The average Nigerian and climate awareness
How often do average Nigerians run into contents like “Reuse and recycle used plastics” “Use public transport to cut down vehicular exhaust” “Avoid burning wood and waste.” A country beset with numerous environmental challenges due to climate change should be at the forefront of environmental awareness, publicizing, and education, but it's clearly not the case.
Dare I say environmental awareness, publicizing, and education is a form of mitigation? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines mitigation as “an anthropogenic intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.” In other words, mitigation is any action taken to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane) that are emitted into the atmosphere, or to increase the amount of greenhouse gases that are removed from the atmosphere. This can be achieved through various means, and public education and awareness approach is one of those approaches.
It is evidenced in research that individuals who had received some form of environmental education were more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviors such as recycling, reducing water usage, and conserving energy. In addition, a review of literature on the topic found that environmental education programs can have a significant impact on students' attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors related to the environment. In the journal for cleaner production, a research paper : The importance of environmental education in the determinants of green behavior showed that environmental education reveals as a powerful tool to generate green behavior among citizens.
Environmental NGOs should embrace the power of environmental education, publicizing, and awareness in mitigating climate change, a laudable step will be increasing the frequency at which the average Nigerian sees environmental information and contents be it on the internet or in real life scenarios. This is however, not to say that environmental NGOs aren't indulging this approach, rather it's emphasizing the gap in our online and offline battle against unsustainable practices in Nigeria.
