Little Things That Matter

Nairobi may be clean in the CBD and in a few porsche estates but generally it is not anywhere close to being a sustainable city. Litter and waste materials are thrown almost everywhere in public spaces and streets. Efforts are being made on a daily basis to correct this, but the rate at which these efforts are made is way less than the rate at which waste is produced and discarded, making it only practical if we, Nairobians, begin to show concern for the waste we produce. More often than not, I tend to assume that we simply do not care, but maybe, it could be that most of us do not know how to keep our environment clean, and we need to be reminded constantly of what to do.

1. If you are a highly motivated person, you could volunteer your energy and ideas. Your dedication will be inspiring :) !!!

Sometimes back I read an article about The Ugly Indian (TUI), a movement of anonymous but self-motivated individuals who have taken it upon themselves to clean the streets of India without pointing blame fingers. These guys literary transform any ugly and dirty looking public space into something magical. They do not act self-righteous in any way, engage in moralizing conversations, or lay blames on the government for failing their part. They only identify a spot that needs to be fixed, come up with low cost but highly replicable ideas of fixing it, and then fix it.

Maybe we need the same kind of energy in Nairobi because I believe it goes a long way to inspire many people to do the same. We need people who do not hide behind social media making noise, but will be out there on the streets being the change they want to see. This is where you can come in if you are a highly motivated individual. There are numerous organizations where you can pour out that energy. Mazingira Safi Initiative (MSI) is just but an example. These organizations exist so you can meet like-minded individuals and put your energy and ideas to a more effective and impactful use.

Before we can begin to think of these highly motivated individuals who would freely volunteer to clear an illegal dumpsite, like the one in Guthurai Roundabout, without minding the mock of passers-by, there are many of us whose only source of motivation is money. We need to be paid first to show up in a community cleaning exercise or to mobilize people to fix a problem. Don't worry!! There's also a part you can contribute.

2. Be an ambassador where you are.

Unless you tell them constantly, children and also grown ups may not know

Many people are unaware of the unwritten rules. They do not see the problem the way you do. Therefore, be an ambassador. Take this as a commission to provide guidance to those who do not see the magnitude of this problem the way you do. I like what one individual volunteer of MSI once said,

“We need to be bold when you see someone litter. Gather confidence and tell them to pick it up".

This is practically what I mean, but of course you need to be nice and polite, not to stir up any emotions. 

Being an ambassador could also mean making noise on social media and sharing with your networks environmentally resourceful content that they can benefit and learn from. It could further mean educating your kids and small siblings, teaching them to be responsible at home, in school, and in any other public spaces.

3. DO NOT LITTER

Remember this article I wrote sometime back, Think before you toss? Well, I tend to be inclined to the perception that we bring upon ourselves, not entirely, the many problems that we face. Every socioeconomic challenge linked to poor waste and litter management can be blamed on us when we liter. So, try as much as possible to throw away waste in a dustbin. You can hold on to dry solid waste (because it’s dry) until you are able to get rid of it in the right manner. You can also have a paper bag, not necessarily plastic, to keep wet waste such as fruit peels, until you are able to dispose it off in a dustbin. Remember dumping is dumb. Not only is dumping aesthetically unpleasing, it often attracts more dumping as the pile of rubbish grows and then becomes a hazard.

4. Support recycling efforts

There is cash in trash. Ever heard of that saying? Apparently, it is true. There are companies reaping millions from recycling waste. I am not saying you get in the business of waste recycling, but maybe you could be wondering, what is my in role in this? How do I support recycling? Well, you could start thinking along the lines of waste segregation. Those clearly labeled litter bins in town for separating waste, don’t mix up waste in them. Put the right one in the right bin. A lot of the waste we produce, approximately up to 80%, can be transformed into something else for us to use rather than being left a menace to the environment.

5. Lastly, don’t quit, don’t settle!!! 

Humans have a way of starting well but not finishing well. Very few finish well, many give up on the way. I have been to a number of cleanups, and it is demoralizing when after you sweep an entire street, a local resident fails to appreciate your effort and decides to litter right where you have swept. It will therefore take resilience and that is what will take you back to that same street the next time to clean it up, maybe set up dustbins, and teach people what to do and what not to do. 

