since 1990 which in turn, is accelerating climate change and threatening the survival of millions of people, plants and animals by causing atmospheric events like droughts, fires and floods – close examples.

Over-population comes with another environmental problem— air pollution, which is experienced mostly in densely-populated areas and the World Health Organization states that over 80% of people living in such areas are exposed to unfit air quality — a number of health problems are linked to polluted air.

It’s no doubt fossil fuels pollute the air and replacing it with renewable energy is the best way out – might sound a long shot for some countries but with proper investment and well planning, it’s achievable.

Emissions from agriculture must also be reduced and industrial processes must be changed for our environment to have clean and healthy air – and the United Nations too supports this by advocating for eliminating dumping and minimising the use of chemicals among other measures.

(TheStar)