March 6, 2000
Our world is under immense pressure from the challenges posed by the environmental disasters that visit the doors of nations with no notice. There seem to be no prevention or remedy for these acts of God
The sickening earthquakes of recent times that befell a poor African country like Mozambique gives us the scary conviction that our fates lies in the hands of Mother Earth, who decides our existence by her whim.
Yet the youth of today must not relent in their advocacy for a saner planet in spite of the mercurial temperament of the earth’s ecosystem.
In Sierra Leone, the level of deforestation is so great especially amongst peasant farmers who fell firewood which is lastly used for cooking in the Freetown peninsula area and around the environment and the hilly topography of Freetown.
They chop and leave these trees lying for days before they can bodily haul them to town for sale, or burn these woods for charcoal consumption.
Another problem is housing. Most houses have been burnt down in the city. Many could risk it by mountaineering the hilly terrain just to construct houses that are prone to destruction by the heavy boulders that descend from the top of the hills. This sometimes causes death of household members when the boulders loosening from the grip of the soil finds them sheltering in those houses. The trees that are cut down are hardly replaced, despite our efforts to bring it to the attention of the government authorities. However, on the 5th of June, which is the National Tree Planting day, we have often been successful in goading the habitants of those hilly terrain to plant trees in order to avoid the problems of erosion.
Finally, we hope that as more and more youths join in the advocacy for the protection of the forest and the earth’s ecosystem, the level of awareness will be so great.
Andrew Benson Greene Jr.
I*EARN YOUTHCaN, Sierra Leone