A Hundred For Gogo

Malaysia is sinking because the ice is melting. The ice is melting because of global warming. The Globe is warming because of fossil burning. That’s what the scientists say. As an African it is in my nature to seek advice from my elders especially when faced with a burning issue. Lucky for me this week my grandmothers visit to the city has been extended indefinitely due to the ongoing opposition protests against government tax hikes in Nairobi. Although the protests have crippled activities within the city of Nairobi and a few other places in the country. The protests have come as a blessing in disguise because of my inability to go to work, my sons inability to go to school, my brothers in ability go to the university and Grandmother’s inability to return to the village after her medical appointment. This allowed us priceless once in a lifetime opportunity for three generations to sit down to watch television. Dstv was running a documentary on climate change on one of its nature channels. It was during this rare opportunity that grandmother ‘Gogo’ as she is commonly referred to by her children asked a somewhat simple yet not so much simple question about the rising sea level. ‘ Why can’t they pump some of the water from the oceans into the Sahara desert so that the islands like Malaysia may not sink?’ Gogo asked This question left many of us sitting in the living room in stitches. What was funny was not the question as much but rather how she had asked it. Innocently. Without second thought we of generation X and Y went about explaining to her how it was difficult her suggestion was. ‘It would be almost impossible to find big enough pumps and equally bigger pipes that could accomplish what you are suggesting,’ My son started ‘ Even if we find the pumps and the pipelines the energy needed to pump all that water will probably have to be produced by diesel which would mean burning more fossil fuel. Unless we can find big solar panels or even bigger wind farms then we would be making there situation worse.’ ‘The ocean is too big, the water is too much and the ice is melting too fast!’ My younger brother Tony started vividly explained to the confused looking grandmother that pumping water from the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean into the Sahara desert would probably not do much for Malaysia. This was because Malaysia is miles away from the Sahara desert and moreover sadly enough Malaysia lies between the melting icebergs and the Sahara desert so unless the pipes were made longer all the way to Antarctica The Venture would be futility. But grandmother had another question. ‘ Then why don’t they bring the poor people of Malaysia and let them live in the Sahara Desert since nobody lives there.’ Grandma asked No one was quick to answer. Grandmothers questions were becoming more technical. ‘I suppose it could be done.’ My brother continued ‘I guess it is possible to move the affected populations from the sinking Islands to the Sahara desert like they did during the formation of Israel in 1948. However the challenge would be getting the Desert to be more hospitable and conducive otherwise it would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.’ ‘But that would mean that the World has lost against global warming and if that was the case nobody would be safe anywhere in the World’ ‘You have messed around with this world yet you haven’t another one. I thank God am almost 100 years old and I will not see the World sinking. But it hurts me to know that my children may not get to 100 years’ Grandmother replied For a moment I wished COP28 could listen to the prayer of this old toddler who neither understood the cause and effect of man-made disasters that boggle the minds of scientists, politicians, scholars and intellectuals of the 21st century. Malacca might be thousands of miles away from Timbuktu and Nairobi but yet still the effects of climate change affect all with devastating consequences. The realities of climate change I’ve never hit home harder than on this cold midmorning of July 2023 as I sit inside my apartment freezing like never before the sky clear like never before. Whether man-made or not that is an argument better left to the scientific community however we cannot be blind to the fact that something strange is happening. The changing weather patterns, the disappearing rivers and ice cold nightly breeze are strange occurrences in the Global South. Scrolling through my Twitter page a promoted advert catches my eye. ‘ 2023 United Nations climate change conference Thursday November 30th 2023 to Tuesday 12 December 2023.’ At the Expo City Dubai. The main agenda according to the promotion is the discussion of trade and its role climate action. Can industrialists and business people put the World before Profits? Can the problem be the solution.