We Need Water

Water is life. Water can be death. Water is everything. Jay Z did a wonderful job of publicizing the desperate need for clean water on his MTV documentary. I myself had a 7 year old relative die in Africa of unsanitary water related disease. According to the Pacific Institution Research Report, 135 million will die from water related diseases by 2020 if basic basic human water needs are not met. The Roundabout play pump is one of many excellent innovations and should be investigated. Check out this video on the Elephant Pump being utilized in rural Africa.

This is Our Planet Too

Within the contexts of developing life sustaining institutions for the purpose of nationbuilding, Africans cannot leave the well being of Mother Earth out of the equation. We can build all the magnificent physical structures that we want, but if we don't protect and maintain our land then it is all for naught. My younger brother, who was born and raised in Tanzania once told me that no matter where Black people resided, that they were still country. Being a city boy, I thought he was just speaking out of his neck. But it wasn't until years later that I realized that he was talking about our inherent and ever present connection to Mother Earth.

Despite this connection, the Environment is all too often and erroneously viewed as a "White people" issue. The irony is that we along with other people of color have always been the stewards of the Earth, while the European has and is the primary culprit of global climate change, the waste and selfish use of natural resources, and the general destruction of nature. No, I am not a tree hugger, but I am an African that realizes that one cannot properly claim to be an African without a concern for the environment. That is as natural to being African as Maat. All Africans are by nature environmentalist. This is evidenced in our spiritual belief systems, where the connection, respect, and veneration for creation is paramount.

When conceiving of and developing our institutions and infrastructures we must make sustainability the central focus. Aside from altruism and the health benefits that are innate to this methodology, it just makes good economic sense. As the vast majority of Africa has never even experienced a minimal amount of modern development, the opportunity is ripe to develop a sustainable infrastructure. As opposed to the so called developed world where the overproduction of harmful and dangerous methods of development make it nearly impossible to make large scale change of the status quo; in Africa the opposition would be minimized as it essentially would not be replacing existing infrastructures and institutions, but creating it. The only significant costs would be upfront with many sustainable technologies such as solar and wind power . Image the economic benefits of poor people not being forced to pay monthly utility bills. Image the economic benefit of having a reliable source of electricity to power computers, homes, vehicles, businesses and schools.

African people must stop thinking that conservation and sustainability are other people's issues, or that we have more pressing needs. Taking care of our Earth will have positive externalities for our people that are unimaginable. Sustainability is not just an act, it is a mindset and way of life. Our traditional notions of community can serve as an outgrowth of our sustainable activities. The two ideas are completely synonymous. Sustainability is communalism.