Working on Climate Change in Togo and Ivory Coast
I recently led two RC climate change workshops—one in Lome, Togo, and the other in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Lome workshop, organized by Mimi Alice and her team, had twenty-five participants from Togo and five from Benin. The Abidjan workshop, organized by Cyrille Zounon, had nineteen participants from Abidjan and two from Guinea.
I started by saying that we are good but that we get hurt and that the hurts interfere with our relationships with each other and with our environment.
We had a session on pleasant childhood memories of the environment. After that I talked about our ancestors’ traditions and cultures and their intelligence in interacting with the environment. They knew how to use nature to survive and heal without harming the planet. Colonization and the hurts from it took all of that away. Our ways of life were called primitive. Using herbs for medicine was called witchcraft. Our lives were not considered as valuable as those of the people who were benefitting from the colonization. And capitalism has continued the destruction.
Togo and Ivory Coast are both rich in minerals, and the mining industry has left behind destruction and a sense of defeat. Several young adults talked about how scared they are. I said how unfair it is that young adults could inherit a destroyed planet and also be expected to do most of the work to repair it.
The participants from Guinea talked about the bauxite mining done by international companies and its destruction of people’s livelihoods and houses and the rivers they have relied on for water. Farmers have had to stop farming and flee. They also spoke about their activism and how there is hope in action.
I talked about the science of climate change and the effects we are already experiencing. I also talked about Sustaining All Life, the RC Communities, and all the hopeful things that are happening around the world.
We looked at the fires in the Amazon and had sessions on discouragement. Then we met in support groups and worked on what we can do. The groups were organized according to where people lived so that people could take action both individually and as a group.
The following are some of my thoughts about what we can do:
• We can discharge, including on discouragement and powerlessness, so that we can think clearly about the situation and take our own actions.
• We can end how profit is the basis of our economies and create an economy based on meeting people’s basic needs without harming people or the earth.
• We can support the development of renewable energy—solar, wind, geothermal.
• We can reduce consumption, food waste, and our purchases.
• We can join and work with organizations that focus on climate change.
• We can stay connected to each other as we do the work.
• We can reclaim our connection with and love for the earth.
• We can advocate for good environmental policies where we are and by whatever means we have.
• We can talk openly with the people around us about climate change and give information in thoughtful amounts.
• When possible, we can openly protest the current situation and insist that the needed changes take place rapidly.
Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this work.
Thika, Kenya