|
There’s such a thing called family business. The Fords build cars and they cannot live without steel. The Gates are computer programmers whose business is driven by silicon. The Bush family are into oil and they won’t spare any force to keep the pumps flowing. Your family has a lifeline – and mine too? We are farmers. And guess what - a dependable climate is what every farmer, like my mother wants. And as world leaders flock Copenhagen come December, my prayer is, they meet snow and not summer, because of changing climate patterns. That’s the real deal.
However, I know the impact of climate change is not felt in the same degree a farmer like my mother as the dairy farmer in Denmark. These farmers are lucky, their governments can subsidise their farm input. Israelites for example, can grow delicious fruits in the desert climate. The same applies to the government funded Delaware farmer in the USA.
But my people are subsistence farmers, growing crops on less than two acres piece of land, on top of rearing a couple of goats, pigs, chicken, and if one is lucky, a cow for milk. And when the climate lets them down, they cannot feed themselves, let alone, feeding their animals. That’s why a Copenhagen deal is important.
Growing up in the hills of Masaka, 130km south of the capital of Uganda, Kampala, I knew one rule that has changed ever since. There is a time for planting and a time for harvesting. But guess what? The time for sowing has become a chance. And so is the time for harvesting. The seasons that once made planting predictable and harvests depended upon how hardworking one was, are no more.
Today, when it rains…it’s up to the farmer to gamble. If the rains continue and in the right amounts, the farmer is rewarded…And if one sits and waits for the seasons as they were once upon a time, they become victims of famine the world watches on televisions.
Whose problem?
It’s everyone’s problem. But we are not equally guilty. As world leaders take their seats at the Climate Change Conference, they will be carrying ‘sins’ from their countries. America, China, Russia, Germany, England, among others, as they seat at their usual front pews, they should be repentant that their industries, which have rightly so, helped improve their standards of living, have also caused immerse pain for the world that largely depends on nature.
For millions of people that depend on nature for livelihoods like my family, we cannot wait for a deal to be signed. Infact, 85 per cent of people in my country depend on farming. And they are all shouting…”Sign, sign, and sign. The tourism driven economies and the fishing communities too, are affected by the carbon monoxide that is pumped into the ozone layer every second. All these people say, why don’t we have a sustainable planet?
Also, the back benchers, like my president, Yoweri Museveni, or your presidents in Liberia, Brazil, Thailand, name it…should know the responsibility on their shoulders is great because they have not stopped multinationals from cutting down our forests for timber, mining or dumping chemical wastes. Greed has led them to sacrifice their countrymen and generations to come for a few dollars. They have also not been stern to stop the irresponsible use of natural resources like lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, etc. Imagine if every head of state prioritized their environment as a matter of national security matter. Because hunger and disease burden are products of the untamed climate, we in Africa, say, sign the deal.
But the blame is not up there. In fact, even when Obama, Mekel, Gordon, Sarkozy and co, append their signatures, the responsibility will come down to the millions of us who misuse the environment in small ways but with great impact. Each one of us has a part to play. We have to follow certain discipline. Why? Because, perfumes, refrigerators, firewood, home furniture, among others, are all part of the nature destruction taking place around the world but we are not going to switch off the engines of industries, or stop flying or fishing or eating or living a decent life.
As a little boy, growing up, I was taken to a catechism class, where I learnt the basics of my Christian faith. There I was taught three words; virtue, vice and prudence. Now I don’t want to explain the meaning of these two words, but to deliver my message about the climate change challenge, I will say, it is a virtue to choose protecting our planet over destroying it (which I call a vice in this case). And this does not mean to outright put a stop to life as it is. No. But some people in the civil society organizations use a word ‘sustainability’ which for me is too big. But I prefer to use ‘prudence’. People, let’s be prudence in our exploitation of our environment. It starts with each one of us. To cook what is important. To avoid driving a distance one can walk. To employ nature friendly power sources like solar and wind. To control our appetite for meat and fish. To mine responsibly. To create a new model of commerce – from the one that depends on the industrial power base.
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Mike
Mike Ssegawa
ssegy2001@yahoo.com
A Journalist with Daily Monitor, Uganda. I have a passion for development, especially for the youth.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
