One of the major reasons why most places are deprived of its natural qualities is due to pollution, among many other reasons. Pollution comes in different categories and it is really hard for a place that is fully occupied by humans to be free from pollution, which means we are the primary figure that pollute every environment we step foot in. Lot of governmental agencies have been created over the years to educate people about living an healthy life by having an healthy environment but I don't think people get the memo.
Pollution simply means the act of contaminating the environment through release or disposal of unhealthy substances or materials. I have seen and heard of all kind of pollution but the most prominent kind of pollution from where I'm from is land pollution. I wouldn't consider it the worst of all pollution but the fact that it is one the easiest form of pollution for humans also makes it dangerous. This occurs even in great cities in the world, not just developing countries.
It is like we only envisioned what an healthy environment looks like but we can't do what is necessary to get it done. The saddest part is that most humans are not enlightened enough to know that creating an healthy environment is for our own benefits and the moment our environment is unhealthy, it's pays us back with insects, disease and discomfort.
Speaking of personal experience with land pollution, believe me, I have had an experience that I pray I never witness again in my life time. If you haven't seen some places in the world, you wouldn't believe that there are things some specific category of humans do. I have witnessed land pollution in the cities but in this specific community I'm about to talk about, it is on the grand level. There are lot of strange rural communities in the world and this village just happens to be one of them.
It is a rural community called Owotoro located in the midst of other communities that forms ATISBO Local government in Oyo state. My stay there was not by choice, I was posted there for my NYSC journey. The community is an isolated village that feels like it fell out of grace, since governmental related activities here is almost invisible.
Apart from two government schools the government uses as a means of promoting education in the community, every other thing in this community is provided by the community members. The community is dominated by the Yoruba tribe and they are ruled by a King. Their way of life was kind of alien to me at first when I got here because I have never seen people live in the manner at which people in this community does.
Almost every member of this community is a farmer, even those having other official/governmental jobs still have farms they are cultivating. Farming is their major source of income in this community. It has made it a lot easier for this community to thrive on natural resources and farm produce. As a result of their passion for farming it made them also shy away from education which kinds of makes larger percentage of the populace of this community illiterates.
As healthy as it is to consume farm produce that are directly from the farm, they lack proper method of disposing their farm produce waste. The most popular crops they plant here are Cassava, Corn, Soya beans, Yam, Vegetables and pepper. Though they also raise livestocks but all these crops are not without waste after harvest. Some of the waste are still consumable by their livestocks but since their livestocks are not caged in their compound they roam around on the streets in the community.
So the community members feel a lot comfortable disposing this waste on the streets believing their livestocks will consume it and if not, it will rot there. There are times when I'm on my way to my PPA and I will witness this villagers dumping cassava waste on their major road, which is just one but at least it is painted and smooth compared to other roads in the community.
Land pollution has been a constant issue in this community and they see nothing wrong about it, moreover it is not only farm waste that cause pollution in the community, it also includes all forms of household stuff used in this community. They don't have a waste disposal system, so they prefer to dump their used cans, nylon e.t.c by the side of their house and burn it there.
As a result of improper waste disposal in this community, it has attracted lot of pest into the community which includes rat, cockroaches, housefly and most dangerous of them all are snakes and Scorpions. They come around to feast on the dirt, snakes are less rampant since those once are mostly hunted for food by the hunters in the community but you see Scorpions, those deadly creatures roam about like mosquitoes.
As if that is not bad enough, The smell of rotten farm produce dumped on the streets sometimes makes it difficult for me to breath but for the villagers it is nothing, they are used to it already. It is not as if they are immune to the consequences of this, they just don't care about the implications.
Solving land pollution issues has never been easy, since it involves both government intervention and citizens obedience. In proffering solution to this, For a start, I would say a proper waste disposal system. The lack of proper waste disposal system is the reason why we have a lot of dirt in the streets, people will always find ways to dispose their dirt even if it means doing it the wrong way, though I also know there are others who would still dispose their dirt wrongly despite the availability of a good waste disposal system.
Creating a governmental task force to deal with such people would also be effective. Sometimes when I'm going out in the morning, I have seen people that will carry dirt from their houses and pour it on the street, under the cover of darkness. If each local government can have people that would serve as watchdog for such people because if ordinary citizens should approach them, things will turn out ugly really fast. I believe this would at least decrease the rising spate of pollution in our society.
This write-up was inspired by week 22 SciFi multiverse prompt titled "Pollution" in SciFi multiverse community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
All images used are mine
