UN in Nairobi asked to ‘kick the habit’ – again!

One of the sweetest surprises of the Blog Action Day 09 – Climate Change, was a post by Sukuma Kenya. As you already know, we have been ‘collaborating’ with this passionate Kenyan to try and end the show of opulence and total disregard for climate change – with the vehicles they drive – among UN employees in the Nairobi office.

Did UNEP staffers drive such a car on #BAD09?

Although I get carried away by wildlife conservation matters and tend to wander away from this ‘campaign’ to end ‘environmental impunity’ at the offices that house the global headquarters of the United Nations Environmental Programme, Sukuma Kenya doesn’t.

I was thus pleasantly surprised when he informed me that he had chosen to address the ‘Kick the Habit‘ campaign in his Blog Action Day 2009. Never mind the post was on 16th not 15th October, which is the official Blog Action Day, the post was simple but very powerful.

You might want to read it yourself…So UNEP, did you Kick The Habit (Just for today)?

Climate Change: The New Driver of Mass Extinctions

Back in 2007, some 2,000 UN scientists produced a massive 4-volume report of an assessment of Earth’s climate. In this dossier they came up with a projection that as global temperature rises, species will start falling. They called this projection the “Highway to Extinction”.

This must have been lost from the daily parlance of governments, organizations and individuals because neither you nor I have ever seen a ‘layman friendly’ version of this grand assessment report. But that has not stopped the Earth’s climate from changing. So even as a small, but growing number of pundits take the matter of climate change and it’s effect on biodiversity to the public, species are still being lost.

Let’s go back before 2007. Way back to 2004 and the journal Nature said that most species will not survive climate change. The had that story on the cover of their January 2004 issue. The extract from this particular story says, in part:

New analyses suggest that 15–37% of a sample of 1,103 land plants and animals would eventually become extinct as a result of climate changes expected by 2050.

Given that climate change was responsible, in part, to the loss of the woolly mammoths and mastodons some 10,500 years ago, there is no doubt that climate change will claim a large number of species again. The difference is that the current climate change is being accelerated – and made more severe – by human activities. In short, despite the direct extinction from human activities such as hunting and habitat loss, we – the plague of the earth – have acquired a new way of killing off species indirectly: accelerating climate change.

It is clear that climate change will leave the planet in abject ecological poverty. But not many people are talking about this – and fewer still are doing anything about it. It is upon everyone of us to take action. To do those things that we have been told will reduce the severity of climate change – however remote the chance that these actions will actually work – and to take the matter to our leaders and public.

Remember, an ecologically poor planet is not good for humanity – if we are to be human-centric (as usual). Generally, an ecologically poor planet is bad for itself.

On this Earth Day

The symbol of Earth Day is the Greek letter 'theta' in green

April 22 is Earth Day. People mark this important day in the environmental calendar in different ways. It is not as much known as, for instance, the World Environment Day that has so much been promoted by the UN.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, is responsible for the first official Earth Day in 1970. In those days, saving the environment was synonymous with the now famous “Zero Population Growth”. He organized a lecture session in university to teach about the problems that the Earth was facing such as extinction, pollution and the like. On the first official Earth Day on 22 April 1970, many people around America organized their own similar events to discuss these issues.With time the celebrations expanded and started spreading outside the US borders.

Of course many other issues have now arisen including climate change and Earth Day is no longer an American holiday alone. It is celebrated throughout the world. Maura Judkis has a list of some 10 things you should know about Earth Day that you should probably read for a brief introduction on what this Day is all about

American president Barack Obama, who is seen as someone who cares about the environment has his own agenda for this years Earth Day. In the New York Times they say:

The Obama administration is using Earth Day for launching another all-out effort to sell the American public and key lawmakers on “green jobs” as the solution for the United States’ environmental and economic woes.

Which then begs another question, are we really concerned about the Earth for the Earth’s sake or for our own good? President Obama is pushing for ‘green’ because he believes that ‘green jobs’ will save the American economy. There are those who think that Earth Day is useless, and we should get rid of it.

Whatever your thoughts about this Day are, have a Happy Earth Day

The Elusive Humvee Shows Up Again – In a ‘Green’ Place

For months now, the blogosphere, represented by the likes of Sukuma Kenya, have been hunting for one elusive beast: the banana yellow fuel guzzling Humvee with UN plates in Nairobi. This polluter of choice for one UN staffer has been accused of being an insult to the UN’s attempt at being carbon neutral and it’s actions on curbing climate change.

Well, guess what? The Humvee showed up. Not in a dingy nightclub or some dimly lit back road, but in one of the primary ‘green’ places in Nairobi: the Nairobi National Park - at the parking lot. By coincidence, I was there, with a good camera. That is why I am able to present this magnificent picture of one of the rarest and most elusive species of beast in Kenya.

*Note: no attempt made to blur the registration number plates – that would be redundant.

The banana yellow Humvee shows up again

What the Humvee was doing in the one spot that makes Nairobi qualify to be called a ‘green’ city – and perhaps why the UN Environmental Programme has it’s headquarters in this city – is indeed puzzling. Did the seeming flamboyant owner suddenly realize that he cared about the environment? No doubt an oxymoron. Was it just another opportunity to show off his behemoth? Well, we’ll probably never know.

Whatever happens, the blogosphere can now feast their eyes on this beast and continue to ask themselves ‘will the UN Nairobi office ever change their ways?‘ ‘Will they ever practice what they preach?’ One thing is for sure though; the blogosphere will continue to try and bring them to their senses. Whether they’ll ever succeed or not is open for debate. Afterall, the eagles once sang:

And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

-The Eagles: Hotel California

The Saga of Nairobi’s UN Fuel Guzlers

The bad guys

Sukuma Kenya knows how to kick up a campaign. He’s unrelenting in his quest for an environmentally, and carbon neutral UN office in Nairobi. If you don’t already know, Nairobi is where the global headquarters of the global United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is located.

Sukuma Kenya and others in the blogosphere are totally appalled by the largess with which the UN staffers in the UN office complex at Gigiri, Nairobi move around town. Sukuma and the said others apparently get migraines whenever they see the colossal 5-liter engine fuel guzzlers that most of the UN people drive around, garnished with their red diplomatic plates, clearly separating them from the regular Kenyan motorist in his 1400cc Toyota Corolla.

These behemoths of locomotion have galled Sukuma for ages and he’s made personal the quest to make the UN people ‘Kick the Habit‘ . No wonder – or not – Sukuma’s blog is now banned at the UN complex in Gigiri. In short, inside of the sprawling complex, you cannot access the blog. And here I was thinking that the freedom of speech is one of the fundamental freedoms that the UN stands for.

He’s been alerted by a friend that his blog is no longer wanted in Gigiri. What followed that is is not particularly clear but he’s now received somewhat official communication confirming that his blog is actually banned. Now the Media Department at UN-Gigiri has informed the IT Department to unlock that blog. Someone should check on that.

This is totally unconfirmed and is not an accusation, but I have had it mentioned that the newest – and most obscene – entry into the fuel guzzlers’ stable at UN office, the banana-yellow Humvee , belongs to a staffer in the IT Department.

The good guys

Perhaps it is Sukuma’s campaign or it is just that there are genuine environmentalists in the UNEP. I saw a Toyota Hybrid Prius the other day with UNEP plates. I couldnt have been happier. Here is the picture.

A much 'greener' car

It seems that not all the people at UN want to drive around in ‘planet-killers’.