a)  Save Mother Earth

According to the UN Environmental Program, IPCC, and the Global Sustainable Development Goal number thirteen SDG (13) on climate change, climate change is real, human activities are the main cause, and the concentration of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature on Earth. Statistics show that every year approximately 12 million hectares of forests are destroyed and this deforestation, together with agriculture and other land use changes, is responsible for roughly 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is a worrying truth for humanity in general and of course, poses an even higher danger to persons with disability Persons with disability are uniquely affected by the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Some major environmental barriers include Time, Place, Space, Climate, and Noise, some of which can easily be altered while others may not. In the same way, environments full of garbage, stones, and other forms of dirt will only be more disabling to persons with disability. Most neighbourhoods both in the village and urban cities alike struggle with waste management which in turn makes the environment remain dirty with only limited efforts in cleaning.

It is said that the amount of actual disability experienced normally depends on the nature of the environment, thus, whether the environment is positive and enabling, or otherwise. Some of these could include, poor lighting, too much noise, crowds, etc as well as things in nature like cold temperatures, too much rain, and steep hills among others. It is for this reason that making our contribution to environmental conservation becomes a very important activity since it has a direct impact on us. Though the need may seem so huge, going by our motto and lessons learned from the starfish story which is all about the little contribution we can make, we at ICS are on course and determined to play a part in reversing this worrying trend by planting trees as groups once a year, and we encourage our members to do more as individuals.

We also have organized clean-up activities in partnership with other like-minded people from time to time. Under the project dubbed “Save Mother Earth”, we do different activities including, tree planting, clean-up activities and aggressively spreading the word on the importance of contributing to environmental conservation among others. We encourage our friends, family, and co-workers to reduce their carbon pollution and we aim to inspire as many people as possible, both with and without disability take practical steps to act more boldly on issues of environmental conservation as we aim to save Mother Earth Because everyone’s opinion is valuable to us, and most importantly because we desire to amplify the voices and contributions of persons with disability on matters of environmental conservation and climate change action who are directly affected, we have physical and virtual sessions to share information and enlighten each other on the importance of taking care of our environment.