no better time to act to make African cities and urban centres liveable and more sustainable. This is exactly what the youth-led Green Towns Initiative in Kenya’s Bomet County is doing.


This initiative is mobilizing primary schools and youth to plant bamboo along select sections of Nyangores River, which is a tributary of the Mara River that nurtures wildlife in Maasai Mara, Kenya’s famed national reserve. The goal of the Green Towns Initiative is to restore rivers and their landscapes as centres of sustainable economic activity by planting bamboo and eventually using it to produce bamboo products. The group is already producing bamboo umbrellas and is poised to diversify soon.


1.6 Communicating change: Innovative means to creating environmental awareness


Creating awareness on environmental issues in Africa will require the concerted efforts of all stakeholders. Since issues such as climate change tend to be very distant and abstract, and the science of pollution can be difficult to understand by non-experts, they need to be repackaged in relatable and personalized ways for young people to grasp. Personalization can reduce the psychological distance between oneself and abstract climate change messages. This makes it easier to engage with the issues (Spence, Poortinga and Pidgeon 2012). Non-traditional avenues such as comedy, podcasts, social media, art, music, photography, and poetry are gaining traction as effective channels for communicating environmental messages. This momentum should be accelerated, even as traditional media like radio are utilized in newer and more innovative ways that include dynamic content.


Youth Action 6: The tweeting climate advocate, Nigeria


If you asked any young stranger on the streets of Abuja whether they knew Olumide Idowu, their answer will most likely be in the negative. However, if you asked the same question inquiring whether the name ‘Mr. Climate’ rang a bell, then the stranger’s answer would most likely be in the affirmative. Olumide’s environmental and climate activism in his city has made him a household name and his name (‘Mr Climate’) is almost synonymous there with youth environmental activism on twitter.


A life without social media is unthinkable for Nigeria's youth. ‘’Social media is where we [the youth] live. We live online’’ he notes. With this realization, he uses the platform to bridge the knowledge gap on the science, impacts, and politics of climate change.


#ClimateWednesday is his most successful awareness programme. Every Wednesday, he engages with his over 30,000 followers on the broad issues of the green economy, clean energy, and effective waste management, together with the catalysts and impact of climate change. With this platform, he has managed to build a community with specialized knowledge and has mobilized them into taking part in climate action across different Nigerian cities.


For Olumide, his online activism is geared towards supporting offline activism related to the environment and climate change: “My aim is to leverage technology to engage the public on climate change, then through that I can


Karura Forest in Nairobi


build the momentum that can help mobilize action in making our community greener and more sustainable”.


Youth Action 7: Dancing to a new tune of managing plastic waste, Egypt


At first glance, you might mistake Shady Rabab for any young, Egyptian, male artist. But he is no ordinary musician. After he has held his musical instrument, you will definitely dance to the harmonic tune of the flute. A flute that is made from repurposed plastic bottles.


While Shady is a passionate musician, designer, and painter; he takes most pride in being an environmental activist. The University of Luxor, Egypt, graduate offers weekly classes to a marginalized group of young children on how to make musical instruments from trash. The more than 70 children who previously worked as waste collectors then play together in the ‘Garbage Conservatoire Band’.


The lessons are an opportunity to teach the kids about the environment through music. And while the kids might have had first-hand experience with improper waste management, when they were making their living from the dumpsters and landfills, the combination of music and environmental education has helped improve their quality of life. Through music, they have transitioned from garbage collectors to environmental champions who are spreading awareness about prudent waste disposal mechanisms.


Shady has proved that it is possible to reuse and repurpose waste materials and turn them into a gem. It is for this reason that he was crowned the 2018 Young Champion of the Earth for Africa (UNEP n.d. b).


Youth Action 8: Comedy for a serious reason, Kenya


Humour can be a way to communicate around barriers with surprising emotional depth (Ecospeakers 2014). The Karura comedy club is a group of comedians who mix humour with environmental commentary to examine a range of environmental issues.


Their shows are mostly held in Karura Forest’s environs, a forest once encroached by private developers and marred by illegal logging. Their shows have been instrumental in creating a unique movement of young people who are involved in the conservation of the forest.


11


Youth-led Green Solutions


Edith Uwineza


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