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Oceans can’t separate those who share the goal of a cleaner planet.
From Canada to all other parts of the world the men and women who stand against littering are like-minded tributaries, all feeding the same inspirational source. Each for their own reasons has been driven to care about this environmental issue. I am amazed at how the cause connects us no matter where we live. |
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If not for the Internet I probably would not know Elijah Mensah, a remarkable young man from Ghana, who found me online and sought me out for ideas and advice. He is the driver behind Help Change Ghana and the Youth Litter Prevention Program that is trying to propel a massive cultural shift across the African nation. It is slow going, one person at a time. But Mensah, at 29, has managed to pull together an indefatigable team of young people and $5,000 of his own money to start to put a stop to littering in a country steeped in it.
“In building a greater understanding on the need to keep away from filth and maintain a healthy environment, Help Change Ghana - a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of environmental sanitation through composting, reduction, reusing and recycling of waste - organized a two-day Youth Litter Prevention Campaign dubbed “Stop the drop, because you can,” Elijah tells me when we speak via Skype.
I ask him to send me a synopsis so I can chronicle what he's doing.
“Our campaign commenced with field education in three tertiary institutions on some harmful effects of littering,” Mensah writes. “A rousing symposium was held on the second day at the University of Ghana Business School. Close to 150 participated from the university community and heard keynote speakers from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the EPA, Local Government and rural development and the Zoomlion Waste Management Limited.
“The participants took a pledge to stop littering and protect the environment. There were opinion polls, which many supported, saying the city authorities should sanction and fine litterers.
“Help Change Ghana is working to petition city authorities to make sure the law against littering is duly adhered to, so as to, not only prevent situations like epidemics, but floods especially.”
He tells me that while littering is a criminal offense punishable by law with provisions for fines and prosecutions, he estimates “90 per cent” of Ghanaians litter, and that throwing litter from a moving vehicle is perhaps the most common sin.
Litter choking drains is a major cause of flooding in Ghana. Help Change Ghana grapples with a problem common to the world, and is determined to convert litterers to non-litterers one citizen at a time.
While we are, literally, oceans apart, Elijah and I ride the same wave.
“In building a greater understanding on the need to keep away from filth and maintain a healthy environment, Help Change Ghana - a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of environmental sanitation through composting, reduction, reusing and recycling of waste - organized a two-day Youth Litter Prevention Campaign dubbed “Stop the drop, because you can,” Elijah tells me when we speak via Skype.
I ask him to send me a synopsis so I can chronicle what he's doing.
“Our campaign commenced with field education in three tertiary institutions on some harmful effects of littering,” Mensah writes. “A rousing symposium was held on the second day at the University of Ghana Business School. Close to 150 participated from the university community and heard keynote speakers from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the EPA, Local Government and rural development and the Zoomlion Waste Management Limited.
“The participants took a pledge to stop littering and protect the environment. There were opinion polls, which many supported, saying the city authorities should sanction and fine litterers.
“Help Change Ghana is working to petition city authorities to make sure the law against littering is duly adhered to, so as to, not only prevent situations like epidemics, but floods especially.”
He tells me that while littering is a criminal offense punishable by law with provisions for fines and prosecutions, he estimates “90 per cent” of Ghanaians litter, and that throwing litter from a moving vehicle is perhaps the most common sin.
Litter choking drains is a major cause of flooding in Ghana. Help Change Ghana grapples with a problem common to the world, and is determined to convert litterers to non-litterers one citizen at a time.
While we are, literally, oceans apart, Elijah and I ride the same wave.
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