The Power of Storytelling in the Battle Against Environmental Degradation

BY USMAN ALIYU

In a world where environmental degradation continues to threaten communities, literature has proven to be more than just an art, but a tool for resistance, awareness and transformation.

This was the central theme at the maiden edition of Book Day, hosted by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Benin City, Nigeria.

The event highlights the power of books and storytelling in shaping environmental consciousness, with a particular focus on the book “A Walk in the Curfew and Other Pandemic Tales”.

The event, held under HOMEF’s Community and Culture Programme, underscores how literature not only entertains but also educates, preserves history, and sparks action.

The discussions reflect the power of words in awakening societies to their realities, particularly those involving ecological struggles.

Setting the tone for the discourse, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of HOMEF, emphasised the crucial role of literature in promoting environmental justice and sustainability.

Bassey, a renowned poet, architect and environmental activist, states that literature has the power to shape imaginations, challenge assumptions, and inspire action.

“By weaving environmental themes into our stories, we can create a cultural shift towards sustainability,” he says.

The HOMEF’s executive director highlights works by Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, who used their writing to challenge destructive environmental practices.

He particularly praised Saro-Wiwa as a socio-ecological activist who used his talents to oppose marginalisation, ecocide, exploitation, and oppression.

Dr Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, HOMEF giving his opening remark.

According to him, without Saro-Wiwa’s cultural and literary contributions, the Ogoni struggle might have diminished.

“Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria’s hero of the environment, did many things in his lifetime.

“He was a socioecological activist, a politician, educator, businessman, playwright, novelist and poet, who used his resources and talents in the service of the Ogonis and by extension his nation.

“While he laced his writing with humour, he was dead serious about the rejection of marginalisation, ecocide, exploitation and oppression.

“He fought for socio-ecological justice. It can be argued that through his artistic production, he woke the consciousness of his people.

“He used the cultural tools at his disposal to ingrain in them a sense of commitment to the Ogoni cause and along with that a determination to fight for justice,” he said.

Accordingly, Bassey argued that without the prodigious cultural and literary outputs of Saro Wiwa, the Ogoni struggle would have burned out by this time.

“Books are the vehicles for building sustainable struggles and retaining a heightened sense of humour while doing so.

“Literature can and should be an ideological and confrontational tool to reclaim the social mandate of the oppressed,” he said.

A Walk in the Curfew and Other Pandemic Tales brought a contemporary perspective to environmental conflict.

Written during the COVID-19 lockdown, the collection captures how the pandemic forced a reflection on the relationship between humans and nature.

One of the co-authors, Kome Odhomor, shared how her story, The Fisher’s Pain, was inspired by a visit to a community in Rivers State during the pandemic.

Odhomor, Media Communications Lead at HOMEF, witnessed lifeless fish floating in the rivers, an eerie consequence of pollution, negligence, and exploitation.

“One would wonder how the fisherman coped at that particular time when the country was on lockdown and people were scrambling for survival,” she said.

Her story highlighted the harsh reality of those who rely on nature for sustenance and how environmental destruction only worsens human vulnerability.

Another contributor, Onome Etisioro, explored the idea that nature might have been “fighting back” against humanity during the pandemic.

Her story, which revolves around the idea that “Man is the Pollution,” imagines the earth without human interference and how the environment flourished during the lockdown.

“The lockdown inspired fear in me in the sense that I saw nature as the opponent at that period.

“It was scary but it also made me reflect on how much harm humans have done to nature,” says the lawyer and passionate environmentalist.

Their stories, along with others in the collection, present an urgent call for environmental accountability.

They remind man that their actions toward nature have consequences, and if continued on a destructive path, nature might retaliate in ways man cannot control.

“The Great Ponds” by Elechi Amadi mirrors the destructive consequences of resource conflicts, portraying two communities – Olumba of Chiolu and Wago of Aliakoro – locked in a bitter battle over fishing rights.

The two communities engaged in protracted wars over fishing rights to Wagaba Pond.

In the plot Chiolu warriors defeated those of Aliakoro, and thereafter members of Chiolu claimed Wagaba Pond and fished in it without hindrance.

Aliakoro villagers, however, began to poach in the pond, and Chiolu sent a war party to catch the poachers.

Interestingly, these two communities were from the same clan. They were a family torn apart by a natural resource.

Over time the two communities were plagued with wars, kidnapping, and an epidemic akin to COVID-19 which is the pivot around which the stories in A Walk in the Curfew are developed.

Wago was emblematic of Aliakoro’s superiority over the other villages. His power was magnified by those most troublesome desires of humans: honour and praises.

Yet being a proud man Wago decided to blow out his own candle, to commit suicide, in the contentious pond.

The elders in Aliakoro knew suicide to be a great sin but they also knew that for Wago to choose to do so in the pond was a tactical and overly insensitive gesture. Personal interest had disregarded the communal good.

Obviously, Bassey remarked the war, kidnapping and even an epidemic in the story reflects the real-life environmental struggles in the Niger Delta, where communities are torn apart by oil pollution, land disputes and corporate greed.

The novel serves as a reminder that natural resources should be a source of communal wealth, not division and destruction.

Observably, the discussions at HOMEF’s Book Day reinforce the idea that books are not just passive carriers of knowledge; they are catalysts for change.

The environmentalists cum authors argue that stories have the power to reimagine the future, challenge exploitative systems, and inspire people to act.

Through literature, they believe movements can be sustained, and people can be mobilised.

The event highlights how environmental storytelling can deepen public consciousness, using cultural narratives to promote ecological justice.

Whether through the fictional conflicts in The Great Ponds or the real-life reflections in A Walk in the Curfew, it is proven that books offer a powerful means of addressing environmental challenges.

As the first of many Book Days planned by HOMEF, this event set the tone for a future where literature is actively used in the fight for ecological liberation.

It is a reminder that imagination is not just for escape, it is a force that can shape the world.

With the climate crisis worsening, voices like those at the event will be crucial in steering society toward a more just and sustainable future.

Inarguably, as long as there are books to read and stories to tell, the fight for environmental justice will never fade.