An Inconvienient Truth

Thursday July 22nd 2010

“Ben, look up at the sky! It’s an incredibly clear night; you can see so many stars.” I say, half in awe, half excited by the buffet of stars before my eyes. My counterpart Benedictus and I walk down a pothole-filled path outside of town, blackened by recent nightfall in the absence of street lights. As often occurs in unsuspecting moments such as this one, I’m struck by the natural beauty around me. “Oh really?” Ben replies, in his usual tone: a mix of playful humour and innocence. “I wouldn’t even have noticed.”

I’m constantly surprised by how little attention Ghanaians pay to the beauty of their country. Easy for me to say though, as I’ve been lucky enough to see various different countries of the world, and thus have multiple reference points. Many Ghanaians I’ve met have little to no travel experience within their country, let alone internationally. But, these things aside, I’ve seen that Ghanaians put little thought into the environmental consequences resulting from their actions and habits, and subsequently don’t prioritize environmental upkeep and protection.

If Ghanaians really knew what a jewel they had, would they be less likely to throw plastic bags of trash out of trotro windows? Would it be less common for me to walk home from work smelling the sickly sweet smell of burning plastic? Would community members push harder for environmentally conscious behaviour changes?

When I first came to Ghana I was shocked and, quite frankly, appalled by two things: lack of environmental regulations, and the apathetic attitudes and behaviours often exerted by Ghanaians towards their natural habitat. I distinctly remember whizzing through Accra in a taxi, nauseated by the thick layer of exhaust fumes seemingly floating over the road, and thinking to myself: “This can’t be real. A country where millions of citizens rely on the environment for the success of their agriculture projects, and this is how we’re treating the environment!?”

Where do these unsafe, environmentally compromising vehicles come from? Why are they allowed here? I’m certainly no expert, but I do know that they come from rich ‘developed’ countries via exportation. Exportation is a complex industry unto itself– one that I can’t claim to understand now, but that I’m eager to learn more about.

I picture car exportation this way– it’s sort of like if you were to buy a sweater you love and decided to wear it every single day for a year. At year’s end, your sweater has seen better days and you’re tired of wearing it. So what do you do? You give it to your younger brother, who is small enough that the sweater will fit, albeit probably not well. He also isn’t likely to complain about how nasty your sweater is, having been worn for 365 days. He’s probably just going to put it on and go play in a sandbox, happy to be covered from the elements. Meanwhile, you’re quite relieved to have gotten rid of your dirty old sweater, and are likely already on your way to go replace it with a newer, cleaner, more stylish version. To me, rich countries dumping used cars in Africa is kind of like you giving your soiled clothes to a younger sibling. And so it goes, Ghana ends up with a plethora of junky cars spitting out thick, black smoke across its countryside.

This year Ghana’s farmers have been incredibly frustrated with the changes they are seeing in the weather patterns, and how it is negatively impacting their yields. These two extremes, one of thoughtless destruction and one of heavy reliance, currently co-exist in Ghana. But, I have to ask myself how much longer they can afford to sweep these pressing environmental issues under the rug.

Ghanaians are proud people who love Ghana, that’s certainly true. But, much to my dismay and heartbreak, protecting their environment doesn’t factor in to that. I can’t help but wonder how different things would be if it did.

Thanks for reading,

Erin