Today, at a small village in rural Uganda, the PIF project was launched under the umbrella of John Njendahayo’s Nkuru-Nziza Foundation. John came up with the idea of PIF-ing during a period of slight ill-health earlier this year, when he was trying to stay positive and think of all the reasons to be grateful, rather than slip into feeling sorry for himself. The outcome was the ‘Pass It Forward’ whereby people are encouraged to pass forward kindness in the form of intentional actions, with no expectation of that kindness being reciprocated.
The PIF acts could be one-offs or ongoing; they could be related to professional skills or to another gifting that a person has; they could be in the local community or through the work environment – the more John mulled the concept over, the more ideas he got on how it could be put into practice, including in some key areas.
One of those key areas is environmental. In other words, doing intentional acts to make positive changes in the local environment, and encourage others to do the same. So, one person comes up with an idea for an action that benefits the local environment, and through carrying the action out, they Pass It Forward to others, who can then do the same. In so doing a chain of positive actions is started, that benefits the local environment, and as a result will benefit the local community as well.
Today’s launch of PIF was exactly that. A select group of local leaders gathered at the college to receive a simple presentation that I gave around being good stewards of God’s earth, the science behind carbon cycle, greenhouse gases and climate change (done in a very simple way, as I can’t go higher than very simple!), and ending with the question – what can be done to help protect the environment, right here in the local community.
The discussion that followed was enthusiastic, practical and pragmatic. And the outcome was the decision that tree planting needs to become a natural act of all people, and the leaders need to demonstrate this through doing their own tree planting. Education and sensitisation is also important, so that the community members understand the reasons for planting trees, and engage willing in the activity. Another discussion point was around encouraging switching to energy-efficient stoves, and investigating about how to make environmentally-friendly briquettes. In so doing the number of trees being cut down for fuel will be reduced, which, along with an increase in the number of trees being planted, will lead to greater tree cover generally.
We didn’t touch on cars and fuel emissions, as most of the villagers don’t own a vehicle. And we didn’t touch on home insulation, or electricity providers, or other concepts that might get talked about in different communities, as home insulation isn’t a thing here, the homes don’t have central heating, and many don’t have electricity. We kept it relevant to the local context, and in so doing came up with actions that the leaders are going to take away and pass forward to their community members. It will require the leaders to make some small sacrifices to buy the trees, to take the time to do the educating, but through that they will pass forwards ideas and examples that others can follow. And in so doing, they will be passing forward positive actions to help improve the local environment and do their bit to reduce carbon emissions.
On the grand scale of global carbon emissions, I guess it’s pretty tiny, but, as a certain supermarket likes to say, ‘every little helps!’
One final thought to leave you with – what Pass It Forward action can you take today that will bring positive change to someone else?
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