Greening Ghana

When the Sun Rises; Rain, Floods : Oh Accra !

Oh Accra !

When the Sun rises; the rain will show us how poorly we have planned for its coming as a City.

When the sun rises; the rain will show us how poorly we have dealt with plastic waste as a collective.

When the sun rises; the rain will show us how this city cannot function in its hustle and bustle with rain beyond a certain intensity and duration.

When the sun rises; the rain will show us how we have failed to plan, design, engineer and build infrastructure like a society situate in a flood plane that gets rained on.

When the run rises; we will see flood zones we cannot seem to find ways to engineer to control their submersion.

When the sun rises; we will see tragedy unfold in places they keep recurring just because we went to sleep anytime after it happened last.

When the sun rises; we will see authorities playing their damage control rhetoric that takes precedent over the preventive measures they should have put in place months ago.

When the sun rises; we will see the Déjà vu moments of “Disaster Management” we have become so used to; so numb to.

When the sun rises, the rain will show us; and we shall see:

That we have failed as a City!

When the sun rises; Rain, Floods : Oh Accra !

image source:
bbc[.]com

© albert nii armah masoperh

WHY ARE NEW DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES IN GREATER ACCRA FLOODING?

WHY ARE NEW DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES IN GREATER ACCRA FLOODING?

There are several new settlements developing in Accra, faster than road networks can catch up.

The reality on the ground in these new areas is that the developments happen way before the road and highway networks reach there.

In a few years, these communities begin to flood and the entire population begin to wonder why.

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THE CAUSE:

Gutters [drains] being constructed are higher than the entire surrounding environment when they are supposed to he engineered to be lower to allow for a natural flow of run-off water.

There is the machinery and the work force on site to engineer, to dig and to do proper drains that are adequately below ground level;

that can channel communal run-off water when it rains;

But the drains ended up being constructed small and on the surface!

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THE EFFECTS

Several residences, if not all, under construction will have to in-fill their construction sites to match up to this height.

All this filling comes at an extra cost.

Depending on the size of the community, that is a whole lot of filling because of poorly engineered and constructed drains.

Those that do not do this filling before construction and do not raise their building’s ground floor levels to be higher than the road level run the risk of having run-off from the road entering their homes and that from their sites not being able to get into the drain in front of their house.

This will lead to flooded homes in the entire community after a few hours of rain.

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THE QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERING:

Why are the roads and drains being poorly engineered and constructed?

Who is approving these poorly planned road and drain construction?

Where are our road and hydrological engineers and why are they approving and allowing this poor quality of work?

Why do those in charge, from the Assemblies, to the Municipalities all the way up to the Ministry of Roads and Highways allow this to happen?

Where is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and all the other Agencies supposed to be looking out for the causes of flooding and to help avert them from the onset doing?

When it rains, how exactly is the run-off water from the surrounding environment supposed to get into the drains and to be channeled away to prevent communal flooding?

How and why are drains being designed to be above the surrounding environment in a developing area?

How is the rain water supposed to go from a lower ground in a higher drain?

Why will our new developing areas like TseAddo and “East Legon Hills” not flood after a few hours of rain?

Why are we are all Developing Accra to flood some more and watching on while it happens?

Do share your thoughts with us.

To be Continued…..

image source:
theghanareport[dot]com

#RelearnReUse ♻️ #ReThinkRefuse ♻️ #RethinkRot

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#RethinkRefuse

Refuse : the verb .
To not accept something .

Refuse : the noun .
An item or collection of items worth nothing that we reject and discard.

We refuse refuse !

Hence, Language refuses to acknowledge our refuse .

We cannot fix sanitation if the very language of communication is against it.

If we change how we refer to it;

We will change the mindset attached to it;

And that act in favour of a mindshift

#RethinkRefuse

#RelearnReUse

.

How we refuse Refuse and need to Relearn and Rethink its ReUse

#RethinkRefuse

#RethinkRot

Single Use plastic in the hands of those that do not care will eventually end up in a land fill or in the sea

Single Unse Plastic In the hands of someone that cares will segregated properly, end up in a CleanWatse Vault or end up Recycled

Refusing to take it may seem the right thing up till now

But since production is not reducing

And enforcement is not reaching far

We should leave them in the those that do not care?

RethinkRefuse

Get your single use plastic to a CleanWaste Vault Today

RethinkReuse

Collect

Send to a CleanWaste Vault

.

Waste not; keep clean; re/up-cycle
#RelearnReUse
#ReduceRefuseReuseRepurposeRecycle

#RethinkRot

#WorldEnvironmentDay2023

Remember…. 💚

a glimpse of our “sanitation”

While you and your loved ones enjoy this festive season;

remember 💚
that this time of year produces the most waste;

remember 💚
that the frequency at which waste is produced this time of year is so fast;

so fast that people will forget to sort and segregate their waste;

remember 💚
that this waste, unlike the proverbial snow and the dust of Harmattan will not disappear with the wind;

remember 💚
that, come June, when the dust of the Harmattan has clear with the wind…

this waste that chokes our life, our environment, will have its revenge when the rains come and the floods come;

remember 💚
your waste, while you celebrate;

remember 💚
the life you could save, come June when the floods come;

remember, 💚

reduce the floods,
dispose of waste properly,
save a life, come June.

Remember… 💚

*

brought to you by the C W I

Cyc_Technologies

waste not; keep clean; re/up-cycle

#Akyaatopia_

When Wealth Becomes A Curse .

When wealth becomes a curse, We destroy our environment for it;
We who will in time realise that wealth cannot buy life.

When wealth becomes a curse, We forget to take care of the source of this wealth;
the source being the environment We are supposed to tender.

When wealth becomes a curse, We forget the environment that keeps us alive;
a living that will soon be chocked by a wealth cursed.

When wealth becomes a curse, We see the hypocrisy of faith;
faith in what is yet to come, while We look on as We destroy your source of life.

With our actions and inactions!

When wealth becomes a curse, you see us do very little to protect life;
protection that seems to be going elsewhere.

When wealth becomes a curse, you see people of power lost in action;
people of action who in other matters showed vim and vigour.

When wealth become a curse, you see the silence of the powers that be;
powers with all the might to make mountains move and shift.

But they move and shift their voice, arms and feet to other things;
things to distract us from the curse they have a hand in.

With their actions and inactions!

A great soul once said:
“When the last Tree is felled, when the last fish is caught and when the last river is poisoned:
that is when wo/man will know that s/he cannot eat money!”

We are chasing money, while our leaders watch on with little effort as the life is sucked out of our environment;
the very environment that is keeping us alive.

We are failing to go the extra mile, to do what needs to be done to protect the elements:
the very elements that keep us alive.

The Earth, the Water, the Air, the Fire we have turned into destruction;
We have poisoned our very essence.

With our actions and inactions!

Are We MAD, CURSED or HYPOCRITES?

When wealth becomes a curse.

thoughtsbyalm

#Akyaatopia_

image sources:
securityoutlines[dot]cz
nationalgeographic[dot]com
citinewsroom[dot]com
thecustodianghonline[dot]com