Monday chat with Kofi.

Are you teaching your thrash to swim?

If you have a chance to look out of the window while driving on the third mainland bridge in Lagos Nigeria, or by chance you are on a boat on the Lagos Lagoon, there are quite a few things that catch your attention. The greyish-turbid water with its unique “fishy smell”, drifting to and fro the open ocean; fisher-folk with their canoes and nets looking for a catch and some interesting people who sell their wares on water. It is a beautiful place to be if you love a boat trip on the Lagoon.

However, away from this, hidden from the eyes of the environment neophyte but obvious to all others, is the presence of thrash or debris on the Lagos lagoon. Pure water sachets, phone recharge cards, plastic bottles, baby doll parts, condoms, discarded fishing nets, cigarette butts and lighters among other interesting sightings are visible on the Lagoon.Most times we ask ourselves “where did all this trash come from”? “Who put them there”? In answering those questions, we are quick to absolve ourselves of any responsibility for the debris on the Lagoon and are more than happy to put the blame next door. Indeed we may not be the ones who “dunnit”, but then who is responsible for teaching our thrash to swim?

At the moment it is estimated that about 20% of debris in the aquatic environment is from ocean based sources, while a staggering 80% is from land-based sources. In a place densely populated city like Lagos, debris on the Lagoon is as a result of run-off during rains, irresponsible disposal of our wastes and direct release from industrial and domestic effluents. Many times we have seen people throw out garbage into gutters when it rains, with the hope that it gets washed away by the downpour. Indeed some might say it is irresponsible to do such a thing, but again you will be surprised to find out that quite a lot of people see it as commonplace to throw out thrash when it rains. 

Sometimes ships at sea find it rather convenient to dispose their thrash over-board, hoping it will flow with the tide and possibly disappear. Does it? Despite the International maritime organisations effort to strengthen laws to prevent dumping of thrash at sea, quite a number of ships still throw out their thrash with reckless abandon. Not too long ago, a man on a cruise ship was filmed throwing out thrash off the coast of Brazil and this caused quite an uproar in the Brazilian media. See HERE and HERE.

 Needless to say, dumping of trash at sea is not only an environmental hazard but a violation of international law. The case is similar in the Gulf of Guinea where the Lagos Lagoon lies. I have been on a couple of ships in this region where thrash was thrown overboard on a regular basis. It may not be too ambitious to make a claim that some of the ships in Nigeria's continental waters are responsible for some of the sea based thrash we see on the Lagoon. It is obvious that the major culprit for debris in our environment appears to be man, who thumps his chest in a bid to subdue the environment without thinking of the long-term consequence of his actions. I remember I went on a trip from Victoria Island to Festac Town and an interesting fellow sat next to me, munching on a beef burger, drinking a bottle of something I can’t remember, all in a typical Lagos traffic on the third mainland bridge. After he was done, he threw the empty paper bag and the plastic bottle out of the window, over the bridge and into the Lagos Lagoon. Typical! Yes? I cringed on the inside and said in my calmest voice “couldn’t you have held onto it till you found a dustbin?” His reply is something you probably don’t want to know, suffice it to say he was in a foul mood because I brought his “everyday waste behavior to his attention

The problem with swimming thrash is that it might be gone today, but surely will surface someplace else, with lasting impacts. The beauty and aesthetics of the aquatic environment is the first impact we observe. The Lagos Lagoon especially during the rainy season looks splattered with pockets of debris and is quite unsightly. In addition, thrash in the aquatic environment has the potential to affect the health and safety of the fisher folk and those who want to take a dip in the lagoon. It is possible they might come in contact with used Syringes and used condoms. Dirty and unsafe waters discourage holiday makers from frequenting debris laden waters. This has an implication for the local community and the government who lose money that would have been made from tourism.

