We’ve been talking about being accountable to our family members, community members, colleagues, bosses. We’ve talked about holding our leaders accountable too.

Apart from people, we also need to be accountable to our environment – the earth we live in. Sadly, we are not. Our oceans are suffering from plastic pollution, oil spillage and more. But that is even going to far. How many of us are guilty of just throwing pieces of paper or anything for that matter just anywhere, without actively looking for a dustbin or trash can.

Or after buying a drink in traffic, we just drop the bottle on the road. There have been a number of futuristic films that have showed how pollution destroyed the earth and human beings had to look for another place to live. While it may seem exaggerated, our actions are destroying our planet little by little.

If you’re wondering how big a deal it is, check out these facts from Conserve Energy Future

– More than 1 billion people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water.

– 5000 people die every day as a result of drinking unclean water

– The garbage dumped in the ocean every year is roughly around 14 billion pounds. Plastic is the major constituent.

– Pollution kills more than 1 million seabirds and 100 million mammals every year.

Scary isn’t it, and whether you accept it or not, we are all contributors to these figures.

Let us start to take responsibility for our environment. It’s the only one we have (unless you’re interested in a Mars expedition). So let’s try to start the habit of recycling, disposing of our refuse/waste properly, stop littering and try to use other cleaner sources of energy (even though that might be a long time coming in Nigeria, we can start with the ones that are feasible).