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Monday, February 24, 2014

Mind your environment; it is your life support

Madam Sophia Awortwi talks passionately about the environment and the need for man to be mindful of its degradation.

As a biological scientist, she is quick to reiterate the life supporting role of the environment; stating that “any crime against the environment is an offence against ourselves”.

Disturbed by the spate of pollution in local communities, the environmentalist is calling for the resuscitation of The Green Forum in Ghana to salvage the situation.

The Forum, which operated in the country in the early 1990s, attempted to sensitize people to appreciate environmental protection.

Madam Sophia, who chaired the Ashanti regional branch, recalls the sensitization initiatives of the Forum impacted on children and market women, as well as road transport operators who were taking steps to introduce waste disposal materials in their vehicles to discourage passengers from littering the roadsides.

According to her, ideals promoted by The Green Forum remain crucial today to raise public consciousness on the correlations between poor sanitation and health.

“We need to revisit it,” she said. “Otherwise we fail to do it at our own peril. If all of us look on, I wonder what the environment will be like in five years; we will be dying and may never know the epidemic that will break one day because of poor sanitation.”

Madam Sophia has co-authored a book titled “Mind Your Environment; It Is Your Life Support” to drive her call for a sound and friendly environment.

“We need to get this book in the homes, workplaces, in the schools, market places, everywhere; we need to apply the tenets of this book to whatever we do,” she entreated.

The purpose of book by Harry and Sophia Awortwi, according to its preface “is to bring to the attention of every citizen of the earth that in whichever location we find ourselves, we must realize that the care of the environment lies in our hands. The environment may be the home, land, air or water; and how we treat that environment may eventually have positive or negative impact in our health and longetivity on earth. For this reason, it is important that we appreciate the environment, understand it and take responsibility for the unique role each person has to play in its preservation and sustenance”.
 
Issues of pollution, climate change, waste management, forest and water conservation and sustainable development are highlighted in the 200-page book.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

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