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Tree planting. A tree planting activity was conducted by the United Methodist Church youths. Only four trees were planted but the main agenda of such an activity was to spread the gospel of environmental awareness in our faith group.
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Tree planting • A tree planting activity was conducted by the United Methodist Church youths. Only four trees were planted but the main agenda of such an activity was to spread the gospel of environmental awareness in our faith group. • The tree planting activity started with a teaching on the importance of plants in our day to day lives as well as our natural environment. • Trees are needed for the absorption of excessive greenhouse gases that are being continuously released into the atmosphere from heavy industries as well as fossil fuel burning • The gases being released include carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide to mention just a few
The lesson went on to mention the importance of trees in enhancing rainfall due to high rates of evaporation hence increased moisture for raindrop formation. • Youths were therefore encouraged to plant trees often and the unnecessary cutting of trees was discouraged. • It was noticed that the participants were in total support of such activities but they have been lacking motivation thus after taking the first step in environmental issues they followed. • After the lesson a demonstration was given on how to plant a tree as taught from our previous meeting and everyone present was eager to participate in the activity though the trees were few
Masiye Camp Meeting • Youth members managed to embark on a journey to Masiye, a beautiful mountanious area near Matopos to have an appreciation of the natural features of the land which is contributing significantly to biological diversity. • Youths love to travel and being adventurous hence to win them in the issue of environmental awareness the recreation committee planned a camp meeting for the youths. It was during this trip that a platform for spreading the gospel of environment was found and this worked wonders since we had visited nature hence a quick appreciation of the mother earth was done. • The use of indigenous knowledge systems in Masiye is playing a pivotal role in protecting the environment. • Certain forests are not allowed to be cleared for any purpose and no trees are allowed to be cut even for firewood. The Indigenous Knowledge systems thus is helping a lot in reducing biodiversity loss since the place is left in its natural state thereby allowing the ecosystem to sustain itself in terms of all requirements for its existence and interaction between living organism and the environment. • An interview done with one of the villagers reviewed that the mountainous area was a sacred place which should not be tempered with and in doing so it has become an advantage to the ecosystem since it has been left to be in its natural state where there is no human interaction. • Other places which are not allowed to be tempered with included wetlands which are not allowed to be cultivated. To the local community cultivating or doing any activity in a wetland brings bad luck and it’s a serious offence that will result in a penalty hence everyone there is afraid to commit such an offence.
The Masiye mountainous area has now become a representative sample of the natural ecosystem living on its own and this raised an alarm to the young generation on the importance of preserving our natural environment since the campout ended with a teaching on the importance of biodiversity. • Again this was a successful activity as the participants showed the zeal to do what they can so as to save our mother earth in its natural form.
Challenges encountered • - Masiye is a remote area and far away from cities hence a lot of people could not afford money for transport and the camp happened when the prices of fuel had increased thereby increasing bus fares thus few people showed up yet we had expected a lot of people
Clean up • This has become a national event and now being conducted on the first Friday of every month. • Clean up campaigns are a way of keeping our environment clean thereby reducing land pollution as well eliminating certain diseases associated with dirtiness such as cholera and typhoid. • All age groups and organizations are encouraged to take part in such campaigns. • School children were also involved hence the saying “catch them young”. With such exercise it means that when they grow up they will not go wrong in terms of environmental protection. (Proverbs 22 v 6 – ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it’)This is a clear assurance of an environment clean generation. • There was also community engagement in the clean up sine the people of the community are the ones that dump litter every where and also the ones who are affected by the impacts of environmental pollution such as diseases hence the need to educate and involve them in cleaning up their community.
Challenges Clean up • Resource mobilization was a challenge since the City Council offered to provide a few resources such as the dump truck, bin liners and brooms and the rest we were to source for ourselves • Money was needed to purchase latex gloves as well as dust mask which had not been budgeted for however we were able to get the resources from well wishers who offered a helping hand e.g. dust masks from Sable Chemicals and pet drinks from Delta. • Appreciation for those who participated was needed especially after the hard work people needed some refreshments of which we had limited resources compared with the number of people who participated
Environmental awareness workshops • These were done at workplace during safety talks as well as environmental workshops • The main agenda of these workshops was to raise environmental awareness to the working class. Workers were encouraged to take care of the environment as well as to prevent pollution • Environmental awarenesses were conducted to make sure that everyone knows that our environment is everyone’s responsibility. • The main idea was not to give knowledge to the employees only but for them to practice and share it with others even when not at work places. • Topics that were mostly presented included waste management. It had been noted that each day a significant amount of waste is being generated from our industrial processes hence the need to adopt to strategies that can be used to ensure good waste management such as recycling, reusing as well as reducing. • With such awareness's it is clear that many communities will be well taken care of since employees will raise alarm in their different communities hence the widespread of proper waste management.
Different bins with different colours have been designed as a way of improving waste management. • GREEN BINS- non hazardous waste such as foodstuffs • BLUE BINS- hazardous waste such as chemicals • WHITE BINS- plastics • YELLOW BINS-cardboard and papers • Tarmac surfaces and drainage systems have been designed as well so as to reduced infiltration of hazardous chemicals and oil hence reducing ground water pollution since nearby communities drink borehole water.
Challenges Environmental Awareness • For the environmental awareness workshops to take place there was need for approval from high authority of which it was a bit tough to conduct such awareness's. A lot of paper work needed to be done and signed before the approval • - the workshops were to be conducted during working hours yet the management worked with targets hence time spent doing these workshops meant production was at stake thus only a few environment awareness workshops were done.
