Chima Nwafo
On April 22, the 49th anniversary of the Earth Day was celebrated by various environmental groups in Nigeria. As usual, speeches were made after which statements were issued to an uncaring public and nonchalant government. Among them, the Coalition of NGOs on Sustainable and Healthy Environment, which called on the Federal Government to go beyond endorsement and begin to honour environmental treaties signed over time. Another urged the media to educate the public as well as help create awareness on environmental issues. But the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoFN) chose to commend the Senate for “adopting a bill to ban gas flaring.”
But the question prompts: Should we salute the Senate for adopting a bill to ban gas flaring, after 20 years of return to representative democracy, during which several million barrels of oil have been spilled with attendant destruction of farmlands and aquatic life, and several deadlines for ending gas flare dishonoured with impunity by the NNPC and its joint-venture partners? Recall that gas flare has been with oil-bearing communities since the mid-1950s. Same Senate saw no virtue in Senator Ben Murray-Bruce’s proposed Electric Car Bill, which basically sought approval of the use of electric cars in Nigeria in a future date.
The objectives of the bill were to: (a) comply with the clean energy policy, (b) encourage the use of modern technology, (c) de-emphasise oil consumption, (d) reduce air pollution.
Yet, millions of dilapidated auto contraptions litter our roads.
Against the foregoing backdrop, I am addressing this piece to the National Assembly, as part of the Earth Day observation. For a fruitful and ennobling research on the topic, Kate Yoder of City Lab will be our guide.
April 22, 1970, marked the historic gathering of millions of Americans in various United States cities to demonstrate and promote environmental awareness. Through the initiative of one Democratic Party senator, the whole country was galvanised to rise up in protest. And, again, unlike Nigeria, it was a united action comprising students, adults, activists, legislators, public servants and workers, including the President of the United States and his wife who planted a tree to mark the occasion in the White House. Today, in the civilised world, the pattern has not altered. London just experienced one penultimate week.
Traditionally, events of this nature usually come after a proclamation of the United Nations. But not so with Earth Day. As environmental historians pointed out, in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, an American Peace activist, John McConnell, had proposed a day to honour the Earth and the concept of peace, to be celebrated on March 21, 1970. But, “this day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by then United Nations Secretary-General, U Thant, at the New York headquarters. A month later, a separate Earth Day was founded by a United States’ Senator, Gaylord Nelson, with the cooperation of other concerned individuals.”
Findings equally show that the first Earth Day celebration took place “in 2,000 colleges and universities, roughly 10,000 primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. It brought out an unprecedented 20 million Americans into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favour of environmental reform.”
To date, this figure has not been matched. According to Earth Day Network, the non-profit organisation, which organises the event, it is now observed in 193 countries, chaired by the first Earth Day 1970 organiser, Denis Hayes.
Why did it turn out such a huge success? Mr. Hayes recalled that initiator, Senator Nelson, from Wisconsin, was inspired to create Earth Day after seeing the “Santa Barbara Channel 800 square-mile oil slick from an airplane. On January 28, 1969, a well drilled by Union Oil Platform A, off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, blew out. More than three million gallons of oil spewed, killing over 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions.”
Quite unlike Nigeria, in reaction to the disaster, activists were mobilised to create environmental regulation and education. “Among proponents of Earth Day were people in the front lines of fighting this disaster.”
Being a reading society, 32 years later, the senator authored a book chronicling the events as they occurred.
Senator Gaylord Nelson wrote in his 2002 book, Beyond Earth Day, “my thinking was not that a one-day demonstration would convince people of the need to protect the environment. I envisioned a continuing national drive to clean up our environment and set new priorities for a livable America. Earth Day was to be the catalyst.”
That is patriotism: completely selfless, devoid of pecuniary and regional persuasions.
Expatiating on the motive of the monumentally successful initiative, Adam Rome, who had earlier authored a book, The Genius of Earth Day, offered: “He originally would have been happy if a few colleges or universities joined. He had no idea that it was going to explode into the consciousness of the nation. Another reason Earth Day 1970 was so powerful is that it brought together the power of the establishment and the energy and boldness of the grassroots. Nelson was a seasoned senator in his 50s. But the committee who brought his idea to life was largely made up of students and civil-rights organisers.”
We should note this: From the length and breadth of the United States, both the elite and masses were involved, lecturers and students, Democrats and Republicans, the Mayor of New York even made halls available for the organisers. Senators gave speeches from their respective states and cities. And next to its by-partisan nature was the fact that the initiator, who was touched by the oil spill, was neither from California nor an oil-producing state. That is unity of purpose driven by love of country, devoid of parochialism, despite America being a melting pot of cultures and religions.
For example, one week later, President Nixon’s advisers recommended the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“The decade that followed also gave us 28 major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Before these laws, thick smog dimmed many US cities in the middle of the day. Same Republican president later awarded Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in appreciation of his work.”
Though from an opposition party, they were all committed to the health of Americans, irrespective of party, religion or class. They reasoned: “The unprecedented global destruction and rapid reduction of plant and wildlife populations are directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides, to name a few. The impacts are far-reaching.”
Is our case different? From Niger Delta to Lagos, Anambra to Borno, Ondo to Sokoto, the nation is ravaged by a smorgasbord of environmental scourges. One then wonders: When shall Nigerian politicians, especially federal lawmakers, begin to think beyond self-serving pecuniary pursuits and consider the nation as one constituency on core health and socio-economic developmental issues?
• Nwafo, public /environmental affairs analyst, can be reached on [email protected]; +2348029334754