Plastic fragments in fish, algalita.org

Aquatic organisms such as fish, birds and crabs can be harmed and often killed by debris. Some of these organisms feed on debris and die of suffocation or starvation. Quite often, the consumption of plastic bags by sea turtles results in death which accounts for about 50-80% of recorded deaths. Similarly, sea birds are known to feed on debris which affects about 80% of its population. In particular, plastic debris is fed to the chicks in regurgitated food from parents. Fish are not left out of this problem, as it is becoming common knowledge that fish feed on bits of plastic in water bodies. Studies show plastic fragments in the stomach content of fish and is an indication of the level of contamination in many water bodies.

Like my friend who threw out his bottle, after a while, because of exposure to sunlight and the movement of the water, the bottle becomes brittle and begins to degrade. Fish often nibble on such plastic materials and appears to be a common occurrence. Indeed with the increase in plastic materials and our dependency on them, more and more plastics end up in our water bodies. So there is so much plastic for fish to eat “yum yum”. Sadly when fish feed on so much plastic, it feels up its stomach and it can no longer feed, resulting in starvation and death. To make things worse, these plastics seem to take up toxic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAH and Heavy metals from surrounding waters. The question now is this; If toxic chemicals are on the plastics and fish feed on these plastics, then we feed on the fish, are we being exposed to those toxic chemicals? Your guess is as good as mine.

It would be important to stress that when aquatic life is negatively affected because of our swimming thrash, it creates an imbalance in the ecosystem. In the environment, all life forms depend on one another for their existence. When an organism is affected by a contaminant like our swimming thrash, an imbalance occurs in the environment and this creates a space that would be filled by another organism. Fish that feed on plankton for example, could be wiped out, leading to an excessive growth of plankton, causing algal bloom. Imagine waking up one morning to find that the Lagos Lagoon is filled with so much swimming thrash, plenty of algae and no fish. What a sad day that would be.

How can we stop teaching our thrash to swim? Are there practical solutions to this problem of swimming thrash? Well there are and a few tips are listed below:

1. Reduce, reuse, recycle and re-think.  That includes food, clothing and furniture as well as plastics, glass, cardboard and newspapers to save natural resources. Again it would be a good idea to think about some of the things we buy. Do we really need them? Can we do without them? My guess is, if we buy only what we need, then maybe we can reduce the amount of thrash we generate 
   
   
   Redbubble.com
2. Sort your trash based on food waste, general waste and recyclable thrash. Again you can sort out thrash according to local recycling laws; try to compost organic matter and yard waste, and purchase recycled products to support closing the loop.
   www.gardeninggonewild.com
3. Take time out of your schedule to get involved in local clean-ups for your area. There are quite a number of organisations who are looking for volunteers to help with debris in our environment, they would be more than happy to welcome you. In addition, you can help organize recycling in your area. It is easier than you think. 
   Volunteers at a beach cleanup exercise, cleancoastnigeria.com
4. Get a few like minded people together and create a recycling buzz.

If we want water bodies free of swimming thrash then the time to act is now. You don’t have to wait for the next person. Be the change our environment desperately needs. Make a commitment today to stop teaching your thrash to swim.

And remember...give a hoot, do not pollute.

Photo credit: Google images.

Change is constant

We all go through life accompanied with different phases and in each phase we have to change so as to adapt. And green adugbo is not exempted.

There will be changes on the blog. An official of Clean coast Nigeria would be joining me . His name is Kofi Renner, the coordinator of Clean Coast Nigeria.

So watch out for more interesting, educative and informative write ups.

Do have a lovely week...and remember give a hoot and don't pollute.

Uranium is not a toy.

I had an interesting conversation with an old friend of mine months ago on power generation in Nigeria aka PHCN( Power Holding Company of Nigeria) palava. We had a  discussion on the way Nigeria generates power to crude oil consumption and cost of generating electricity for offices and home. During this conversation he mentioned something very interesting. He told me with all confidence that Nigeria is seriously looking into using nuclear energy to generate electricity.  " Is this a joke, do you understand what it means to have a nuclear power station"? I replied. " Lara, I am very serious, very soon Nigeria would have it own nuclear power station ".He replied looking serious. And all I did was laugh...very hard. A nuclear power plant in Nigeria...are we ready for it?