While Nairobians try to do all these on one hand, the government and other well abled institutions, on the other hand, are hopefully playing their part in putting systems in place that will see a lasting solution, because all these efforts have to be synergistic.

THINK BEFORE YOU TOSS: MAZINGIRA SAFI NI JIRANI MWEMA

 The world is a very small place. It is supposed to bring us close, closer to people and closer to things. It is so small that we ought to be wary of what we say, what we do, and how we interact with even the least thought of things; lest one day we meet when we least expected it, at a place we never thought of, and in a form we could hardly imagine. An encounter that might not be pretty.

Recently, I was sited in class, and in one of those moments where dons just like to digress off topic, my professor asked an obvious question, considering his audience was purely postgraduate students. A question that least makes you to doubt yourself, because you watch TV, read the papers and books, and you attend forums that help you to connect many dots in life; but a question that crosses the mind of very few and even among the few, the question is rarely answered with actions but only left to linger in the cognitive domain.

He asked, “When you buy a candy and decide to toss away the wrapper carelessly, where do you think it goes? Do you ever imagine that the two of you might meet one day but this second encounter might not act in your favor?”

He was obviously hinting at something that is not new, and even as he tried to explain it further, he still left it open and made us to rationalize it on our own, typical professorship. But I tried to be objective and to put myself in the shoes of that candy wrapper or litter for that matter. I decided to write an epitome that embodies the larger reality about litter. I simply decided to bring litter into life, give it a human face, and present it as below.

A lot has been said about me, but the cycle never seems to end.
Stories after stories, nothing ever seems to change.
You leave me in places where I am not supposed to be left.
You drop me on the streets where council workers have just swept.
You toss me out of your car windows, by the road side to stench.
Even after seeing ‘no litter’ sign posts, your ignorance still remains at its best.
I may be disgusting and useless, what do you expect? I am waste.
What good can come out of me? I make a mess.
But just make sure you put in the right place.

I understand candies appeal to your tastes
When you are tired and hungry and all you want is to rejuvenate.
I understand Nairobi does not have enough bins
And you are always too anxious to get rid 
The burden of carry me around
I understand that picnics are fun, when you hold them in public Parks 
You get to share memories that last, for a while, 
But you forget to care for the trash, you leave behind.
I understand most Nairobi streets are dirty
But it’s only fair if you simply do the right thing

You slap Mother Nature right on her face 
when you litter or leave me on the ground.
It’s only a matter of time before she gets
 really mad and unleashes the wrath of an irate woman.
A scene my eyes will honestly hate

But even now, I loathe seeing you and your brood fall ill 
I loathe contaminating aquifers and river streams
I loathe making the air heavy for you to breath
I just loathe when I see you walk on dirty streets
Or see you sleep next to a pile of me

So, if you refuse to understand me
I will be your worst nightmare. Trust me.
If you ignore those litter bins,
Or if you think you are too far from a bin, 
and decide to compromise,
I will be your worst nightmare. Trust me.
Worst all, if you decide to cut down trees
thinking that I have nothing to do with it,
I will join forces to be your ugliest nightmare. Trust me
And that’s where we shall one day meet

But I want to save you a lot of trouble
Put me in the right place and your brood, please disciple
I also think you need to learn how to recycle
It’s a ‘no brainer’, and you are not splitting an atom
You are simply separating waste, something easy to fathom

So much for being in the shoes of a candy wrapper, but if litter was to think like this and everyone understands it, there would be a lot of justice on the streets of Nairobi. Nairobians would operate on a different tier. A tier of kusema na kutenda, for Mazingira Safi ni Jirani Mwema.

BUILDING THE "MSAFITE" MOVEMENT

The notion of volunteerism is often seen as a tool for peace and development. This is mainly due to its benefit to the individual volunteers and the contribution it makes to the peaceful coexistence of people within communities and the development of societies. Volunteering opportunities, especially at community level, tend to bring people together to work in solidarity towards addressing issues and challenges affecting communities. They are a way of giving back responsibly and adding value to community projects. But volunteering is also a major driving force for environmental sustainability and protection of natural resources. 

