Environmental And Climate Literacy: Putting The Youth At The Forefront Of Issues

As the World marks this year’s Earth Day, Green Minds Ghana Initiative (GMGI) is joining more than 1 billion individuals and organisations across the globe to create environmental awareness and to dedicate the day to ensuring that the youth become environmental and climate literates and an agents of change. GMGI is an environmental advocacy group aimed at propagating the course of environmental consciousness and management among Ghanaians through advocacy whiles seeking common solutions to the country’s environmental challenges.

At GMGI, we believe that “change begins with the mind and the power to stop environmental depletion rests within the individual consumers”. It is imperative therefore, that promoting environmental literacy among students is a stepping stone for solving the country’s environmental problems whiles protecting our valuable natural resources.

Our strategy is to create a pool of youth in schools and communities to act as change agents for environmental management. GMGI charges students to educate their parents, peers, friends and families on the need to plant trees, avoid felling of trees in their homes, schools and forests in order to control the excessive emission of greenhouse gases that heat in the atmosphere and also to stop indiscriminate waste disposal.

To do this and ensure the sustainability of knowledge shared, we establish environmental clubs in schools across Northern Ghana. We charge the youth; either in school or not, at the primary, JHS, SHS and tertiary levels to be at the forefront of environmental issues and to improve the usage and management of natural resources in Northern Ghana.

As we commemorate the Earth Day on the theme “Environmental and Climate Literacy”, Green Minds Ghana Initiative is calling on people that climate change is real and it already having impacts on our natural resources and systems such as agriculture. It is important to recognise and to intensify climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts across the country. “We urge all Ghanaians, especially the youth to inspire actions toward environmental protection.

We urge the government to help promote climate change adaptation and to advance policies towards respecting and protecting our environment from any form of indiscriminate behaviours from individuals and corporate organisations or countries”. In our own small ways, let us make this celebration a success by cutting back on single use plastics, recycling and planting at least a tree.

By: Green Minds Ghana Initiative, Wa-Ghana ( [email protected] )