Let's enact smart strategies to combat climate change

There was an inexcusable degree of personal folly in flying to Dar es Salaam and in the direction of Cyclone Kennedy this week. Firstly, given last month’s impact of Cyclone Idai across Southern Africa, it occurred as mildly risky. More fundamentally, my 670km flight released 22,386 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Given that air travel is one of the largest accelerators of climate chaos, I could be accused of intentionally risking double injury in one action. The evidence of what we are doing to planet earth is inescapable. We must ask again, why are we not concerned enough to stop the damage?

Cyclone Kennedy is the second one to hit southern Africa in one month. It’s older sibling Cyclone Idai killed 1,000 people, damaged two million people’s livelihoods and cost Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi over Sh100 billion in damage. Over 4,000 people are still grappling with cholera. It is one of the worst and costliest tropical cyclones in Africa.