What Will Be the Price of Encroaching On Mother Nature?

Submitted by Charles Knighton

Harrison’s Cave

This being Barbados, where legitimate forewarnings are ignored until the warned of disaster is upon us, e.g. the recent budget proposals, emulating Cassandra is a fool’s errand but perhaps, just perhaps, Priam will pay attention.

In their attempt to earn more money by attracting more visitors, those who have dominion over the fragile ecosystem which is Harrison’s Cave stand a good chance of destroying it. While I always had reservations about the increasing amount of carbon dioxide more visitors would produce, those reservations pale when considering the amount of damage the “Eco-Adventure Tour” (pages 20-21, Aug. 24 Saturday Sun) is likely to create.

Future Centre Trust Letters Go Unanswered

Submitted by Kammie Holder (Future Centre Trust)

Click to read a letter from the Future Centre Trust which was hand delivered to the Ministry Of Environment on two occasions during the last 10 weeks as of August 2013 .

Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary – Time for Truce

On BU we have discussed the politics which has seen one of our premier green spaces become an environmental black eye for the nation. While BU holds no brief for Peter Allard surely the time has come for Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart to intervene. To expect Minister of the Environment Denis Lowe to resolve the matter given his shenanigans with Allard (highlighted in BU) is unrealistic.

• Minister Denis Lowe, Why Come To The Table With Unclean Hands? – The Secretive World Of Peter Andrew Allard Part VII

• What Is Your Connection To Peter Allard Minister Lowe?

Future Trust Asking Government for Transparency About the Waste to Energy Plant

Kammie Holder
Advocacy Director
Future Centre Trust

The environmental NGO Future Centre Trust as part of its mandate dispatched a letter on July 3rd 2013 to the Permanent Secretary Ministry Of Environment seeking disclosure on the proposed Waste To Energy Plant.  It’s disingenuous to hear the Governor of the Central Bank and others including the Minister of the Environment  speak  as if this proposed plant is a done deal. Thus   the questions beg why all the secrecy  and lack of disclosure.  Perhaps arrogance has diminished reason.  It’s hoped that good governance  and commonsense will mean something to those mandated to look after our affairs.  The onus of disclosure and public consultation lies in Principle 10 as agreed to by the government of Barbados in 1992 during the Rio conference but never made law.

For the sake of future generations and the possible health risk associated with any breakdown of this Waste To Energy Plant we beg for public consultation and disclosure.  It’s also our intention to seek collective support on the need for disclosure on this plant from, UWI Student Guild, Cancer Society, BAMP and residence of Sandy Lane as well as environs.

We don’t seek confrontation all we seek respectfully is dialogue as enshrined under our constitution.

Poison: Our Air Quality May be TOXIC

Submitted by Agyeman Kofi

Motor vehicle emissions

Barbados is more than an economy is always a profound cliché emanating from the flattering lips of our leaders. Our ratio of action to pretty pronouncements would be weighted in the favour of action if they only believed what they read from their well written speeches. Barbados has 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) of public paved roads. In 2010, an assessment released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of the United Kingdom, ranked Barbados 6th in the world, and the top spot in the Western Hemisphere for road network density. We have heard estimates of up to 140,000 registered vehicles on the roads in Barbados.  No mischief is intended but could there be any environmental links which have cursed Barbados with rankings of #3 in Prostate Cancer, #13 in Breast Cancer, #13 Colon Rectum Cancer and #9 as it relates to Lymphomas.

Let me share an excerpt from a BBC report dated June 12,201, “Exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer, a panel of experts working for the World Health Organization says. It concluded that the exhausts were definitely a cause of lung cancer and may also cause tumours in the bladder. It based the findings on research in high-risk workers such as miners, railway workers and truck drivers. However, the panel said everyone should try to reduce their exposure to diesel exhaust fumes.” (Source,The International Agency for Research)

Fix the Blasted Sluice Gate!

Images submitted by Nostradamus

Garbage in the canal at Graeme Hall wetland and Ramsar site

More garbage in the canal at Graeme Hall wetland and Ramsar site

The posters of DLP candidate John Boyce and BLP Jerome candidate guard the area

The problem which Barbados faces in 2013 is vividly illustrated in the images above. We have a medical doctor and a mechanical engineer seeking election to the House of Assembly on the 21 February 2013 to represent Christ Church South. Smack dab in the constituency they aspire to represent and in the heart of the tourist belt – a stones throw from St. Lawrence Gap and the gold coast – is the canal which leads to the sea from the Graeme Hall wetland and Ramsar site.

A sweet irony many will agree!

Related Links:

• The Sluice Gate at Graeme Hall, a National Disgrace

• Are Messrs Donville Inniss and Denis Lowe Aware the Inoperability of the Sluice Gate Adds to the Dengue Worry?

The Sluice Gate at Graeme Hall, a National Disgrace

The following was received from a citizen who has a deep concern for the environment.

Sluice Gate at Graeme Hall (a)

Sluice Gate at Graeme Hall (b)

Sluice Gate at Graeme Hall (c)

The images above are of the sluice gate and canal at Graeme Hall taken in early February 2013 .  The sluice gate has operated infrequently during the last ten years under both Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the Democratic Labour (DLP) administrations.

Environmental Disaster Certain

Submitted by the Mahogany Coconut Think Tank/Watchdog group

We need to separate our garbage.

