Against Climate For Nature's Sake

Every time I go on social media apps,everyone is talking about climate change, global warming and all the hazards attached. In my virtual world, everyone is talking about climate change and going wild about global warming or global freezing depending on which side you stand.

In my physical world, standing beside the woman who sells eggs and dry foods, I react to an article on electric cars, starting a discussion about how the epileptic power supply would be death of the idea in Lagos. She looked at me and asked in Yoruba language, ' have they given us enough electricity to have cold water, or is it from the small that we are using to charge phone that they would take for cars again'..

The miller who had just shutdown her diesel operated miller strolled over, her eyes filled with curiosity, 'is it the electricity that businesses can't rely on that would run cars or they have another source of power?.

I mischievously (because I really do not know told them ' what if they provided electricity like solar or wind for people to use in homes and offices then used the current hydro sources for cars'

Now, even the men joined in laughing

'that wouldn't happen in this lifetime even if it ever happens, so we don't have to worry'

' But why don't you think it's possible to switch to greener cars in Nigeria' I asked

' It is possible but it would only work in Lekki and other elite spaces'

'how many solar projects are around us, besides rechargeable lamps, fans and power banks '

'If you even struggle to buy the solar, any small problem like this, can you afford maintenance '

' when people switched to gas to power their homes, did gas prices not go up, law of demand and supply is a fiction in reality o'

These were the comments that flew across as I tried engaging my community about going green.

In the face of poverty,Climate change would need to be approached from a more humane angle that just taxes and policies.

We might want to consider cost effective bio gas chambers over paid metering. A central pricing on food items that buys from small farmers to supply the market. A recycle for food, uniform or books approach.

This is the language that poverty breaks down every problem to, and till we can speak it, we are talking to less than half of the population and the other half couldn't care less about contributing by as little as their disposal mechanism

Till we speak to the global needs of the people at the bottom of the economic ladder, climate change could just be a money swallowing white elephant for developing countries and their donors