Hello there!! It has been a while since I
posted, and I have to admit I have been so busy… however a lot has been going
on in the environmental scene. So much to keep up with on the ‘Road to Paris’
and the expected El nino. By the way, do you think the downpour yesterday in
most parts of the country (Kenya) could be the grand entrance of the el nino?
Oh well, I got drenched, and have been thinking much about these rains and the
weather, however that is a post for another day. Otherwise I hope you are all
well and still have the environment in mind, remember every little effort
counts! Another by the way, big shout out to all candidates tackling KCPE this
week… and I sure do hope that soon we shall have environmental studies in the
primary school syllabus as well as in secondary school as a subject not only a
topic. Join me in that prayer!
Before I go on, thank you Tess for taking
down notes at the Kenya Climate Concert, as I said, you will make a good P.A.
So, the Kenya Climate Concert took place at the Kenya National Theatre in
Nairobi on 25th September 2015. It was a beautiful Friday that had
been long awaited especially by the event organizers, the 350 Kenya team which I
am part of. As we had prepared for the event with the theme ‘We Fight Climate
Change’ through arts, music, poetry and dance, I got to the venue with my ‘PA’
at about noon. There was still some setting up going on, as artists prepared
and people streamed in. In a short while all was set up and ready to start! The
introduction was made, in his words- ‘tell your neighbor the globe is warming!’
With this statement and some giggles from within the crowd, the crowd warmed up
and were curious to hear what next. As part of the introduction, it was made
clear that #WeFightClimateChange and that the 350 Regional Week of Action had
just begun, not only in Kenya but other countries where 350.org is set up such
as in South Africa and Jordan.
The first presentation was a mix of song,
dance and poetry. The poem was on pollution and clearing of forests and the
declining of water levels, and it was clear as they said ‘this generation has
made an error’. Other than that, the performance also touched on social issues
like marriage, which make up part of the social environment.
The second presentation was by the
eloquent David ‘Reakt’ Wainaina, who was also part of the panelists who discussed
the role of an artist in the environment. He also mentioned about the similar concerts
on going in sub-Saharan Africa and the 3000 gathered petitions on climate
change.
Third came in Christabel Atieno, with African
drums beating in the background- I sure did enjoy her performance- on a narrative
about the environment and a man named Obiero, who was spotted by Auma and
Otieno in Gembe village cutting down trees for firewood and burning of grass.
This narrative brought out the aspect of alternative sources of energy, and how
harmful others are to our environment leading to the dangerous climate change.
From this narrative we learned that through sharing of information and
identifying problems we can help to reduce and eradicate harmful practices in
our communities.
Next on line was a piece on spoken word,
which touched on various issues in the environment such as extinction, ozone
layer depletion, pollution and waste management leading to environmental
degradation. Also, ‘…environment has become an orphan without Wangari Maathai’
was a notable statement, which left many challenged to take up the late Wangari’s
mantle.
After the spoken word piece, was a duet
from the percussion discussion team, which also talked briefly on ‘colored
waters’ to mean sewage and its negative effects to public health. The performers
then challenged the crowd on the destination of their waste, with an example of
plastic papers. After this, two puppets cheered the crowd with their ‘Welcome to
the 21st Century: Everything is Becoming Less’ poem. According to
me, the most memorable ones were ‘attitude-careless, youth-jobless,
government-clueless… however our hopes are endless!’ Do you agree?
Fred Nyaga was next with a talk on
planting ideas and read a poem on ‘Our Environment Our Liberation’ after which
he invited the current Miss Environment who shared on how the beauty pageant
creates more awareness on environmental issues. The percussion discussion followed
again, with songs to entertain the crowd. Vidze Kaladze performed a Giriama
folk song and tried to engage the crowd to join him. After that other music
artists entertained the crowd with their own songs, then Belinda from AYICC took
the mic and talked about personal awareness on environmental conservation.
After her talk was the song performance ‘collective duty’ which highlighted on
conservation of the environment.
Teardrop then dropped his crowd jolting
spoken word piece, whereby he talked about the 7 Billion Dreams and 7 Billion
heartbeats per second was related to this year’s World Environment Day Theme: ‘Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume
With Care.’ Other than that, one of his notable statements was “me nikiona dumpsite me hushindwa niwapi
tulitupa sight” meaning he sees dumpsites and wonders where we lost our
sight…
Finally I got to speak briefly on what
350.org is, a global climate movement, and why the number 350 is so significant
to us- because its means climate safety, of 350 parts per million (ppm) or less
of CO2 in the atmosphere. Currently the amount of CO2 is at 400ppm,
which is dangerous leading to global warming and finally climate change. After
that I taught the crowd a short dance move, which is basically the Kenyan ‘chini
kwa chini’ which I had choreographed in April during the 350.org climate
workshop held in Nairobi, which symbolized the gradual reduction of CO2
levels in the atmosphere and maintaining safe levels. From this point I was
interviewed by some of the major media houses in Kenya, such as NTV and gave my
opinion on what climate change is, how it is affecting us and what I would like
the President of Kenya to address about climate change! I must say I was
honoured… As the interview was going on, fellow colleagues took their turns to
talk on the issue and also to network!
#WeFightClimateChange
Join us in the battle!
ps: You can watch a brief clip of the Concert summarized on the below link, thanks to Visionaries Aloud team for making it possible!! And also a few pictures from the event...
https://youtu.be/iDDT_LIs5Bs
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