When the Air We Breathe Fights Back --- A Wake-Up Call on Pollution

Right from my young age, let me say since my primary school days during those elementary science classes, we often discuss about pollution as if it is something that is ages far away from us, a worldwide issue that is only left for the world leaders and scientists to find a solution to. Meanwhile, the truth? Pollution has been in our midst since ages now, mere looking at the water we drink, the air we inhale, the land that we cultivate on. Though it can be very silent but very destructive, yet it is the unseen monster in our day to day lives.

During my service year, I won't mention the state just to protect the dignity of that state, I paid a visit to a river that I was told that it used to be the pride of that town. But today, it is nothing to write home about because mere looking at it, it has been filled with different dirt, ranging from plastics bottles, nylon, to oil stains. A pride of the city now a broken dream, a sluggish stream that even the smell alone can make you throw up. But the sad part of it all is that, even with the bad conditions of that river, people still wash there, bathe there and kids play around which made me came to the conclusion that, even with the bad state of something,very have normalised it just to survive in it, even as far as population is concerned.

Air pollution In our environment today and in my point of view, is considered the most dangerous and risky which has caused more harms than good, because we can find a solution to dirty water by doing environmental sanitation, cleaning of our environment, but there is nothing that can be done to escape air pollution in this generation. It enters us through all the air we breathe in. And little by little, it has been causing more harms to our lungs, followed by the heart down to our spirit.

Pollution is a psychological burden and it is no longer a ln individual or environmental issues. We humans have caused this on ourselves which has made it a cultural failure on our path. We nylons, water bottle, tins we careless throw away on the road is not just a trash. It has become a legacy that when the young ones sees us doing it, they follow suit.

I could remember during my NYSC days, I was the president of my CDS, "Environmental and Sanitation" that time, every CDS days, I always make sure we go out and create awareness on how to keep the environment safe starting from schools, to street shops to houses and to market women, because as individuals, this is our responsibility to make sure that our environment is kept safe. And I think the government should also enforce it into law, not just a draft, it must be mandatory for everyone and we as individuals too should also make it an habit telling others because one person cannot do the work alone. It starts from you and I.

It is a collective work. It is a thing we can do and we must do it. Before environmental pollution fight at us harder than it has already begun.