13/04/2023
Title: Just Imagine!
“The Ghana Report is reliably informed that people living in Accra are at risk of air-borne infections as the city records the highest air pollution worldwide.
Ghana’s Air Quality Index (AQI) has shot up as high as 401 and is rated “hazardous” by IQAir, a Swiss air quality centre that collates weather reports from various stations.”
The above is one of the many reported negative effects of climate change in Ghana that can be linked to the overall greenhouse gas emissions. The air is not only polluted but the average temperature in all the ecological zones in Ghana have been rising as rainfall keeps declining.
Transport is responsible for about one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and this is set to double by 2050. In Ghana, transport is one of the dominating source of emissions. Collectively, as a society, we can reduce vehicle emissions by using electric vehicles, in private and public transport. If we do not cut vehicle emissions, deaths from exhaust fumes in cities will rise by more than 50 percent by 2030 (UNEP Emission Gap Report, 2020).
With this knowledge, just imagine how safe, healthy and eco-friendly Ghana will be if 50% or more of individuals, businesses and other entities switched to electric vehicles and/or solar electric vehicles before 2030. Imagine the joy, freedom and confidence we will have in our health and in our society as Ghanaians. Will this forever remain just in our imagination? Can it be achieved? What will you do about it?
Photo by: GODWIN Y. DEGBEY
