When did the issue of climate change get personal for you?

As a child, I severally overheard my grandmother lament the low yield of her fruits. She attributed the low yield to the unpredictable weather. Though she didn’t have a western education, she could see the cause-and-effect relationship between weather (climate) and crop yield. Somehow, she managed to get by. Coming to Nigeria’s northern frontier region in 2019 revealed the full intensity of climate change to me. I see people clinging to life’s precipice as they are battered by forces unleashed by climate change: desertification, erratic and delayed rainfall, increasing temperature, and violent clashes between herders and sedentary farmers as competition over land resources intensify.

Nostalgia has a strong presence in your story. Could this sense of nostalgia be of loss or hope?

In a way, this nostalgia makes me think of the past as a “paradise lost” since the government and people inadvertently engage in acts that hasten climate change, and in that sense, a loss is felt. On the other hand, I feel a sense of hope when I hear talks of ways to avert the climate disaster and learn about green energy initiatives that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. When I see school children talk about climate change and embarking on tree planting exercises, the nostalgia turns to hope.

What inspired your story for The Green We Left Behind nonfiction anthology?

Immediately the nonfiction anthology came to my knowledge, I remembered my poor friend Hassan in Jibia and the conversations we had. His fate, sitting precariously on the precipice of desertification and banditry motivated and inspired my story.

As an artist, how are you able to merge beauty in language and such a dire theme on climate change?

Climate change is a global problem that poses an existential threat. The enormity of the problem and the need to mobilize everyone stirs my poetic juice. Climate change is a battle and to win this battle requires collective action where everyone must fight with the tools best known to them. As a writer, the keyboard and words are my weapons and I must use them effectively in this regard.

As you release your story to the world, what is your wish or hope for this story?

I hope that this story will develop wings and fly. I hope to see it translated into many languages so people can be aware of the impacts of climate change and that the awareness troubles everyone and forces leaders to jettison national policies/interests that hamper global collaborations against climate change.

Apart from writing, how else do you intend to contribute towards the curbing of global warming?

I think people get involved in programs that offer incentives of economic value. I am also included in this rule. One easy way of curbing global warming (beyond cutting down on fossil fuel consumption) is afforestation or simply tree planting. Tree planting kills two birds in one stone’s throw. I intend to set up a palm plantation. A palm plantation, while helping to address the problems of climate change (which includes global warming) will provide me with a steady income flow with the possibility of foreign exchange earnings. I hope to set up an NGO which provides improved species of high yield economic tree plants and set up clubs in primary and secondary schools to bring awareness of climate change closer to young people. A pupil who plants ten mango trees might have secured his passage through tertiary education.

Biography

Anugba Chikwendu Hillary had his primary school education at Abia State University Staff School, Uturu and proceeded to International Secondary School, Abia State University Uturu for his secondary school education. In 2002, he gained admission to study Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri , Imo State. He is a registered engineer and a member of Nigerian Society of Engineers. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Criminology and Security Studies from the National Open University of Nigeria and a Master of Arts degree in Peace and Development Studies from the University of Ilorin. He has strong interest in literature, computing, conservation, and foreign languages such as French. He is the author of the book Burning Savannah. Anugba Chikwendu Hillary hails from Umuchieze in Umunneochi L.G.A, Abia State.