Since August 2013, Mazingira Safi Initiative has made significant strides towards building a community based waste management system in Nairobi and inspiring communities to take up the responsibility of cleaning their environment. The initiative is just one powerful example that exists in different parts of Kenya and the world at large of people uniting and mobilizing action through volunteerism to address the challenges of litter, improper waste disposal, and individual attitude against environmental cleanliness.  Just like the greenbelt movement, which, through the power and support of volunteers managed to empower communities, especially women in communities, to improve their livelihoods by conserving the environment, the initiative is using the power of volunteers to gradually building a strong movement of “clean freaks”, also known as “msafites”. These are individuals from all walks of life who are radical about the cleanliness of the environment.

A movement is comprised of radically minded individuals who are brought together by their desperation to be the change they want to see. History has it that movements can bring down outdated systems, overthrow poorly run governments, and caused terror among those in opposition to positive change. If the combined effort of the ever growing 1000+ "MSafites" is well facilitated, then this will not only support the attainment of environmentally sustainable outcomes but also promote a long lasting process that changes people’s attitudes and perceptions towards the environment and encourage resilience towards realization of change.  Volunteering is a critical driving force that will continue to build the “Msafite movement”. 

Volunteers during one of the MSI's cleanups

All Kenyans should be part of this new wave of clean freaks and give first priority to the environment and the well-being of people before anything else.  Without sustainability, problems such as poverty can never end because pollution, uncleanliness, and environmental disasters deeply affect the poor. Supporting and encouraging each other to be environmental ambassadors in our most immediate environment, puts us in the right path towards achieving sustainability. What Nairobi and the whole of Kenya needs, is msafites and like minded individuals to mobilize resources to ensure that the streets, neighborhoods, towns, and markets remain clean.

It takes our collective effort to ensure streets remain this clean.

Article written by Kelly Wale

BEYOND THE WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL DAY, 2014

The 31^st World Environmental Day will be marked on June 5^th this week. This is an important day to increase publicity on the need for improving the state of our environment. I see it as a day where the public demonstrates their grass-root actions that have had a positive impact on our environment. Celebrating this day further leads to what I would call transformational thinking, something that we at Mazingira Safi Initiative strive to achieve. The theme for this year’s celebrations is “Small Island Development States”. I guess for most of us Kenyans we may not be aware what this theme is all about.

Let me give you a brief rundown. Human activities over the past half a century have led to some devastating effect on the planet. The low lying islands nations are some of the victims left to absorb the negative effect of climate change, which is also their foremost development challenge. Arguably, some of them are likely to be submerged when sea levels continue rising. You can imagine a situation where an entire country vanishes by being submerged in water because all the arctic ice has melted and the sea levels have risen to unprecedented heights. While this still remains imaginary, the coastal lines of these islands are faced with a situation where their biodiversity is destroyed by a combined effect of climate change, hence the need to turn the spotlight on these low lying islands during this year’s world environmental day.

Image source: UNEP

 But as the world awaits to celebrate this day, we as MSI intend to continue showing that it is possible to reduce the impact of human activities on the environment by inspiring grass-root actions where we are.  We will continue to make our contribution count in raising our voices and not the sea levels. 

However, one big challenge we face is that of changing people’s mindsets and developing a culture of personal responsibility. This is a challenge that cannot be addressed overnight. It takes resilience and moving a step further to inspire people, especially the young generation, before we can begin to realize transformation thinking. It can be hard to measure such an attribute but it is easy to notice it because it is evident in culture and behaviors. For instance, I know Kenyans have a tendency of improper littering in their own country. But, meet the same Kenyans in Dubai or in London they would not do the same thing. (I have used the word “Kenyans’ loosely because I know a few places in Kenya where people do not litter improperly). This shows the extent of the challenge because the privilege to travel to such cities is mainly with the educated Kenyans. Essentially, we have to adopt a culture of personal responsibility towards the environment and it starts with those who are informed.  

However, looking beyond the World Environmental Day, MSI will continue to unite communities to love and take care of their environment. Unity is important in mitigating causes of climate change. No matter where we live, we all have an individual responsibility to protect the environment. The longer we take waiting for someone else to do it, the more the damage is caused. So, I think, there is no better time to start than now. 

"The planet Earth is our shared island, let us join forces to protect it." -Ban Ki Moon

Article written by Kelly Wale