Nuclear power or energy generates heat and electricity  via exothermal nuclear processes : nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion. The generation of nuclear energy is done in nuclear power plants and the reactor core used is uranium. The splitting of uranium atoms (nuclear fission) generates nuclear energy. The heat generated during this process is removed from the reactor core using a cooling system which uses the heat to generates steam that runs the steam turbines connected a generator and generates electricity.  The use of nuclear energy is encouraged by many environmentalists because it generates a large amount of electricity and its process  does not pollute the environment. This very good because it does not cause any change in climate which result in global warming. However,  radioactive waste generated during the process emits radiation which makes its dangerous to the environment and humans. Nuclear power may solve the electricity challenge in Nigeria but i do not believe Nigerian government can handle all that comes with it. 

After the conversation, I felt that I didn't believe in Nigeria enough and I was being a pessimist, so I decided to ask another friend of mine who works in the power industry in Nigeria.  This was what he had to say:

  

1   1. The maintenance culture in Nigeria is extremely poor especially if it's a government owned facility (you can correct me if I am wrong). Our oil refineries speak for itself on the level of maintenance that is done which is zero.  If we cannot take care of what we already have here on ground, how would we take care of the new facility that would be added?

2.    Politricks is too much in Nigeria thus the construction of a nuclear power plant in Nigeria might not be done up to standard. Why? It is simply because too many handshakes would have collected the more than half of the capital needed to the job.

3.    Nigeria's disaster management has not yet hit the bar in my opinion. Nuclear accidents that occurred in Three mile island ( US), Chernobyl (Ukraine) and Fukushima (Japan) are good examples of how well maintained nuclear power plants can fail. How much more one that is not maintained?

Do you agree with this line of reasoning? Is nuclear energy possible in Nigeria? Do you believe things can change and get better as per our maintenance culture? Does politricks really ruin development?

I would love to hear your opinions on this issue, do drop your comments and remember..give a hoot do not pollute. Have a wonderful week ahead and a big congratulations to the German machines.

The dilution of life.

After ICT training class, myself and Segun decided to walk down to his office instead of taking a bus ..a small exercise as some would say. The walk was good but there was one problem ..he wanted to strip down. "Lara I feel like striping down", Segun said. "You want to do what"? I quickly replied "Please do not strip at all o. You want everyone to see how God made you, please do not even unbuckle your belt" I said. "But the weather is so hot that you can fry an egg under this sun, it was not like this year's back" he said. Well, it's true that it was not like this year's back but everything is evolving around us, so it would not be too bad if the weather evolved as well. Would it?

Many people are quick to say the earth would repair itself, but not this time because we have gone beyond the point of the earth repairing itself. We need to join the earth to repair itself. Climate change is a core effects of environmental pollution. Climate change is a result of our day-to-day actions with regards to utilization of resources.  

However it is well known that tree planting can handle air pollution. The belief is that trees take in those toxic compounds and releases clean air, but that is not all that happens. Trees use energy from the sun to convert CO2 (from the atmosphere using its leaves) and water from the soil for the process of photosynthesis. The energy formed is stored in the form of carbohydrate ( sugar). When the leaves absorbs toxic gases alongside, it results in necrosis (death) on the leaves and stomata. Obviously when the leaves die, photosynthesis has been altered.  So why plant trees if the atmosphere is filled with toxic gases that would stop their growth? 
However, we keep planting trees yet we endorse open burning of waste at dump sites. Many dump sites situated along roadside are also burnt openly with large and small scale industries situated in residential areas releasing  toxic compounds daily. With power outage always, everyone is forced to use a generator. Studies have linked this level of air pollution in the environment to mortality rate and life expectancy as this toxic fumes are inhaled. 

