- as the world celebrate Climate Emergency Day
As part of efforts to commemorate Climate Emergency Day 2022, seasoned Ghanaian rapper, Kwame Nsiah-Apau known by the stage name Okyeame Kwame has taken a tour to Saint Martin De Porres and the Nii Kojo Ababio cluster of schools to inspire environmental wonder in the heart of little ones.
This forms parts of efforts to increase advocacy in all sectors towards achieving the sustainable development goal 13 ahead of the 2030 deadline.
The tour was led by the seasoned rapper, Okyeame Kwame together with the Mayor for Accra Metropolitan Assmebly, Elizabeth Naa Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey and Portia Adu-Mensah, Lead Organizer for Climate Clock Ghana, an advocacy group that push for environmentally sustainable activities through its clock that countdowns to the time remaining to prevent global warming from rising above 1.5°C.
Commenting on why the sensitization was targeted at schools, the Climate Clock ambassador, Okyeame Kwame said there is a need for children to learn more about climate change because they appear to be more affectionate stressing that with their compassionate hearts, they can help spread information rapidly whiles significantly affecting change.
“You can’t teach new tricks to old dogs. Some of us are old and stuck with our ways and our habit have become integral but for children they are seeds and we have the opportunity to plant into children consciousness, love, kindness as well as compassion for nature.
They will then go home and affect their parents, friends and also grow up knowing the right things to do. Truly our leaders have a role to play but I believe that we should focus on the children and I believe they are the seeds and when they germinate love, nothing can stop them,” he said.
He added that he is ever ready to drum home the essence of protecting the environment. “I refuse to accept that man is mostly violent and rarely loving. So, I will shout out for Climate Justice until I lose my voice, protect all animals until I lose my strength, plant more trees until I lose all seeds, speak up to power’s greed until I have lost all words, for it is time to love back Nature or lose all life,” he said.
Lead Organiser for Climate Clock Ghana, Portia Adu-Mensah said the Climate Emergency Day is a moment to speak out and demand action. She added that the world officially has less than 7 years to act to keep global warming below 1.5°C.
“It has become necessary as the climate clock counts down from seven to six years – the number of years until it is no longer possible to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius which is the global warming deadline, Today is an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership to avert the disaster in 2030, especially in averting the impacts of climate action,” she said.
Some of the activities of the day were questions and answers on climate change climate resolutions, pledges and the one-minute observation of silence for nature. The day was made even more exciting when the seasoned rapper performed one of his 2021 hit songs, ‘Yeeko’.
Climate Clock
The Climate Clock first went viral on its launch in Union Square, New York City, in September 2020. It now has a global presence, with monument-sized Clocks installed in London, Rome, Seoul and Harrisburg, PA, and portable clocks in the hands of climate leaders from Greta Thunberg to Bill McKibben to Governor Jay Inslee.
For Earth Day 2022, Climate Clock swapped its countdown for messages of solidarity with survivors of recent climate catastrophes.
The Climate Clock exhibits a ‘Deadline’ counting down the time remaining to prevent global warming from rising above 1.5°C and three ‘Lifelines’ tracking progress on key solution pathways, including the percentage of the world’s energy from renewable sources, the amount of land currently protected by Indigenous peoples, and the amount of money dedicated to the Green Climate Fund. The countdown is based on IPCC data, the gold standard of climate science.
