Climate Change is Real; It Is Really Happening

Last year climate change became reality for the United States. New York City flooded, a historic drought blanketed the Midwest, and we saw one of the worst fire seasons ever recorded. By July, the U.S. had shattered over 40,000 daily heat records.

The question now is whether last year’s events will lead to new momentum for climate solutions. Will we get a shift in public opinion to match the shifting climate?

So far, surprisingly, the answer seems to be yes. Recent months have seen a long list of institutions and individuals—many rather unexpected, some powerful—speaking out in favor of action on climate change.

The climate movement has some strange new bedfellows. Here’s a roundup:

The American people

No longer able to deny what they see with their own eyes, a growing number of Americans are acknowledging that climate change is real. According to Gallup, 51% of Americans worried a great deal or a fair amount about global warming in 2011. By March 2012, a Gallup poll showed that number had increased to 55%, and this year, Gallup bumped that up to 58%. This is in line with the trend seen in a Yale poll released in October 2012, which found that 74% of Americans believe “global warming is affecting weather in the United States,” up 5 points from their survey six months earlier.

Other findings align with these, though the numbers differ. According to a recent study conducted by Duke University, 50% of Americans are now “convinced the climate is changing" and another 34% believe it "is probably changing." That study found that Americans are at their highest level of belief in climate change and humans’ contribution to it since 2007.

Perhaps this trend will bolster new science teaching guidelines expected to be implemented in up to 40 states, which include extensive lessons on human-caused climate change.

The changes to the science curriculum are not without controversy, and the Duke study saw some division on climate change along party lines. However, another recent Yale survey revealed that even a majority of Republicans now believe in climate change. Notable among those is former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger . Like many other Americans, he not only believes the majority of scientists on this issue but also what he’s seeing himself. And what he’s seeing is a threat to California and its agriculture, which helps feed the rest of the country and provides over 1.5 million jobs in that state.

A good climate for action

All this concern about climate change indicates that the climate is in fact changing — that is, the climate for action. And it could be an indication that real change is on the way. Initiatives in the military and financial worlds will likely set the tone for other areas and hasten progress on a number of fronts.

A good example is the Navy, which is seeing climate change as an opportunity to “turn vulnerability into capability." Their search for the best biofuels will likely drive down prices and make it less necessary to protect oil supplies. And as they like to point out, where the Navy leads, others will follow.

The same can be said of financial institutions. As more investors demand that companies mitigate carbon emissions, the financial pressures will force businesses to take action.

While the past year’s extreme weather events may have done a lot to change some minds, belief in climate change has been progressing for years. Now we’re at the point where some of our most sober institutions are on board to deal with it, and they’ll be backed by increasing public support. With all these sectors of society working on the problem, we have a much better chance of solving it.

Africa and Africans in Diaspora

I presently feel like an ambassador of the great continent of Africa.

I have attended a couple of meetings in the last few weeks with the title “Africa” this and that. They are both unique in their aims, both differing greatly in the area of relevance and how much power we have over the execution. The first one was courtesy of Ida and it was, well, a political gathering. Not knowing what to expect, I decided I would observe, take it all in and analyse. The aim? To explore and discuss how the government can proactively include issues that are relevant to Africa and Africans in their manifestos.

The second was more about Africans for Africa; how we motivate each other and generations to come both at home and in the diaspora. I am sure you are right there with me now.

The first meeting was well attended, beyond the organiser’s expectations -a positive indication that we are beginning to take ourselves and our motherland seriously. Lots of important issues were raised such as education, AIDS, immigration, African youth, the role and impact of the government on civil wars etc.

Intelligent and thought provoking discussions, as expected from a gathering of Africans, ensued overall making it quite an experience.

One common bone of contention, and rightly so, was that none of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) members turned up for the panel, the organizers had valid reasons for that and those that were present including the counselors did a good job. My only concern is that the outcome and fruitfulness is largely dependent on the outcome of the next elections ~ so folks over to you.

I went to the second meeting full of expectations, the line-up was awesome and the turn out impressive. All the speakers turned up .The spotlight was on a real and tangible contributions to healthcare and Mr. Samurai a professor in BRCC hit a nerve when he said, “let us start telling our own stories – positive, empowering and full of natural resources Africa, instead of how we are being portrayed at the moment – helpless, hopeless, dying with a begging bowl”, which we addressed in this forum recently. The same people lap up in luxury in Africa, exploring our natural resources and price the indigenes out as I observed when I went to Liberia.

