Straight from the Strait of Hormuz
No matter the reason for warfare the environment and the innocent end up bearing the brunt of the inevitable destruction. This fact is clearly illustrated by the several ongoing smoldering and open conflicts that have le…
The Force and the Fire at COP30
The opening and closing of COP30 were marked by significant events. Not about climate ambition or high sounding speeches but by unplanned events. First was the determined entry into the COP venue by indigenous protesters…
COP28 and the Evasion of Climate Justice
The foundation for voluntary emissions cut by nations was laid in the Copenhagen Accord (2009) and consolidated in the Paris Agreement (2015) under what is known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Th…
COP27, the Loss and the Damage at Injury Time
The recently concluded COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, did not rise beyond the low bars set by previous editions. Except for Loss and Damage, the answer to the question as to what was gained at the COP is blowing in the…
Fiddling while the Planet Burns
The third report to emerge from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the span of eight months has again exposed the folly of humankind on its addiction to dirty energy sources. The report clearly shows…
Politics of Turbulent Waters
The fact that Africa can be completely circumnavigated has advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is that the continent can be accessed by sea from any direction. This means that the seas can be a ready tool…
Coastal Communities Under Threat
Climate change and variability in Nigeria is starkly illustrated in the northern and southern regions of Nigeria by desertification and coastal erosion respectively. This is so because attention is often focussed on thes…
Who Says the Town Crier is Gone (The Life of Patrick Naagbanton)
“Who Says the Town Crier is Gone” is the title of a poem written by Styvn Obodoekwe in the poetry collection “Night has Come Again.” That collection is made of poems written at the passing of Patr…
The Colour Blue is not the Problem with the Blue Economy
The color blue is not the problem with the blue economy. We often hear that sustainable development stands on three legs of social equity, economic viability and environmental protection. The intersection of these three …
The Irony of Growth
The rage of the Covid-19 pandemic has been as astonishing as any epic disaster can be. What startles some of us more is the unabashed projection that millions of Africans will die, probably as soon as the pandemic…
The Virus Will Not Change Anything We Won’t Change
A key fact we have to face is that the coronavirus will not change anything we won’t change. The change that will frame the post pandemic era will come from humans, our relationship with each other and with Nature. The p…
Locust Swarms and other terrors
The desert locust storms hitting East Africa indicate unfolding horrors. They are also a metaphor for other terrors on the continent. Pictures of swarms of locusts, crawling, flying, mating and stripping greenery in the …
Fires, Missiles and Climate Change
These days no one can ignore the sad stories of Fires, Missiles and Climate Change. Watching a video of a cyclist offering water to a koala on highway in Australia, then helping it up a tree on the side of the highway wa…
Coming Soon: Oil Spills in Bauchi
Oil Spills in Bauchi- coming soon. Crude oil is sometimes called the black gold and has an allure that almost makes it irresistible to speculators, corporations, governments and those who believe that wealth does trickle…
Arrival of Extreme Technology
Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. Oftentimes industry is related to the transformation of nature or raw materials in factories. The word, te…
