'Human extinction looming if we don't fight climate change'

Jul 21, 2024

"We have noticed that the rate of littering of plastic bottles and polytene has reduced in the school."

Y.Y Okot Memorial College (Kitgum) students using a jump rope they made out of recycled plastics. (Credit: Simon Peter Tumwine)

Simon Peter Tumwine
Journalist @New Vision

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 CLIMATE CHANGE 

In recent months, the members of the Environment Club of Y.Y Okot Memorial College in Kitgum district have been working to change not only the face of the school but also the general attitudes towards climate change amongst fellow students.


The driving force behind this enthusiasm has been the Green Schools Initiative, a project started in schools in 2023 to encourage especially young minds to act on climate change through adaptation or mitigation.

The initiative is in its second year of implementation by Vision Group in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and is funded by the Embassy of Sweden in Uganda.

Debate and innovative projects focusing on climate change are the two tracks of the initiative. 

Evaluation teams are currently visiting schools to assess the projects of participating schools in 10 regions around Uganda. The best projects will see the schools behind them awarded at the national championship in Kampala this August.

From left, the Green Schools Initiative assistant coordinator and cordinator of Y.Y Okot Memorial College, Job Auta and Stella Nakitende, interacting with the climate change projects evaluation team during a tour of the school on July 19, 2024

From left, the Green Schools Initiative assistant coordinator and cordinator of Y.Y Okot Memorial College, Job Auta and Stella Nakitende, interacting with the climate change projects evaluation team during a tour of the school on July 19, 2024


'Great improvement'

The innovative solutions developed by participating schools aimed at mitigating or adapting to climate change must be realistic.

“Before the sensitization message from Vision Group and FAO, there was so much littering of plastics and polythene bags in the school, but we have noticed that the rate of littering has reduced in the school," said Stella Nakitende, the Green Schools Initiative coordinator for Y.Y Okot Memorial College and patroness of the school's Environment Club.

"Thanks go to Vision Group and FAO for sensitizing us on climate change and the need to start this great club. We have seen a great improvement in the school."

Nakitende said that the club has been at the forefront of crucial activities such as recycling of plastics and planting of trees.




“If we do not fight climate change hard, then man might become extinct,” said Nakitende during a visit by the evaluation team on Friday (July 19).

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The message is not stopping in the school.

The 60-member Environment Club established last year is taking the sensitization message out of the school gate and into the community through drama skits (like the one pictured below), among other ways.


Each class has at least five representatives in the Environment Club.

Job Auta is the compound master of Y.Y Okot Memorial College as well as the assistant coordinator of the Green Schools Initiative.

“We want to be among the pioneers of climate mitigation [in northern Uganda]. We have started by prioritizing this by planting trees," he said.

They have also embarked on extensive plantation of Paspalum grass in a bid to control soil erosion and weeds.

“When it rains in northern Uganda, its effects are diverse to our environment and this is why we plant trees, Paspalum and flowers to control erosion," said Auta.

To him, a green compound is aesthetically appealing.

Briquette making


Meanwhile, besides planting trees and recycling plastics, Y.Y Okot Memorial College has turned to environmentally friendly energy solutions.

One of them is solar power.


The other is briquettes and energy-saving stoves for cooking.


Briquettes are proven to be more efficient, cheaper, slow burning as well as easily available.

Gladys Oyella, a Senior Two student and a member of the Environment Club, demonstrated how they make the briquettes.

The ingredients are basic: anthill soil or clay soil, cow dung, charcoal dust or cassava flour, and dried grass.



To begin with, the soil and charcoal dust are ground into a fine consistency.

The dust is then mixed with grass and cow dung, and later with water.


The thick paste is then moulded into the desired size and shape, before being placed out under the sun to dry and harden.



“After making your briquette, they can dry up in two to four days depending on the heat from the sun," said Oyella.

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