GREEN BROTHER IN KENYA

Nigeria set for 'Green Big Brother' show
Chris Wade, November 26, 2009 (BBC News)

"Nigeria's most celebrated environmental campaigner is about to launch a reality TV show to highlight the dangers of global warming for Africans.

"At almost 72 years of age…with three crossings of the barren wastes of the Sahara desert already behind him, Newton Jibunoh is preparing for the most ambitious desert adventure of his life…For his final trek across the desert, planned for the new year, he will be taking a band of 15 young men and women from Nigeria and neighbouring Niger with him."

Newton Jibunoh talks about climate change and Africa. From newdawnvideos via YouTube

"And he will select his travelling companions from an initial group of 50 as part of a reality TV show to be broadcast in both countries…The show, called Desert Warriors, will be set in the ancient Tuareg settlement of Agadez - the last town in northern Niger before civilisation gives way to the sand…There, candidates will be put through a series of tough physical and mental endurance exercises, extreme driving tests and group tasks…Like Big Brother, which has been phenomenally popular across the continent, the viewing public will be able to vote for the "warrior" they would most like to see make the final 15…

"After more than 40 years spent travelling the world explaining the dangers posed by global warming, and in particular the worsening problem of desertification in the Sahara region, Mr Jibunoh says his greatest concern remains the lack of awareness among Africans of the gravity of the situation…The show is his way of spreading the word to a new generation of African environmentalists… [It will] run through early December and will eventually be distributed across a wide swath of the sub-region, potentially reaching many millions of African homes…"

click to enlarge

"…[The] big problem that Mr Jibunoh says he wants to tackle is the perception amongst many Africans that global warming is the preserve of Western charities and wealthy Africans, and has no bearing on their everyday lives…A straw-poll of residents in the capital, Abuja, seems to bear out his point…[T]he irony of this situation is that it is the ordinary citizens of Lagos, Niamey or Abuja who stand to be hit the hardest…

"Mr. Jibunoh says he knows his own time is running out…But he says that Desert Warriors is all about passing the torch to the environmental activists of tomorrow and showing young people across Africa that this is a fight worth carrying on after he is gone…"