It was encouraging to hear so many Africans of the diaspora talk about what they are doing to raise our profile here and contribute to progress back at home as well, which we agreed to call “turning brain drain to brain gain.” Yours sincerely also highlighted some clinical work that we do all over Africa. I will be doing a full write up on this meeting later. Ms. Bradwell from Southern Universitry lit up the room with her infectious enthusiasm and we closed with a challenging question from Sam Onigbanjo: “If not now-when? If not me-who?”


Having been to both meetings, set up by the African Student Organization of LSU in the best interest of Africa and Africans of the diaspora, I can only come to one conclusion: “When the government comes to the realization that we are serious about “brain gain”- they will begin to take Africans and Africa seriously”.

Boko Haram is Nigeria's Worst Enemy

Nigeria is still reeling from numerous bloody bombings on the northern city of Kano, Nigeria braces itself for more violence ahead. The bulk of the casualties in the attacks on churches belonged to the Igbo people, and this has already led to retaliatory attacks in parts of south-eastern Nigeria. An Igbo group,Ogbunigwe Ndigbo, gave all northern Muslims in the region two weeks to leave or face their wrath. In Lokpanta, where my mother is from, the Muslim Hausa community – which settled there many years ago – were seen leaving in truckloads.

With the deepening crises it has become normal, not just in the media but among ordinary Nigerians, to argue that the violence is a sectarian or religious matter, an issue of north v south, Muslims v Christians. I have spoken to friends who are convinced that it is not just southern Christians who are the primary targets of Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group who have claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Igbos in particular. Well-meaning Igbo leaders are calling on their brethren to "return home", referring to the attacks as "systematic ethnic cleansing". A friend shouted to me over the phone that "Igbos should just secede. Igbo blood is being spilled and the government is doing nothing at all about it."


However, as tempting as it is, polarising the crisis is misleading. First, the position of Boko Haram, whose name translates as "western education is prohibited", is not representative of Nigerian Muslims. Before its rise to prominence, Nigerians co-existed tolerably well, respectful of each other's faith. I spent six years as a child in a boarding school in northern Nigeria. We said both Muslim prayers and Christian grace before meals.

While there is an undeniable religious element to the assaults, the targets of the attacks in the Islamic heartland of the country clearly illustrate the problem with such singular interpretations of complex situations. There have, for instance, been suggestions that some politicians in the Muslim north feel betrayed by President Goodluck Jonathan for not honoring the power-rotating pact within the ruling PDP party, which would have not seen a southerner run for presidency until 2015, and that they are using Boko Haram to try and unseat him. Last May there were bomb blasts in two separate northern cities mere hours after Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in, one in the home city of the vice president, Namadi Sambo, himself a Muslim.

Obviously these are troubled times for Nigeria. Many who, like my father, lived through the Biafran war of 1967, are fearful that events might escalate. Indeed, in an address to the nation the president referred to the deepening crisis as "worse than the war". It doesn't help that he seems overwhelmed by the scale of events. It took him almost an entire day after the Kano attacks to address the nation. When he did, it was an uninspired speech delivered through an aide. The escape from custody of the prime suspect in the Christmas Day bombings has shown, as a friend said, "that Boko Haram is stronger than the president".

Yet, despite everything, if the Occupy Nigeria movement protests of the past weeks have taught us anything, it is that there is still hope for the country's future. Amidst the anger, the frustration, the violence, Nigerians joined hands across cultural and religious barriers to rise up against a government they no longer trust.


The images that I hang on to are the photographs posted on Facebook during the protests: Christians keeping watch over their Muslim brothers as they prayed, and young Muslim men in Kano visiting churches across the city. The Igbo have a saying that the hunger that has hope of being stilled does not kill. These photographs convince me that one day we will save Nigeria.

But to do so, we will need the help of not just the government, but of religious and cultural leaders. They need to talk across barriers, not just to each other, but also to their followers, to stem the tide of attacks and counter-attacks. Innocent citizens are not the enemy. The enemy is Boko Haram, and the government needs to step up and do whatever it takes to crush this group, before it becomes any more powerful than it already is.