Several studies, scholars and experts have established a lot of data, showing staggering figures of plastic waste, e-waste, pollution and deforestation in Nigeria and around the world. While the government continues to proffer solutions to tackle climate change problems alone, students can explore their potential to find sustainable problems to these challenges.
At the moment, climate change continues to remain an impending problem for the development of countries, especially the third world. This is as a result of the inability of human beings to provide alternative solutions to their everyday problems such as managing waste. Waste materials and chemicals are increasingly damaging the environment through pollution and exposing vulnerable people to health issues.
Releasing these harmful substances from pollution and illegal waste disposal has created chaotic scenes in communities. Social settings are now confronted by multitudes of natural disasters like floods, wildfires, air pollution, and deadly erosion among many other hazards. As a result, many families have been forced out of their homes while food is intensely becoming scarce.
Interestingly, students have a lot of untapped opportunities and prospects to provide sustainable solutions to climate crises.With the availability of Student Union Governments (SUG) or Representative Councils, students have the necessary resources to engage communities in Nigeria in the discourse of climate change through awareness creation. Our communities are only partly aware of climate concerns and their adverse effects on humanity.
Students can easily harness the internet, innovative teaching and learning to generate effective solutions to climate problems and share knowledge with the general public. Student unions in institutions can also commemorate internationally celebrated days like World Environment Day, organize quizzes/competitions and short projects to highlight the impact of climate change. Available practical solutions that have proven to be successful can be customized by students to experiment workable plans.
With the aid of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and precisely goal 13 Climate Action, titled “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”, students would be able to carry out research in several areas of climate change to add up to the existing body of available literature. There are also, available grants offered by organizations around the world willing to support initiatives within local communities to create more awareness on climate change as research on sustainable solutions progress.