I wasn't smiling when I took the pix for this report on my Earth Day activity. The reason was simple: riding with a public transport is almost always a nightmare in my part of the city because the buses are often crammed and stuffy. There is also the smell of people who forgot to have their bath, the aroma of foodstuffs and God-knows-what being conveyed to the market and finally fragrances of deodorants and antiperspirants all mixed into one confused scent.

There is also the never ending trivial or sometimes serious argument that competes with the revving engine in pitch and decibel. Fortunately, we had elections so the city (Makurdi) was partially deserted (both cars and humans) especially around the iconic food basket roundabout as many people travelled to their wards to be able to participate in the electoral process.

However, riding this bus, I saw for the first time what I would have felt like the gush of wind without giving a thought to if I was in my private car. I noticed that most of the private cars had only the driver inside. This didn't stop the cars from giving out fumes that equaled that of the buses that had a lot of passengers in them.

I discovered that private cars accounted for the majority of hold-ups on the way likewise carbon emissions because (mathematically) they were more in number. It dawned on me that if we could cut down the number of private cars we drove daily and join a public bus, then we would also be cutting down the amount of carbon emission into the atmosphere and to a large extent reducing the traffic jam on our roads.

It may be hard to convince yourself to join the public buses but there is more to gain than lose think of it as an opportunity to make new friends, a chance to diffuse ideas and most importantly, if any of the above arguments don't satisfy you, just do it for mother earth. I took the action to mark Earth Day but I will make it regular henceforth.