Earlier this year, about 13 pupils in a school in Ogba (*name withheld*) collapsed in their classroom and were rushed to the hospital because they inhaled a toxic gas that was released from one of the small scale industries ( photo lab) around the school. Report has it that this was the second time in 6 months. Was the first one not enough to close down the photo laboratory or ask them to relocate? Where the enforcement authorities seen behind camera after the incident? How long will the trees keep taking in all the toxic gases that are released? How long will the government remain complacent with emission policies for industries and small scale business? How long would open dump site be our own method of disposal of waste? When would we stop killing ourselves "small small" every time we put on our generators?

Honestly I do not know but I beg to differ that tree planting in Nigeria is not worth it. Yes, its not worth it at all unless we change how we tackle climate change. Why? It is because we are using the curative method of solving climate change and not the preventive method. The preventive method would be to:

·         enforce the emission rules and regulations(which includes emission limits) for large and small scale industries especially those located within residential areas guiding the emission.

·         Open burning of waste by the road side or in dump site should be prohibited.

·         Waste disposal methods should also be review by the authorities

·         Power generation needs to be stable or else air pollution continua.

  

I found this quote that explains it all " The value of life will suffer a dilution If we do not fight air pollution". Have a lovely week and remember..give a hoot don not pollute.

 Photo credit: Google images

Disposal of money into dustbins..

"I am hungry". I said this as I walked home with my siblings from 4pm lesson in our primary school. I just needed food. It was on this same day that my mum taught me and my siblings a practical lesson on food waste. We got home and had our meal for the day which was something that looked like eba but did not taste like eba..but we ate it all. Few hours after the food has digested, my mum decided to tell us this :

"I am sure you enjoyed your food from the way you ate. However I would like to inform you that the meal you just finished is a combination of amala, eba and semo".

That was exactly how she said it and she smiled hard. She went on to explain that all the amalas, ebas and semos she makes for us that we do not finish, she kept them  in the deep freezer to preserve it. Inquisitive children like us asked her how she made it? Did she just warm them and mix them together? She gladly replied:

" I just broke them (frozen amala,semo and eba) into boiling water and added more garri to it so that you would not taste you the combination".

 And that was how we made sure we finished our food always...well not always.

Everyday people throw money into the garbage bins. Food waste is the highest amount of waste generated developing countries irrespective of the obvious presence of plastics. According to UNEP ( United Nations Environment Programme) each year one third of all food produced ends up in the bins of consumers, retailers, farmers and transporters. This results in a total of 1.3 billion tones of spoilt food with a worth estimated at $1 trillion every year. The presence of rotten food in the bins generates methane gas which is one of the green house gas that is responsible for climate change. We can agree that something needs to be done about the amount of money thrown in the bin yearly and its effect on the environment.  As a consumer you have a role to play in reducing food waste in your own small way and you can do it by following this few tips:

•         After eating, leftovers should be packed a placed in the fridge. Sometimes laziness may set in especially at night, do make an effort to clear up the kitchen.  Leftovers can be reheated on nights you choose not to cook (next day- jollof rice taste really good when reheated)
•      Cook what you and your family can finish. Even if you have to add extra for those who want more, do not over shoot it.

•          Excess purchases should stop. Supermarkets encourage excess purchases with their buy-one-get-two-free promos which makes people buy more than what they need. If you have to partake in such promos make sure you do a food stock inventory so you do not have excess at home.

•           Store you food  stuff properly. Perishable food items like fruits and vegetables should be consumed within few days even if they are stored in refrigerators to increase their shelf life. Storage areas should be well aerated

•           Do not burn your food. Burnt food is a waste.

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth  Executive Director Godwin Ojo rightly said that “In a world of seven billion people, set to grow to nine billion by 2050, wasting food makes no sense – economically, environmentally and ethically". I could not agree more. Remember give a hoot..and do not pollute.

PS: Thank you to all who visited this blog and  those who dropped their comments. Please do drop your comments and questions ( if you have any).

We create dirty mountains...

