this was a very long weekend. one of many weekends that elongate because of certain lifestyle choices and that test the limits of my resolve. i have a confession (yes, again). i hate generators. and its for all the reasons that you can imagine. i hate the contraption in and of itself, i hate the noise, i hate the fumes and i hate the fuel consumption. i hate the fact that i can literally see each puff of black smoke ascend into the upper atmosphere to devour an oxygen particle that was this close to repairing the ozone layer :)...and i happen to honestly believe that at the current rates of pollution, we will have no earth to call home in the next 20 years.
however, i am unfortunate to come from, and live in, a country that cannot generate anything in sufficient quantity to ensure that its citizens do not have to fend for themselves with regards basic amenities. there are public systems for water, electricity and telephones but nobody has any access to it. we have the water corporation but i for one have never had dealings with them in all my thirty-plus years on earth. we have the electricity company and i only have to deal with them when it comes time to argue about the over inflated bills they so happily bring at the end of the month when i have suffered in the heat and dark more than two-thirds the time.
to be honest, i have been successful in this resolve so far. i have lived my entire life simmering in temperatures that give me heat rash, i have learnt not to cook more than i can devour in the short term, i have learnt to entertain myself by socializing with real humans in my vicinity (as there is never enough power to watch a complete movie beginning to end) and i can expertly maneuver my entire house in absolute darkness. infact, i have become a human mutant with special powers. however, there are ridiculous downsides to this resolve if i may say so myself. for one, i have torn-out cardboard boxes of various shapes and sizes present in every room in my house with the sole life-goal of manually generating breeze on very hot nights - (fancy way of saying i use my hands to fan myself), i have ear mufflers to block out the sound of the generating sets of my six neighbours (who combined have about 12 generators - tiny blue chinese types for over-night use and big yellow/red ones for daytime use) and i cannot stay in certain rooms for fear of suffocation from carbon fumes as i live on the ground floor. its like living in a nigerian village in 1972...but resolved i remain.
everyone else seems to think this resolve is stupid. i mean, if you're surrounded by the noise and fumes anyways, how does your own little refusal to contribute change anything? and even if you don't join them, the earth will still deteriorate anyways cos chinese factories are emiting more carbon than i and my extended family combined??!!! plus, will you trek everywhere to avoid contributing your car's carbon emission to the atmosphere (i said 'within reason' y'all)? okay agreed but you see, at this point this resolve goes beyond generators. it has become a matter of principle; a test of will if you may, a standing against the multitude and an exercise of faith in a belief generally ridiculed...a somewhat selfish achievement. but i think we all have tiny quirks that we hold dear 'just because'. we all have something that we believe in against the odds and sometimes against logic only because its what makes us real, makes us human, keeps our soul satisfied that we are not like dry leaves carried along by the breeze; that we have roots that run deep in principles that make us unique...and that we don't care what anyone thinks about them.
and so although i feel like i stand alone is this personal struggle not to add to environmental pollution, i'd be glad to hear the things you care about...the principles you stand for and what you are doing personally to make a better world...if nothing else, you will gain my respect.
however, i am unfortunate to come from, and live in, a country that cannot generate anything in sufficient quantity to ensure that its citizens do not have to fend for themselves with regards basic amenities. there are public systems for water, electricity and telephones but nobody has any access to it. we have the water corporation but i for one have never had dealings with them in all my thirty-plus years on earth. we have the electricity company and i only have to deal with them when it comes time to argue about the over inflated bills they so happily bring at the end of the month when i have suffered in the heat and dark more than two-thirds the time.
and so you can imagine how difficult it was for me many years ago when i became aware of the climate change debate. it struck a major cord in my soul and made me realize that as always, mankind only reacts to present dangers. once something is abstract or far removed from your immediate family or life, you tend to assume it is someone else's problem. unfortunately, it isn't. after watching countless debates, documentaries and movies depicting the end of the world in one natural disaster or the other, it became clear that i could only live with myself if i did something personally to reduce MY personal carbon footprint within reason. i observed with great worry the level of personal power generation and the lack of carbon emission standards in Nigeria, and made up my mind not to ever join the madness.
