Thika: Young environmentalists have embarked on an initiative to plant and maintain trees on the Thika Superhighway in a bid to combat hazardous carbon emissions by vehicles as well as green the highway. Led by Anthony Muruthi, a trainer at the Nairobi National Polytechnic, they said thousands of vehicles that ply the Thika Superhighway pollute the environment through fossil-fuel combustion with no interventions to combat the situation.
According to Kenya News Agency, Muruthi stated that their aim is to help in decarbonizing the highway from the gases being emitted by the vehicles and clean the air. This, he said, will help residents living close to the highway from harmful gases which may cause diseases, and leave an extensive carbon footprint. Speaking during the tree planting exercise, Muruthi mentioned that their greening initiative is not only important for cleaning the atmosphere but also providing good shade for numerous people making stopovers while travelling along the highway.
He urged the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to allow them to establish simple washrooms for motorists and pedestrians. ‘Apart from reducing carbon emissions from vehicles along the superhighway, the trees we are planting here will also provide shade for motorists who ply this route, making it a green and clean place for relaxation. I appeal to KeNHA to grant us the opportunity to have washrooms and green seats here to also entrench the issue of greening initiatives to the entire nation,’ stated Muruthi.
Muruthi pointed out that there is a need to plant trees along highways and in the streets of towns and cities like Nairobi so as to provide fresh air by reducing carbon gases in the environment. ‘I think it is important for every Kenyan to plant these trees even in places like the urban areas like along the streets in towns because this will not only clean the air but will also make these places attractive,’ added Muruthi.
He at the same time called on the youth to embrace such initiatives of planting trees which could provide green job opportunities instead of indulging in social vices such as alcohol and drug abuse. Some of the environmentalists and students from the Nairobi National Polytechnic who participated in the exercise, led by Sheringham Orodo and Humphrey Karani, said they will continue planting trees as a way of supporting President William Ruto’s agenda of planting 15 billion trees by 2032.
Karani urged the government to provide them with any available resources to enable them achieve their objective. ‘We want to support the president to achieve his agenda by planting as many trees as possible along highways to conserve the environment,’ said Karani. The young environmentalists under the President’s Awards-Kenya program have been undertaking different projects in different counties with the aim of giving useful services to their communities.