World Environment Day: Go Green, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…

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Image credits: UNEP

Image credits: UNEP

June 5th Marks the World Environment Day. This year’s theme is ‘Go Wild for Life’. At Eneza Education, we would like to educate the future generations on the importance of preserving the environment. Here is a piece done by Polly Okaron.

Go Green, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…

Livelihood at stake, technology the way to go and environment at risk. It does not affect us directly, that is how we perceive this concept, ‘environmental conservation’ until when our loved ones are swept away by floods as a retaliation from mother nature.

The call to embrace urbanization is getting louder at the expense of the biophysical environment. The telecommunication lines have to be dug under the roots of mugumo tree without a second thought of the environmental consequences of tree cutting to the next generation.

Industrialization is another challenge to the environment with high production of non-decomposing components like plastic hence breaking the hydrological cycle without a proper waste management strategy. Global warming is real proven by the high temperatures experienced on the earth’s surface. One would think that the earth is a hundred meters from the sun.
Danger crops in when the carbon dioxide and other pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. This is because we have prioritized human activities at the expense of the environment. For instance, we have allowed encroachment of human settlement into forests hence endangering the flora and fauna, focused more on technology, industrialization and urbanization. For the next generation to find trees, fresh air, good rains, flood free rain season, lets guard the environment like our babies.
Simple steps:

Reduce engaging in activities that would expose the environment to danger like deforestation, and increase tree planting. Keep the principle of ‘Cut one tree plant a million trees’. Reduce littering allover, chocking tree seedlings and thwarting the efforts of the municipal council to conserve our environment. Reduction would also apply to reducing unnecessary packaging of manufactured goods.
Reuse for the purpose of saving the environment. There is little or no processing to keep material out of the waste stream by passing the goods to others for using. It entails buying what has already been used, it does not mean you cannot afford a new product but for the sake of conserving resources. Reusing needs fewer resources, less energy, and less labor. It reduces air, water and land pollution, limits the need for new natural resources, like timber, petroleum, fibers and other materials.
Recycle resources like plastic, glass or aluminium to conserves resources. When used materials are recycled, they are converted into new products. This reduces the need to consume more natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth, through mining and deforestation which threatens sustainability of the environment. Every material does not need to be disposed of, some can be recycled. When we recycle paper we save trees. For example, one ton of paper would save 17 trees, save more trees by recycling and reusing paper.
For a greener generation we must be reducers, reusers and recyclers at whatever level in our communities. Go green reduce, reuse, recycle for sustainable environmental conservation.
Article republished with permission from Polly Expressions.

About the author:

Polly Okaron is our lead content coordinator. A teacher by profession, Polly is passionate about children empowerment through education. With more than 800,000 users, Eneza plans to expand to 50 million by 2022. Our award-winning platform offers users unlimited access to nationally aligned educational content for 10 shillings a week (10 cents USD). Founded in 2012, we exist to serve the needs of mobile learners everywhere, on any phone.

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