World Environment Day: The time to take action is now; A call to save a sickening planet

As far back in 1972, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated the 5th June as World Environment Day (WED). For this year’s celebration; it is based on the theme “Ecosystem Restoration”.

The year 2021 marks the start of celebrating the UN decade of Ecosystem Restoration, a global movement through 10 years, from now till 2030, to revive our planet.

As the world observes the World Environment Day today, the time has come for us to rise as individuals and stand our grounds to take a turn to restore our ecosystem through our little efforts in the various communities and environments we occupy. We all need to play our parts progressively to achieve a successful decade of giving life back to our planet.

The Republic of Ghana as a nation has given a voice not only to the leaders of the state but to everyone to get involved.

One major challenge in which we find ourselves as a country, especially in the cities is pollution. The increasing population in the big cities particularly Accra and its neighbouring cities has put so much pressure on the environment. Several malpractices of many has led to a great deal of pollution in the country.

The growing struggle to make ends meet for many people with no sustainable jobs in the city tend to make them undergo certain unsustainable ventures, such as unskilled solid waste management and metal recycling.

These unskilled individuals collect wastes from various household in tricycle carriers which are not necessarily made for waste transportation and do not take proper care but unfortunately tend to dump solid waste particles along various streets they convey.

Others go to the extent of disposing the waste at unapproved areas in the cities. The recent event of excessive burning of used car tyres to derive the metallic component has heavily destroyed vast lands vegetation, and soil lives and has also caused air pollution.

By and by, onlookers see these unskilled fellows take these unethical steps to disturb the ecosystem (land and air life) yet, they move on and do not know which proper step to take to curb or stop people involved in these malpractices.

There is the need to have organized systems at community levels that regulate the activities of the various waste operators. Their membership or belongingness to a major environmental unit will be an opportunity for them to receive the needed skills and know how to properly manage solid waste.

To resolve the issue of continual burning of tyres in the cities, there should be also an avenue open to the various communities to be able to reach to the right authorities through their local subs. We need the media in our journey to a restored ecosystem to play a major role in creating awareness on the need to preserve our environment. This is the way to create awareness and will help individuals to report the many atrocities that our communities face that in the long run affects the ecosystem.

It is now our duty as individuals to take charge and responsibility to protect and preserve our environment as much as we can, from our homes to our workplaces and in the markets. In our own ways, we can practice safer lifestyles.

This includes the limit of the excursive use of polythene bags and choose reusable shopping bags for our shopping. We want to limit open waste disposal in the city streets and be responsible for the actions that may lead to the deterioration of the Ecosystem. Let us as well get involved in greening our spaces with indigenous plants.

Continually let us opt for a better way of life with the mind to always save our environment and also clean our cities.

It is everyone’s call to leave the environment better than we met it and safer. Let us rise together, let us put a stop to all kinds of pollution in our cities. We are starting today and we are reviving the ecosystem through our very efforts and commitment to the little things in our spaces that will bring about a bigger positive impact to our environment at large.

#GenerationRestoration