Walking the Environment Talk

Let us face the hard reality!

As the environmental conservation debate continues, we need to bring ourselves to the reality. We must stop talking the walk and urgently walk the talk on environmental issues. We must stop killing time because time will soon kill us. Yes, we must stop cutting down the arteries and veins that have kept us alive to this end. This is the moment to sit back and think of our actions towards our rivers, lakes, dams, forests, and wild animals.

Our own 2004 Nobel Prize Winner, Prof. Wangari Maathai, has stated consistently that nature is unforgiving. This cannot be further from the truth in light of what is happening in Kenya. Environmental destruction has caught up with us. We have grabbed wetlands and condemned our people to drought and famine. We have ruthlessly encroached Mau forest and destroyed it with sickening abandon. We have relentlessly cut down our indigenous trees as if we have another environment in waiting. Yet, we are doing little to restore the glory of our environment.

The impact of the wanton environmental destruction is now crystal clear. Our hydroelectric power stations are closing down. Water is now a real luxury in both urban and rural areas as water levels in dams and lakes subside and rivers dry up. The harsh reality of prolonged drought and famine is a familiar phenomenon in the country. People are eating baboons, donkeys, and dogs as noted in Pokot and Naivasha areas. This is what it has come down to. We either act or perish.

In agreement with the great Martin Luther King Jr., time is always right to do the right thing. We must stop cutting down trees with immediate effect and begin planting the right trees at a lightning pace. If 15 million Kenyans planted 10 trees each by the end of 2009, we will plant 150 million trees. The government should craft an ‘Annual Billion Tree Planting Program’ identical to what UNEP is doing. This calls for a new sense of urgency and responsibility from all and sundry.

Further, every Kenyan should support to the corporate bodies that have stood in solidarity to declare an end to the destruction of Mau forest. We all need to contribute whatever little we can towards the Mau reforestation campaign. The government should move fast and evict the illegal occupants of Mau forest for the sake of our lives. There should never be a debate in this matter. It is a do or die affair. This is our defining moment.

Compiled by,

Christopher Mutisya,
Chairperson,
Mombuni Youth for Change.
mombuniyouth@gmail.com