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Ben Chiganze Bass Fisherman’s Approach
I celebrated my Christmas Day fishing from the irrigation dam at Carolina Wilderness.
My friend Jack convinced me to try fishing as a way of celebrating this important day on the Christians calendar. Given that I have no appetite for partying on this particular day I accepted Jack’s proposal.
Though we have fished at this irrigation dam several times, we had not taken a closer look at how beautiful and peaceful the environment at this dam is.
It is amazing how many things we take for granted.
I must admit that there were many beautiful trees, fauna and weeds in and around the dam that I had not noticed over the years. The singing of the birds and the whistling of insects in and around the dam had a soothing affect to me .I experienced a natural transfiguration of my mind and the amazing renewal of my energy at the same time.
For the first time in my life I was at peace with myself, so was Jack. We were both inspired and energised by the amazing gifts we receive from our natural surroundings.
Jack said, “I am so inspired by what I am seeing today. My resolution for 2014 is to be a good corporate citizen. I am going to work tirelessly in spearheading the cleaning of the environment initiatives.’’ I could not agree with him less.
We both reflected that someone had taken responsibility to ensure that the dam was protected from the excesses of human beings. Had it been a public dam, probably the appearance could be slightly different.
Littering
One of the major threats to the beauty of our environment is uncontrollable littering of cans, plastics, takeaway Kay-lights and paper in general.Our major highways, our dusty roads, our pavements and avenues are now an eyesore due to irresponsible littering.
People across social divide are throwing, dropping and leaving litter everywhere. One often sees motorists throwing bottles, cans and paper over the window immediately after consuming the contents with total disregard of the impact of their actions.
Presumably they want to have no litter in their car but what happens in the streets is something else. Amazingly these people enjoy seeing a clean street or place but do not want to contribute in making these places clean.
The same action is repeated by drivers and passengers of lorries, buses and kombis.
I underestimated the level of this cultural decay until recently when I noticed litter being thrown from several police highway patrol cars and from branded cars belonging to various city and rural district councils. This amply demonstrates that the custodians of the law have also been caught in this unholy web of environmental degradation. The question that needs to be answered is who will guard the guard?
Pedestrians throw litter willy-nilly these days. Our roads, pavements and empty spaces are slowly building up into dump sites in our full view. Never mind the smell that accompanies these welling up undesignated dump sites.
Why has it become so effortless and natural for most of us to throw and dump litter everywhere?
Who will pass on to our children the ideals of cleanliness when we are busy littering the streets and pavements in full view of our children?Sometimes we need someone to monitor us not to litter the environment through legislation or actual human policing.
Nevertheless, what separates a good corporate citizen from a rascal is the ability to monitor oneself without anyone watching or policing.
We have now degenerated into individuals who only think in terms of immediate individual convenience instead of convenience to the big spectrum of the society we live in.
Our value system as people is slowly decaying to the levels where we do not seem to care how our actions will affect or injure our neighbours.
We are now preoccupied with immediate cleanliness not long-term cleanliness .This applies to our work ethics as well.
Importance of cleanliness
One of the major stress reliefs comes from a clean environment. A dirty environment may actually increase stress levels among staff members which can contribute negatively to the company’s bottom line.
The conventional thinking is that members of staff are only motivated by good perks at work and good working conditions but what is not given emphasis is that the total motivational package also includes the environment in and around their workplace.
Imagine how well paid employees feel if there is a burst sewer pipe running at the entrance of the factory. The effect of the burst sewer pipe is similar to the effect of garbage at the factory site.
Making our environment clean is not only the duty of rural district councils or rural councils, it requires a collective effort and contribution from all stakeholders.
I encourage motorists to keep litter in their cars and pedestrians to hold on to their litter until they can safely deposit them at the nearest bin.
Let us join hands to make 2014 a litter free year.
The writer is a managing consultant at CLC Training International. He can be contacted at [email protected]
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