From Allergies to Action: How youth can make change

By Joshua Gabriel Oluwaseyi, 24, Nigeria

Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, a city infamous for its traffic congestion and terrible air quality, I was acutely aware of the environmental challenges surrounding me. However, it wasn't until late 2018, at the age of 17, that I was diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, an asthma-like allergy exacerbated by air pollutants, that the urgency of these issues became deeply personal.

I was experiencing tuberculosis-like symptoms due to exposure to fumigants at home. Having always been a curious Gen Z, I began researching just how big a deal my allergies were. In Nigerian homes, allergies were often disregarded as an ‘ailment of the rich or affluent’, those we call the “ajebutter”. To my surprise, I learnt that over 11,000 Lagosians die prematurely from air pollution-related complications in 2018, with children under five accounting for 60% of those deaths. This was a pivotal moment that ignited my passion for environmental advocacy.

My passion for environmental advocacy led me to co-found LEARNBLUE at age 18. It is an international youth-led nonprofit organisation dedicated to raising awareness and inspiring action against global environmental issues leveraging storytelling and curating research to influence policy-making discussions.

Months after establishing LEARNBLUE, I learnt about the intersection between plastics, electronics and chemicals waste (mis)management in Lagos and air pollution – the issue that most affected me directly with the common denominator being the practice of burning waste as a means to get rid of it easily.

After noticing a pattern of blocked drainage channels across populated marketplaces and beside food vendors while I commuted across Lagos, knowing that it would either be burnt or left to cause flooding that could spread water-borne infections, I decided to call attention to the issue. This led to the creation of the #ForACleanerLagos Campaign. Starting from a simple tweet, I co-organised one of Lagos's largest environmental sanitation and recycling drives in my city alongside partners like Sustyvibes, cleaning up over 40,000 pounds of non-biodegradable waste across Africa's largest metropolitan city, Lagos.

After years of activism and rarely ever participating in gatherings where policies are made, I realised that, I realized that Africa has long had a storytelling problem, with non-indigenous media telling African stories that proliferate often harmful stereotypes. Amongst these are the unevenly told stories that fail to fully reflect and amplify Africa’s harsh realities in the face of the global climate crisis, which is further compounded by air pollution.

Despite my continent contributing less than 4 percent of global emissions, Africa is the most vulnerable to the climate crisis. In addition, young Africans like myself struggle to find platforms that amplify our authentic climate stories calling for urgency.

To combat this, I co-created Our African Climate Story (OACS) alongside Nigerian award-winning environmentalist, Oluwaseyi Jesuton, 23, and youth empowerment advocate Dahunsi Oluwanifemi, 22. We train African climate activists to leverage storytelling to strengthen their ability to share personal climate experiences to connect with policy makers and their communities on a human-level to change mindsets and potentially influence policy-making. The workshops conducted in Nairobi during Africa Climate Week and COP28 trained more than 50 young people who came from 15 different African nations.

Just after the first OACS workshop, I was selected to participate in the fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5) in Bonn, Germany, as a storyteller youth delegate. There, I contributed to the drafting of a youth position paper, the Global Youth Declaration on Chemicals Management, High-Level Plenary interventions and had the honour of delivering a keynote at the inaugural Youth Forum on Chemicals Governance. I shared my story of my work at LEARNBLUE, highlighting not only the impact of air pollution on (my) youth health but also the need for more controls on the use of highly hazardous insecticides for domestic use, especially those that are carcinogenic like styrofoam melting, SNIPER® that triggered my allergies.

Having recently completed my degree in statistics, I am now leveraging my analytical skills to further our environmental advocacy efforts. With my team at LEARNBLUE, through our growing research department and our OACS project, we merge quantitative findings with powerful storytelling to push for policies that combat the multiple waste and chemical pollution problems.

Air pollution is not just an environmental problem, it's a public health crisis that claims lives daily. By sharing my personal journey, from battling pollution-induced health issues to mobilising community action, I hope to inspire those around me to recognise their agency in fostering a sustainable future.