14th April 2024

AI CONSOLIDATES A WORLD OF EXCESS

“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? The throaty tones of Janice Joplin rang out loud and clear, lamenting her plight in the materialistic world of ‘60s America. Joplin died in a sea of drugs and alcohol, soon after recording the Mercedes prayer for posterity. ln truth, the song was a wild cry for help, against the excesses of those times.

4th July 2023

Africa’s Biggest Challenge (the sequel)

An article in Madafu’s March issue caught my eye: ‘Africa’s Biggest Challenge’. The author Karim Kone spoke of theft and dishonesty in Burkina Faso, as a clear example of a wider malaise that violated a beloved Africa. For me, the article immediately brought to mind similar experiences here in Kenya. .... (read more)

4th July 2023

Emma’s View

Emma was born six weeks premature on 31st December 2019. By the time she’d reached her due-by-date in February 2020 the corona virus was rampant. She witnessed a world in turmoil; some places handled things better than others. She also noted that a focus on the pandemic meant other issues, such as climate change, were neglected. .... (read more)

12th November 2022

EDUCATION: KEY TO THE SDGs ... AND SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

Way back in 2015 – before Trump, Brexit, Covid or Ukraine - the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the somewhat underwhelming Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The revised set of targets focuses on a similar overall plan to improve quality of life for all, but with a more focused agenda. .... (read more)

12th November 2022

THE COVID-19 LITMUS TEST

Is it true that ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’? Remembering back to being bombarded daily with negative statistics for Covid-19 – infections and deaths up, stock markets down – was there any positive take-away from the pandemic? ....

10th November 2022

THE MANGROVES OF MTWAPA

The winter season on the coast of Kenya comes at the same time as Europe’s summer heat. But to call it winter is a misnomer; it’s still short-sleeved balmy weather – both day and night - compared to anything that people to the North might consider their darker months. ....

10th November 2022

ANTHONY: HIS 22 YEARS HELD SO MUCH PROMISE.

An enormous mustard-colored elephant appeared in the office doorway, a human beneath its bulk. I knew instinctively I had been had! “I didn’t mean this big Anthony,” I said rather stridently. “Just something small, like all the others.” “Sorry,” he said, without sounding that way. “You didn’t say ... I didn’t realise.” ....

6th November 2022

EMMA'S VIEW (a newborn babe with 2020 vision)

Emma was born on 31st December 2019. She was expected to meet her world in February 2020, but perhaps pushed her arrival forward to coincide with the dawn of Covid-19. By the time she reached her due-by date, Covid was rampant in Wuhan and threatening places beyond China.

10th June 2022

KENYA RANKS IN RENEWABLE ENERGIES, BUT WE COULD DO MUCH MORE.

In terms of world rankings, most people know about our marathon runners, but not so many are aware that Kenya competes with the best in terms of renewable energies, standing alongside Sweden, Uruguay and Morocco as a world leader. All aim to derive 100% of electrical power from renewable sources within the next decade or two.

2nd March 2022

PUTIN'S WAR COULD RESULT IN MORE SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

Any war is disgusting and repulsive, but the current conflict playing out in Ukraine highlights the futility of warfare more than most. For the first time in decades Europe is host to a major war. Russia, one of the planet’s superpowers, aims to subjugate its neighbour Ukraine: to pummel its so-called brother-state into submission. The result of this aggression is that Ukraine has resisted with all the strength it can muster, backed by the western alliance.

22nd January 2022

YOUTH-LED PEOPLE POWER

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who inspires action to tackle climate change, has become more recognisable than most presidents. She has the clarity of mind to see our endangered world as if through the eyes of a clear-thinking alien, uncluttered by economics, or ego, birthplace or age. Greta represents youth, a section of our population often forgotten, but one which - in the absence of any other front-runner - has the potential to lead us all towards more sensible policies for a sustainable future.

21st November 2021

EQUITY IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT

Sustainable change is a broad church - not always about discarding charcoal and growing trees - it comes in a thousand and one shapes and sizes: people for example. One of the most challenging issues of this 21 st Century is just how we relate to each other; how haves relate to have-nots, historied citizens to traumatized migrants, rich to poor. ..... (read more)

21st November 2021

BUYING LOCALLY BEATS TRANSPORTING GLOBALLY

Brexit Britain has turned the clock back 50 years to resume preferential trade links with Australia. The deal involves tariff reductions on commodities such as cars and wine, which are destined to travel 15,000 kilometres in opposite directions around our planet. ....

20th November 2021

GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS!

COP26 - the latest version of the annual climate-fest - finished on a decidedly downbeat note ... especially for countries like Bhutan: small, poor, and already suffering the ravages of climate change! .... (read more)

17th June 2021

EDEN PROJECT AN EXAMPLE FOR G7

Only a few Kenyans would know that when G7 leaders dined with Queen Elizabeth at The Eden Project, they were surrounded by one of the 21st Century’s most important adverts for sustainable change. Eden was an ambitious millennial initiative which focused on reclamation of an enormous, disused quarry

11th March 2021

SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

Sustainable change is all about doing things today, so people can live better tomorrow. And by people, we mean children: my children, your children! Sustainable Change is often termed sustainable development. But these are two words in conflict: development infers growth or expansion, sustainable implies smaller scale and inbuilt harmony – a healthier balance – for the planet ....

14th February 2021

LEARNING TO CONFRONT THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Confronting the climate crisis is a major leap for most people; they have other things to think about … like food on the table and electricity bills. I started to reflect on this when a passenger went to throw a plastic bottle out of the car. “No, don’t do that,” I said. “I can use it again at home.” “OK, if that’s what you want,” came the blank reply ...

24th January 2021

CORONA V CLIMATE: molehill versus mountain

Covid-19 is a global catastrophe! Nobody of sane mind remains to argue that case. But how does it rate with other pending disasters? What for example, comes after Covid on President Biden’s ‘fix-it’ list? Answer: The Climate Crisis! Some would contend that climate-related concerns should be first on that list, but most people would not see it that way. Why is this so? ....

24th January 2021

SAVING THE BEACHES OF KENYA FROM THE SCOURGE OF PLASTICS

Our Kenyan coast is a tropical paradise stained by the scourge of plastics, brought in by tide and discarded by tourists: a local reflection of a global epidemic. This plastic menace has grown over recent decades to become the environmental hazard we see today. It reflects an alarming increase in single-use plastics ....