and so, even though i can afford it a few times over - i'm a braggart i know-, i have decided never to use the regular petrol/diesel powered electricity generator for as long as it takes. you can laugh now (everyone else has).
to be honest, i have been successful in this resolve so far. i have lived my entire life simmering in temperatures that give me heat rash, i have learnt not to cook more than i can devour in the short term, i have learnt to entertain myself by socializing with real humans in my vicinity (as there is never enough power to watch a complete movie beginning to end) and i can expertly maneuver my entire house in absolute darkness. infact, i have become a human mutant with special powers. however, there are ridiculous downsides to this resolve if i may say so myself. for one, i have torn-out cardboard boxes of various shapes and sizes present in every room in my house with the sole life-goal of manually generating breeze on very hot nights - (fancy way of saying i use my hands to fan myself), i have ear mufflers to block out the sound of the generating sets of my six neighbours (who combined have about 12 generators - tiny blue chinese types for over-night use and big yellow/red ones for daytime use) and i cannot stay in certain rooms for fear of suffocation from carbon fumes as i live on the ground floor. its like living in a nigerian village in 1972...but resolved i remain.
everyone else seems to think this resolve is stupid. i mean, if you're surrounded by the noise and fumes anyways, how does your own little refusal to contribute change anything? and even if you don't join them, the earth will still deteriorate anyways cos chinese factories are emiting more carbon than i and my extended family combined??!!! plus, will you trek everywhere to avoid contributing your car's carbon emission to the atmosphere (i said 'within reason' y'all)? okay agreed but you see, at this point this resolve goes beyond generators. it has become a matter of principle; a test of will if you may, a standing against the multitude and an exercise of faith in a belief generally ridiculed...a somewhat selfish achievement. but i think we all have tiny quirks that we hold dear 'just because'. we all have something that we believe in against the odds and sometimes against logic only because its what makes us real, makes us human, keeps our soul satisfied that we are not like dry leaves carried along by the breeze; that we have roots that run deep in principles that make us unique...and that we don't care what anyone thinks about them.
and so although i feel like i stand alone is this personal struggle not to add to environmental pollution, i'd be glad to hear the things you care about...the principles you stand for and what you are doing personally to make a better world...if nothing else, you will gain my respect.
see y'all around peeps.
Comments
I love "once something is abstract or far removed from your immediate family or life, you tend to assume it is someone else's problem. Unfortunately, it isn't" On point.
As much as you're probably in the resolve by urself, i say walk in d dark all you want and stand by ur principle. Not sure i'll join u tho but i respect you for it so thumbs up
Part of my reasoning was of the usual "we have more important problems" extraction. Also how do you they plan to enforce, in a country where I can buy 5 different Driver's Licenses with 5 different identities.
Streets are not numbered or easily traceable, the whole process was a sham, disconnect everywhere, between the NCC and the telecoms companies and within the telecoms companies themselves. Networks which still provide crap services anyway.
I resisted despite their repeat visits to my office to sign people up. Did not make any sense to people around me, but it did to me.
Sadly I capitulated some weeks back when I had to get a new line and needed to register it. I'm stil defiant in my mind sha.
@mimee: At last! i knew someone would understand! i swear your position on sim card registration makes mad sense to me...but i can see why those less intelligent folk caught up with daily drudgery won't get it. :) and to be honest, this weekend was so blazing hot, and nepa refused to 'bring light', plus my neighbours ran their own generators the entire weekend. i think some higher power is trying to tell me its kinda enough...or remind me that the earth is indeed going bonkers (so i should stick to my resolve). now i'm really confused.
I LEAVE YOU (as my comment on this marvelous and stupendously written piece of lexical dexterity and over taxation of the medulla oblongata with intellectual sagacity and acumen) WITH THE TITLE OF MY ALL TIME GREATEST HIT/SONG/SUNG/MUSIC/ SONG-WRITING(SHARED WITH R.KELLY) AS GIVEN TO THE WORLD BY THE FIRST SELF-MADE MUTANT, M.J.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE.