Making the world a better place will seem like an enormous task to many people and some will even feel it's up to the world government and wealthy individuals to enact the changes that will lead to a better world but everyone has a role to play. Those little things you think don't matter really do in the grand scheme of things. That's why we keep hearing people say "Change begins with you" and there's no lie in that phrase.
A collection of trees makes up a forest, and little drops of water make up the ocean, so it's safe to say that individual efforts will go a long way to make the world a better place. Everyone has different areas they can choose to put in the efforts that can effect the changes the world needs, be it in areas like war, hunger, poverty, pollution, global warming, and other problems that affect the world. One area that has piked my interest over the years is pollution and the journey is actually a funny one.
This is an example of something that many people feel doesn't matter if they do it or not because I had the same mindset a couple of years back. I could care less about littering the environment with waste, I can be walking down the road while drinking a can of Coca-Cola and after finishing it, I drop the can on the ground. One of my friends always tries to correct me by telling me to dispose of my trash in a waste bin and I will reply her with "It doesn't matter, Nigeria is one big waste bin".
Things changed when I did a particular course in 400 level and I learned about something called microplastics, heavy metals, and PCBs. I won't go into much detail about these lest I bore you guys but what you should know about those 3 things I mentioned is that they are all related to pollution from waste, which include that can of coke I dropped on the ground.
Those plastics find their way into water bodies (like rivers, sea, and the ocean) and they break down into something called microplastics. These microplastics in turn will accumulate heavy metals and PCBs and where do they eventually end up? Inside the fishes you and I eat. These substances are very dangerous because in the long run and after years of accumulating in the body, they can lead to cancer.
After learning all these, I became more conscious of my environment. I stopped the indiscriminate dumping of waste and will always use a waste bin whenever I want to dispose of something. It's a good thing that in my university, there are a lot of waste bins lying around but that doesn't still stop a lot of people from dumping their waste on the ground. Sometimes when I see no waste bin nearby, I keep the waste in my bag and dispose it when I get home.
Back home, I make use of a garbage bag which I buy for N800 ($0.8) and it contains 50 pieces that can last up to 2 months. Using a garbage bag means I can tie up the household waste before dumping it in the waste bin outside the house. It's a good thing that the waste management company comes to pick up the collective waste from my house every month but do they properly dispose of these wastes? Nope, those of us in Nigeria know exactly where those wastes will still end up.
But that won't stop me from doing my part, the rest is up to other individuals and the government. Aside from the chemical effects of these wastes in water that I mentioned earlier, they also lead to air pollution and at the same time, they are not visually pleasing. Imagine a neighborhood filled with household wastes lying on most of the road and another neighborhood with not a single thrash in sight, which would you like to move into? But are you doing your part to make sure your immediate environment is clean?
This is why I admire Denmark. They have the most efficient waste disposal in the world and it's no wonder they won the world’s cleanest country. Their water and air quality is the best in the world and it's all because of individual and government efforts towards ensuring the country is neat. Will it be so bad if everyone does the same? Everybody is talking about global warming and how we are killing the Earth but do you know that improper waste disposal is a contributing factor? I guess we are not ready for that conversation yet.
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One of the things I also do to make the world a better place is that I never cheat or defraud people. Here in Nigeria, it is starting to become a normal thing where businesses and companies always look for ways to maximize profit even if it means hurting other people. They do all sorts of things which can be as little as hoarding goods to create scarcity thereby increasing the price or going as far as adding dangerous substances to food items just to increase the quantity (they do this to ground pepper, melon, and crayfish).
I have been in a lot of situations where I could have easily made a lot of money from unsuspecting people but my conscious wouldn't let me. I will admit that most of the time it was very tempting and sometimes very easy because all I had to do was lie, but I ended up just doing an honest transaction with them. When some of my friends heard about some of those instances I could have made a lot of money by deceiving others, they said my decision was foolish and this just goes to show the mindset of an average Nigerian.
Yesterday, I watched a shocking video about an accident involving a bus and a petrol tanker. Some people were already dead while the injured ones were seen lying on the ground with nobody helping them. It wasn't like there was nobody around to help, but guess what they were doing? They were busy looting the tanker to get as much petrol as they could before security forces showed up.
It was very heartbreaking because those accident victims needed immediate medical attention but the priority of the people around was to steal petrol which they will sell later to make money. Making money at the expense of other people's lives, where is their humanity? As I said earlier, that's something I can never do because it will haunt me for the rest of my life. And I believe the world will be a lot better if everyone develops the same mindset as well and just live an honest life.
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