Episode 183

[FOCUS] Black Soot in Nigeria and Campaigning

Episode Summary: This episode is a segment of a longer conversation in which Olanbanji and Inma talk about the relationship between the environment and health 

According to a UN study, the direct damage cost to health incurred by climate change is estimated to be between 2 to 4 billion per year in 2030.

Olabanji shared how the community successfully campaigned when black soot was all over his city. Faced with public discontent, the politicians had no solution other than implementing adequate measures to end pollution from black soot.

This proved that lobbying and campaigning could trigger public response and politicians to find solutions. 

So get involved! No matter how big or small is your contribution, get involved because your voice matters.

To listen to the full conversation, go there

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

 

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can find out more on pages 81, 114, 147, 149 and 154 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 357, 586, 063, 589 and 252.

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Olabanji Stephen and Inma Lopez

Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria, he’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.

 Imma is from Cádiz in the South of Spain, living in Aberdeen, Scotland. Imma is a sommelier, a poet, a podcaster, a mother, a slow food advocate, and an animist activist.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Transcript
OLABANJI:

In River State here in Nigeria, there was a time.

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That there was black suit everywhere.

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I mean, if you wipe your windows,

you look at it, it's black, and you

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go out and you, you get back, you go

wash your hands, the water is black.

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It's just obvious that something is wrong.

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Something was wrong with the air.

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I, I stepped out to the gym, uh, I,

good workout very early in the morning.

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So I stepped out and I saw the clouds.

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I saw the air.

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It was visibly,

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INMA: Wow.

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OLABANJI: it was really intense.

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We started campaigning, um, a

lot of people came together,

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you know, the government, they

had to do something about it.

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So they started shutting down illegal

refineries, uh, , carbon, uh, demanding

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activities and all the other stuffs.

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And within two, three weeks

in that space, it got really.

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Things started clearing up.

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The air was better.

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It was obviously better

because we could see it.

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INMA: Yeah,

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OLABANJI: We could see it.

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And that was scary because I

mean, if I could see it and I'm

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breathing this air, then oh my God,

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INMA: yeah.

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OLABANJI: that was, that was scary.

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People fell.

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See, you know, and, and stuff, but just

the action of campaigning, people coming

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together, you know, hashtag everywhere.

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Stop the suits, you know, stop

doing this, stop doing that.

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You know, they got the, police

involved , within the space of

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two, three weeks, things started

clean up and it got really better.

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INMA: Yeah, I, I do remember.

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That's just, that's amazing.

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I think the call to action today

is, is exactly that campaign because

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one person alone cannot do much

about how to change the impact that.

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OLABANJI: Yeah.

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INMA: The carbon emissions have

on, on the health, on our health,

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on the health of the planet.

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So the call to action, definitely there is

lobby campaigning with everyone around you

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OLABANJI: Yeah.

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INMA: around us to close

factories, to to reduce

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OLABANJI: yeah.

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To find, to find greener ways

of doing some of these things.

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To

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reduce the carbon heavy.

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INMA: it's a complex, situation because

there are people in the community who work

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in those factories and maybe they don't

want the factory to be closed, but we need

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to, we need to put some creativity and

really be aware of what is the best for

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the community

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OLABANJI: Yeah.

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I, I totally agree with you.

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Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.