Our Climate Is Changing, Why Aren’t We?

In a world where our “new normal” is now sunbaked droughts, swamping floods, and erratic weather patterns, young people like us find themselves on the frontlines of an escalating climate crisis. Our Climate is Changing….Why Aren't We?

As known in Nigeria, there’s no winter and instead of chills and snow, we have Harmattan. The dry, dusty gusts of wind which is our winter, start mid-October until March. This year, mid-October, I definitely experienced the heat and the dust but what was surprising was that one minute it’d be a sunny day, and the next you’d hear the sounds of rain pouring down. Was the climate like this many years ago?

I remember there was a day when I was going home from school, and on the road was this girl, around my age begging for money. She needed the money because her house’s roof had fallen off during the rainy season. As it was the onset of Harmattan, her father had started to fix the roof but all of a sudden, it was raining and the roof was demolished, again. The money her father would’ve used for paying her school fees was now being used to fix their roof, so they’d have shelter over their heads. Not only did this sudden weather change cause her family’s house to get ruined, but it also took away the money she would use to go to school, and now she was left with no way to get an education.

I came home pondering over this situation, wondering about how these situations needed to be spoken about more. This is just one of the many impacts of climate change that is not only shaping our present but also shaping our future in profound ways. This made me think about the whole situation and I thought, was there any way I could help? As rightly said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” I want to be the change, I want to take steps that would create awareness and help our climate.

The worst effect of climate change as seen is on the rainfall pattern. Whether this is the droughts caused by the lack of rain or the multiple flooding. Have you heard of sustainable irrigation? I can help create awareness about this practice which is one of the many ways to help with saving water. It can detect how much water your soil uses, when plants need water and only water them when necessary and the remaining water can be used for other purposes. Using this, farmers can save water during droughts and not be dependent on rain. HARVESTING HOPE!!