Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire

Smoke is a clear sign of something brewing up. The decision taken afterward determines the outcomes. If ignored, the fire may destroy everything. But if we bother to check out, we may save the day.

It has been more than a month now since we heard the rumors of Kenya being used as a hub (read that as a dumpster), for recycling and waste exportation. This is to be included in the Trade deal with the USA. Sadly, none of the concerned authorities have bothered to come out and tell Kenyans what is happening. The youths have asked so many questions, but they are yet to get answers.

Just wondering

If the rumor  (smoke ) was on something else, would we have gotten this same silence?

COVID millionaires exposé made people questioned, and we even witnessed a reduction in the numbers of the affected people within the shortest time possible.

What we tend to forget is that whatever affects our environment, affects us too. It’s time we offered our planet’s health the seriousness it deserves.

We have homes flooded everywhere on our planet. People are losing lives and denied the very basic human needs. Things like education have become a luxury, not forgetting the access to clean water.

But this is not well presented, as the people who have been trusted to voice their concerns live comfortably in the cities. And dropped with choppers to stage charity events. Not necessarily to help the affected but for politic’s sake. Until when will we allow us?

If a developed country can’t handle their waste, why would they pass it to developing ones?

Recycling is no longer a plan to be depended on when it comes to handling waste. It’s expensive and in some products fail to make any business sense.

The plastic business has made it clear that they don’t care about our environment.

Laws have been regulated, and guidelines around handling plastic products are outlined. But this only exists on papers. They may be busy supporting the cleanup events or tree planting ones, but what we most need from them. Is to stop suffocating our planet with plastics.

The creatives have done awesome jobs around turning waste into treasure. And we recommend them for that. But, we have to understand that the upcycled/downcycled /recycled products will eventually end up somewhere. It’s a postponed problem, but it will eventually happen. Now that’s where we should be thinking from.

We should use this opportunity to find a permanent replacement for the plastics. Our decisions should consider our environment and the sustainable use of the available natural resources.

It’s time we recognized that life empowerment surpasses all greed. Life before profits, not vice versa.

Conclusion

To those who think that the climate change or plastic menace fight is for some people, it’s time you opened your souls to reality. Look around and evaluate if you are happy with what you see. From the smelly landfills, treeless cities, not supportive local media, division amongst, among others.

By destroying one another, we end up destroying ourselves. We don’t have planet B and we are not secondary citizens. We deserve a clean healthy nation.

We are humans, who need to be treated like any other humans around the world. We deserve good healthy deals that build all of us, and not one side.

Let’s take this smoke seriously and do what is right for the common mwananchi.

We may be poor but we don’t need to be treated poorly

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