Woow it's has been a month since any write up was posted and we apologise for that. The desire to grow and expand expertise surprisingly takes more time and strength than one ever imagines. For this we apologise again.

"Why did he do that?" I asked myself this question as I sat close to a man who felt it was proper to dispose his gala wrapper through the bus window, he must have told himself the wind would do the rest. The feeling I had on the bus is the same feeling  I  get when I see people  dispose their body waste in any corner that seems comfortable for urination and excretion.  Meeting and seeing people who do this daily make me get upset and very sad. Why ? It is simply because they are the same people who would walk by a heap of waste and complain that it is an eyesore as well as raise their voices declaring that their pathways stinks and cannot be walked upon without painting their shoe sole with faeces. Unconsciously these people who have the PDH syndrome (poor disposal habit) believe they really do not have any influence on the generation of dirt, heaps of faeces  and the stink that brews daily. Well they do!

We would  agree that these eyesores  are  not pleasing to the environment and likewise our health but if we do not change the  way we dispose our waste( paper, plastic and the human waste), these eyesores that has gradually become a culture for some people would become a welcomed stay as long as you look the other way.  Although it  is said that old habits die hard, but the truth is they still die gradually coupled with intention. New habits that could be taken up are:

·    When you buy anything  from hawkers in traffic jams aka hold up , after consumption, hold it in your hand or put in it in your bag and dispose in a bin when you get off the bus. DO NOT DISPOSE IN THE BUS OR THROUGH THE WINDOW.

·     If your urine and excretion signals are raging, increase your pace to your destination or ask for a public toilet around. Most filling stations have toilet for the public.

·    When disposing your house hold waste, pour it directly into the large bins provided at central locations. if these bins are full, dispose waste into a plastic/nylon bag, tie it tightly to prevent the spread of germs and place it close to the large bins.

·    Correct anyone who is about to display PDH syndrome or has already displayed it. DO NOT CORRECT OR EDUCATE THEM AGGRESSIVELY.

The gradual and consistent application of these four tips would go a long way to improve our disposal habits and reduce eyesores.  And always remember that you influence your environment every day, therefore make sure you ....give a hoot and dont pollute.

I found this write up funny and very interesting, people do not appreciate human body waste in heaps.... If i see one more penis

Everywhere is your corner.

It's our first post...*pops champange * and its comes with a very exciting feeling, hopefully you would feel the same way as time goes on. Well this blog is called green adugbo which literally means "green area/environment" therefore we would be discussing and exchanging ideas, methods as well simple ways to keep environment clean and safe. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading and learning new things from green adugbo.

Let's talk about our adugbo, your environment or rather the environment. Your environment goes beyond your house, your backyard or that veranda /balcony you relax in. Your environment is every place you find yourself at every point in time. Your office space, where you sit in the bus, where you set up your tent on the beach even that corner that you like in iya basira shop. Some folks say the environment is a space in time (I am guessing they have watched too many sci-fi movies) where living and non-living things interact. Now the interesting part is that this interaction causes some influence. Now how do you influence the environment and how does the environment influence you?

   

It is common knowledge that we all like a clean environment as in fresh air, clean water, clean roads aka no dirt on the highway. When we find ourselves in different environments we all want to see it clean, neat ,tidy....all the adjective that qualifies a clean place but most of us leave the place dirty. Yes we do, but why? Why do we choose to deface or rather dirty our corner/space whenever we are out of it? Little things such as dropping that pure water sachet on the floor and not in a bin, disposing refuse on the road or in the middle of the road, urinating in public and not public toilets and everywhere just stinks.

By carrying out a single act of everything listed above, you can influence your environment which includes the land, air and waters around you. As a matter of fact you can influence the environments that are not even remotely close to you. How? Well you will have to stick around to know how.

Do tell someone and another and another about this blog and you can tell us about different ways you think your adugbo has been defaced or made to look yamayama. See I am trying to influence you already.

Bye people ...and remember give a hoot, don't pollute