Yes! You saw it right, R O M A N C E With The Environment. Some might be confused about the event, especially on Valentine’s Day but but let's go through this idea together. Over the years, planet earth, our home environment has not been treated kindly by the people it houses. From improper dumping to tree felling, oil spillages to bush burning, gas flarings, noise pollution, water mismanagement, and many other problems. Indeed, the environment, our home, has been abused. We have all contributed to this abuse both our large scale and small scale activities. To some, the majority of these activities are done for the economical benefit of man and hence, can not be done without. Although I agree that many of these environmentally damaging activities have benefited the economy, I do believe that there are less environmentally damaging alternatives.
In the spirit of love and Valentine’s Day, The Green Campus Initiative Team, her members and other members of society, felt it sincere and right to spend their time with, and 'romance' with the environment on February the 14th, 2016. This was done to show our love for the environment and somewhat compensate the environment for the damages caused by anthropogenic activities, in their own little way.
The day started with the Green Team and ambassadors carrying out a community service activity, during which they cleaned up their immediate environment at Adeyemi College of Education. The group was able to restore cleanliness and a bit of health. I can only guess that the environment was beaming with smiles
That was not the only part of the February 14th, Valentines Day event. Partnering with Kingdom Life International Ministry (KLIM) led by Rev. Ken Igbinedion, the ambassadors and other members of society were hosted to an evening picnic at the Adeyemi College of Education Guest House, Ondo , tagged, 'Love Affair'. With spoken word performances by Olayinka Ojo; UN Spoken Word Contest, solo drama performance by Samuel Bliss, choreography by The Chosen Choreographers, and the Green Anthem performance by the Green Ministers, the evening picnic was rich, relaxing and fun.
To crown the activities of the day, the Founder of the Green Campus Initiative, Adenike Akinsémolu gave a short talk, as it was not a day for monologues, about the love for environment and the love of self. A lot of important knowledge was gained from the talk including the importance of seeing every day as environment's day, conserving resources, exercising and practicing self care.
FOUNDER ADENIKE AKINSEMOLU TALKING ABOUT THE GREEN CAMPUS INITIATIVE
As usual, Green Campus Initiative events are not complete without the smiles of participants during photography sessions. Kudos GCI!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher Oghenekevwe Oghenechovwen , a B.Tech student of Meteorology and Climate Science (FUTA), is a decolonized African, environmentalist and ready volunteer. He is 2013 Citizenship and Leadership Certified by CLTC, Nigerian Federal Ministry of Youth Development, a 2015 UNESCO & Athabasca University student on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, 2015 Senior Category Gold Winner of The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition, and youth correspondent at yourcommonwealth.org . His growing passions lie within the circle of Climate Action, Media and Information, IT, Youth Education and Leadership. Apart from volunteering with Earthplus, The Green Campus Initiative, and doing creative writing, Oghenekevwe loves to connect with people. Invite him for a healthy conversation via chrischovwen@gmail.com