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Cooking With Charcoal: The Cost of Not Going Green
By Bella Kasoa, Ghana — The rhythmic sound of metal pans scraping against coal pots fills the air as smoke rises above rows of makeshift food stalls. It’s just past noon, and 41-year-old Mama Esi fans the red-hot embers beneath her rice pot. “I’ve used charcoal for twenty years,” she says, squinting through the smoke. “It’s what I know. It’s what I can afford.” Like thousands of Ghanaians, especially women, Mama Esi relies on charcoal as her primary cooking fuel — a practice that’s deeply entrenched in culture, convenience, and cost. But beneath the crackle of flames lies a growing environmental crisis. A Nation Cooked on Coal Charcoal is used…
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When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change
By Baaba Wa, Upper West Region — For 60-year-old farmer Alhaji Iddrisu, the sky used to be a dependable clock. By early May, the rains would arrive — nourishing his maize and groundnut fields in the village of Wechiau. But this year, like many before, the clouds gathered and passed. No rain. No crops. No income. “I planted twice,” he says, staring at a cracked patch of land. “The seeds died both times. Now, I have nothing.” Across Ghana, especially in the northern savannah regions, climate change is no longer theory — it’s daily life. And for the country’s smallholder farmers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A Fragile Backbone Smallholder…
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When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change
By Jasmine Wa, Upper West Region — For 60-year-old farmer Alhaji Iddrisu, the sky used to be a dependable clock. By early May, the rains would arrive — nourishing his maize and groundnut fields in the village of Wechiau. But this year, like many before, the clouds gathered and passed. No rain. No crops. No income. “I planted twice,” he says, staring at a cracked patch of land. “The seeds died both times. Now, I have nothing.” Across Ghana, especially in the northern savannah regions, climate change is no longer theory — it’s daily life. And for the country’s smallholder farmers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. A Fragile Backbone Smallholder…
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Beyond the Headlines: What It’s Like Living in a Flood-Prone Area
By Nomako Odawna, Accra — The rain started around 3 a.m. At first, it was a steady patter on the rooftop. Then it turned into a roar. Within an hour, muddy water surged through the alleys and spilled into living rooms. Mattresses floated. Fridges toppled. Children screamed. For 42-year-old trader Kojo Mensah, it was the fourth time in two years his home had been submerged. “We didn’t even sleep,” he said. “We just stood in the water, waiting for it to stop.” In flood-prone communities like Odawna, Nima, and Kaneshie in Accra, flooding is no longer a seasonal nuisance — it’s a permanent threat, an annual trauma, and a glaring…
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When the Rain Doesn’t Come: Small Farmers Battle Climate Change
By Adoma Garu, Upper East Ghana — On a cracked field just outside town, 52-year-old Alhassan Naaba kneels beside wilted maize stalks and dusty groundnut vines. The rains, which usually begin in May, have barely come. His hopes for this year’s harvest — and his family’s survival — hang in the balance. “Last year, we harvested four bags,” he says, pointing to a dry stretch of earth. “This year, we may not get even one.” Across Ghana’s northern regions and parts of the savannah belt, climate change is hitting smallholder farmers hard. Rainfall is becoming less predictable, droughts are longer, and when the rain finally comes, it often arrives in…