By Clive Mutame Siachiyako
Climate change sounds a hoax to many people. It sounds a far off problem of humanity. Some people think it is something for another world. It is like some mystery. Some individuals thus feel they have little to do to mitigate or improve its effects on their well-being and the economy. Expert communication on climate change worsens the feeling because experts tend to come out so sophisticated and technical that people get lost in the ballad of technicality of what’s being spoken about concerning climate change and its related aspects.
Communication (written and orally) is pertinent in life. Biblical recordings indicate that out of communication, the world was made. If you cannot communicate aptly your knowledge is useless to others. It is of no use to them after all they do not understand what you are saying. When we talk about rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, drought spells, drying water bodies, melting polar ice, etc., what are we communicating to people in terms of what they can do to improve those climatic factors? Can they do anything anyway or they just have to wait for the doomsday when the earth will revolt and shallow everything? Since, the change in the climate did not happen on its own. It has been affected by human activities at varied levels in many sectors of the economy. Therefore, humanity can do something to better things. Today, I will talk about non-policy activities people can do to improve the fast changing climate. I am talking about what a farmer can do, what a rural person can do, what households can do, etc.
Climate change is visible in many areas of life. Shortened rainfall cycle, frequent droughts, melting ice polar, increasing heat, climate induced diseases, etc., are signs of climate change. Wherever we are, whatever we do for a living; we can do a lot to mitigate climate change effects. Firstly, burning bushes or any other smoke generators contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases that corrode the ozone layer in the process creating a thicket blanket on the ozone. The thicket reduces the amount of sun rays that reach the earth which support various living organisms. Why can we keep the grass throughout the year and save nature? Burning bushes emit huge smoke and make whirlwinds lift dust when the land has no grass to hold on the soil. Most people especially in rural areas burn bushes for wild animals like rabbits, rats and mice. Small animals cost the environment hugely from air pollution to atmospheric damage of the ozone layer. They have long term impacts across vast areas. This is truer in the sense that climate change effects are trans-boundary. They are not limited to locality. A polluted river in the mining town can kill water habitats miles off the mining area.
Cutting of trees also contributes to the destabilization of the environment. Trees contribute oxygen to the environment. But cleared trees over large areas leave bare and land with no source of oxygen. Coupled with the thicket caused by smoke and dust, the effects become more lethal to the environment. Some people cut trees just for funny. Others do it for charcoal burning. Others do it for farming purposes such as chitemene (cut and burn) farming system. Some of the reasons sound genuine and a way of living. But doing so should not be done at the expense of nature and long term life of generations to come. We have to prepare a habitable world for them.
What then should farmers do? Should not they stop cutting trees for farming purposes? How are they going to sustain their livelihood then? Should they care for the future they will not be part of? Some answers lay in conservation agriculture. A number of conservation farming systems have been designed to minimise climatic change effects. Farmers can grow crops without cutting trees. They can maintain soil fertility without getting it from burnt trees or ashes. They can grow crops without tilling the land. They can make composite mature out of chaff and other residues to improve soil fertility. Composite mature has immense value towards the retention of soil fertility. Adopting such farming systems can save a couple of trees. Nature in the process can regain its ability to support life.
The waste [garbage] generated in homes and industry also contributes to environmental degradation in different ways. Some uncollected garbage for example end-up being burnt, buried or carelessly thrown into waterways blocking the flow of water during the rainy season thus causing floods. The burning of garbage sends volumes of smoke into the atmosphere, adding onto the destruction of the ozone layer. Ozone layer disturbance distorts rainfall formation and rainfall patterns. It also contributes to increasing temperatures as atmospheric environment loses its ability to support the earth’s ability to regulate itself: hotness or coldness. Heat thus goes to the extremes. Coldness equally worsens.
What about car drivers, what can they do? Gases emitted from vehicles contribute a great deal of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Carbon taxes can do little to reverse the impacts. Can the economy then do without driving? How will commerce and trade take place without mobility? Saving nature from climate change effects doesn’t mean throwing away economic aspects. It means trying to balance it with nature protection. The introduction of biogas, hybrid cars and removal of wrecked vehicles from the road is among some strategies being put in place to reduce gas emissions from vehicles. The effects of these gases are not immediately, thus humans tend to feel it’s a hoax telling them to take care of nature in any way possible. But changing rainfall patterns, warming up of the earth than before, reduction in rainfall spans, disease burdens, etc., are very visible signs that something is not well in the environment. People cannot bury their heads in the sand and pretend all is well. There is a lot each one can do to protect nature both at large and small scale.
What then should climate change communication do? Communication is meant to share information and build a quantum of knowledge useful for humanity’s well-being. Climate change messages should be made simple, practical, precise, understandable and make people see where they can apply themselves to save nature. Communicating in a manner that creates hopelessness worsens things. It makes people feel valueless to the situation. They feel they cannot do anything; they can only wait for nature to revolt and swallow humanity. The communication has to inspire people and give them a sense of ownership is changing things.
Experts have to break the jargon into simple and everyday activities people do. When we talk about ozone layer destruction, what can different actors do to protect it? Knowledge is power. But confused knowledge with technicality is of little value. It is like knowledge in a closed book; a book no one reads to benefit from it. Climate change experts have to rise about the trap of jargon and talking to themselves as well as creating fear among people.
Communication around climate change has to break the complexity and technical laden information. It has to show people relationships of what they do and its effects on the environment. Those connections should be used as entry points into pro-environmental behaviours. The communication should become a mirror to different actors to reflect their social, economic and other activities vis-a-vis climate change effects. Just disseminating information for the sake of doing is of little importance. It creates an impression that no one knows anything about climate change or what to do to address it in any way possible. “We can only communicate what we know.” When we fail to do it well, we are not giving hope to anyone. We have to create communicate with a difference. We have to make people appreciate our knowledge in terms of their daily lives.
In the next article, I will talk about policy issues that can be considered to save nature.
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