KAMPALA: The growing challenge of disposal of plastics worldwide but more so in Uganda is threatening and if nothing is done about it, the country and indeed the world will be in problems of global warming.
Climate Change is not only in Uganda but globally. People are calling it the crisis of our time and indeed it is. People around the world are not suffering from just a crisis but a catastrophe that many are not paying attention to. It is real, it is serious and it is up to us to solve it. Climate change involves not only rising temperatures, but also extreme weather events, rising sea levels, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, and a range of other impacts.
Research shows that in the last two decades the world has experienced 14 of the hottest 15 years on record. This seems overwhelming but there is reason for hope and solutions to this. Makerere University Business School has risen up towards this noble cause and fight to save our country from the catastrophe.
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In addition to the three major issues that the School has fronted which are Drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, having unprotected sex and supporting Persons with Disability, MUBS has stood up to champion in the fight against disposal of plastic bottles, polythene bags and wastes.
During all gatherings and events, the Principal Prof. Waswa Balunywa has taken initiative to sensitize and advocate for proper disposal of wastes and plastic bottles. This campaign is intended to create massive awareness about the dangers and effects of these actions onto Mother Nature. Clubs such as the Greenlyf Network have also jumped on board to save the world.
There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is mostly man-made: climate scientists have come to this conclusion almost unanimously. One of the biggest drivers by far is our burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil which has increased the concentration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are at the highest levels they have ever been over the last 800,000 years. This rapid rise is a problem because it’s changing our climate at a rate that is too fast for living things to adapt to.
That, coupled with other activities such as clearing land for agriculture, manufacturing goods, deforestation, generating power, disposal of plastics, polythene bags and wastes among many other activities is causing the average temperature of our planet to increase. In fact, scientists are as certain of the link between greenhouse gases and global warming as they are of the link between smoking and lung cancer.
The effects of climate change are already being felt, but they will get worse. Our habitant and the green nature is no more, changes in the climate, drought, decrease in the sea levels among other effects are being evidenced. This means mother nature is bleeding but society is not feeling her pain.
When you move around our communities, everywhere is littered with polythene bags and plastics, the roads, city centers, villages, trading centers and markets have become major dumping sites. However, if only people can learn proper disposal habits, then we shall be contributing to the solutions towards climate change.
It should also be noted that the effects of climate change will continue to harm all of us and unless governments act, the climate change effects are likely to be much more pronounced especially in countries and communities that are dependent on agricultural or coastal livelihoods as well as those who are generally already vulnerable, disadvantaged and subject to discrimination.
Let us therefore join in the climate change fight because this is the fight we have to fight together. We all leave in the same planet, share the same resources and breathe the same air. Our motherland is losing her life at a very fast rate and we have to stop this as fast as we can, not only for our lives but for the future of the coming generation. We need to act together and start now.
The writer is a Writer, Social Activist as well as a Teaching Assistant at Makerere University Business in the Department of Leisure and Hospitality Management.
