Saturday the 22nd of
April was earth day. Reviewing a number of online resource materials about earth
day traces its origin back to 1970 in the United States (according to
www.earthday.org website). The main start-up idea revolved around a decision to put
environmental issues at the forefront. You can read more about how this day has
metamorphosed over the years into what it is today by visiting the history link
to the above website.
An
event to mark earth day was organized by African Youth Initiative on Climate
Change- Kenyan chapter (AYICC) in partnership with Ridestrong cycling
foundation(a community based organization started to promote cycling and
development among local youths) based in Thogoto, Kikuyu town which is a few
kilometers from Nairobi’s CBD. As I came to learn during the event, Thogoto is
the home to Kenya’s number one cyclist, David Kinja! Not only that, the town
boasts of memorable historical figures and occurrences. It is where the first
church was set up by missionaries here in Kenya. The first president of Kenya,
the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta attended his elementary education at Church of
Scotland Mission in Thogoto. It has the 2nd largest swamp in East
Africa. There are more facts about Thogoto the small town and the much history
it holds, I can only mention but a few.
AYICC is a network of various youth
groups embodied. It creates a platform where environmentally passionate youths
can voice out an agenda to address environmental challenges facing our globe.With
just one and half months to RIO+20 summit, there have been a lot of efforts by
youths and governments and major stakeholders in Africa to come up with a
strong agenda that will be voiced by Africa in Rio. Africa for a long time has
always been left out of the main negotiation table when it comes to addressing
sustainable development and adopting of clean development mechanisms. Having
more youths take up serious retrogressive confrontation points is a key pathway
to creating the environment we want. Youths may not have the capital base
needed to engineer sustainable models, but they definitely have the ideas that
if implemented can contribute unanimously in saving Mother Nature. Across continents, it is evident that youths
have decided to take upon themselves the responsibility of addressing climate
change and creating SD. Among the activities that youths are involved are
advocacy and awareness sessions. And April 22nd Saturday was a small but yet a
powerful way of really making an input in the environmental challenges puzzle.
The
cycling race brought together over 150 cyclists; professional and
non-professionals, children and youths, geographical factor notwithstanding. The
theme of the day was “RAUKA! Youths for a sustainable future”. Among the activities done was tree planting
at a local school (300 seedlings were donated by the Greenbelt movement). To
also grace the event was the local councilor to Thogoto ward. The day was
kicked off by tree planting and thereafter the flagging off of the cycling
race. Competitors were expected to pedal 7-rounds of the marked track. Youth
volunteers marshaled the track. The weather for the day was conducive. It being
a rainy season, the temperatures ranged from cool to mild warm, and no shower
drops beckoned during the 7-lapse race. A few words to sum up the entire event:
“relaxing, entertaining and informative”.
But somebody would ask, “How
does cycling connect to earth day?” The answer is simple. According to a UNEP
report on green Economy, to achieve a green economy, nations and thus economies
will have to invest massively in various sectors including health, transport
systems, waste management and energy production (a copy of the compiled
document is available on the UNEP website. It outlines various ways that
economies can “really go green”). Our earth day was focusing on transport
systems, it was all about promoting a society where people dwell more on
cycling than driving. I have read about Netherlands and its citizens cycling to
workplace. I know my country is striving to acquire electric commuter trains
commonly known as metro-services. This will obviously reduce emissions caused
by automobiles to the atmosphere. But before we get there, why can’t we start
making tiny steps of contributing towards clean energy use while enhancing our
transport sector. One cyclist by the name Sammy said he is tired of hearing
about green initiatives that don’t achieve more than they beaker. He prefers
cycling and wouldn’t mind doing it often to run errands in town. But just how
ready is our country ready to support cycling? He gave me a good example of why
he thought it would take forever to have such ideas on the roads…..”Look at the
newly constructed roads by the Chinese companies, there are no lanes for
cyclists! That means no one thought about the idea of cycling of the roads
during the planning process.” I was left agape. So simple yet so real, in as
much as we want to have all these green initiatives implemented, we need to
think about them in our development and urban planning.
Promoting
cycling and perhaps making better models of bicycles at consumer friendly
prices would be helpful. That way, we may only need vehicles and such like when
they’re very necessary. But weekends especially, when families drive out for
outdoor activities could be spared for cycling. Cycling fosters good health; it
is therefore an efficient green mode of transport which promotes health living
as well. After the cycling race, I think I’m heading on a mission to learn how
to cycle and thereafter acquire my ride…..but we need an enabling environment
created by the government. Next time we think about constructing a new road, let’s
have a lane(s) for cyclists. And let’s promote cycling
"Cycling is not poverty…..it
means you understand your environment and the efforts you need to put to
conserve and rejuvenate it."