Unless we move swiftly to protect the environment, Barbados will face an environmental crisis from which escape would be virtually impossible. Since the early seventies, alert Barbadians, have been warning the bankrupt BLP and DLP governments, but they collectively ignored the warning and concerns, and casually dismissed the then budding environmental crusaders as alarmists.

Who amongst us can forget then call-in radio host Reverend Father Hatch warning about the disappearance of our windows to the sea?

We are all to blame: we dispose litter any and every where and dump the dead remains of animals in our gullies. For nearly a quarter century, both the BLP and DLP have failed to protect the health of the residents of the Ivy in St. Michael, from indiscriminate dumping in the surrounding areas and the assault on our water supply.

Indeed, it is safe to say that until Heritage Tourism became an economic possibility, there was little effort at preserving our landmarks. We allowed our capital city of Bridgetown and its environs to fall into disrepair. We go further and suggest that most of the efforts at preserving our heritage were directed toward one type of group/sector. For example, many beautiful chattel houses and other landmarks were allowed to fall into disrepair because they were the properties of poor black people. On the other hand, strenuous efforts were made to save and protect the environs once inhabited by the more affluent white population.

Future Trust Meeting At Boarded Hall

On the left is the open area where the meeting will be held at Boarded Hall and on the right shows how topsoil is allowed to runoff and the fertility of agriculture land suffocated to rab land

A reminder the Future Centre Trust National meeting on Food Security, Permaculture, Land Use policy and Agriculture will be held this Sunday at 4 PM. Featured speakers slated are Dr Chelston Brathwaite, Keith Laurie, Dr Frances Chandler and Keeley Holder.

The meeting will be held on the open area at Boarded Hall. All Barbadians and friends of Barbados are invited to come and have a say.

Related Links:

• The Assault On Arable Land Continues Under Both Political Parties

• Closeup of Boarded Hall – 1

• Closeup of Boarded Hall – 2

Should We Eat Or Kill The African Snails?

Barbadians will not eat the African snail. We have been socialized to see the Achatina fulica as slimy and nasty and to be sprinkled with salt when spotted on our property. Even in the harsh economic times the local Guyanese population has been the only one interested in ‘picking’ the snails to benefit from the bounty set at .50 cents a pound.

It means if we are to control the growing number of African snails – sighted in the 11 parishes – we will have to use massive amounts of a killing agent which is not harmful to the environment. Keeley Holder is an Israeli trained Integrated Pest Management Specialist based in St. Joseph who suggests the African snail population can be eradicated based on the findings of Albert R. Mead (1961): The Giant African Snail: A Problem in Economic Malacology p.68:

A Mad Decision By The DLP Government

From the Facebook Page of Agyeman Kofi

The Barbados Labour Party spent $30 million in Greenland despite the protestation of lone wolf Richard Goddard. In the year 2011 money is still being spent on a project that will not happen.  Dr Denis Lowe and the DLP is about to commit folly in burning $400 million to burn garbage in a Waste to Energy plant in St Thomas. Now would you believe this is the same government that wants to promote Community recycling? Would you believe this is the same government which is getting millions from the IADB for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency?

Why speak about the environmental issues and now decide to set up a plant which will produce fly ash, Dioxin and acid rain? Imagine I had a discussion with a minister who is framing this decision and he had not a clue on what is recycled in Barbados. Let me tell the population of Barbados who care that six months after the Nuclear Incident Japan which was not suppose to happen high radiation levels are still being detected. In January 2011, residents of Checker Hall and surrounding areas where seen sweeping up tons of Ash from the Arawak Cement Plant after their Scrubber had broken down. Do any of you recall hearing anything from the Government or Environmental Protection Department.

The Environment Should Be Our Friend

Leaked EPA document

All over the world some strange occurrences are being witnessed in the environment, in many instances with contradicting explanations. Barbados has been under attack by a species of Sargassum Seaweed for nearly 3 months and the authorities seem impotent to mobilize a response. If it was not a serious matter it would be funny. Isn’t tourism our business any longer?

Recent reports indicate that “mercury emissions are rising globally, largely from coal-fired power stations, waste incinerators, and the mining of gold and silver in developing countries — where millions are affected directly through mining or contaminated food. Exposure to the most toxic form, methyl mercury, found in seafood, can result in permanent brain damage. The UN is working on setting up a legally binding instrument on mercury emissions”. In Barbados we import a lot of salmon.

Cove Bay St Lucy, The Master Piece

Submitted by Charles S. Cadogan

I am very PROUD of all Barbadians who are standing up against the development of  Cove Bay, St. Lucy.  We have sold  too much of Barbados already. I cannot see how man can improve on what GOD has already made a MASTER PIECE.  Please do not allow this story about jobs and money cause you to loose more of Barbados.

If anymore of the beauty of Barbados is taken away it will no longer be the Barbados which we have grown up to love.  If Barbadians agree to move forward with the Cove Bay development we would be making a very big mistake. There comes a time when money is not the most important thing to consider in making a decision.  If Barbadians continue to focus only on money, we will be sacrificing a natural Barbados to be replaced by cosmetic beauty. Please* do not give away anymore of what we have been blessed,  defend the cause of Cove Bay like you have never defended anything else in the past.

This foreign invasion has to stop somewhere. Do not be fooled by what’s being offered. Go out in numbers and protest against the development of  Cove Bay. Let the developers and town planner know you can fool some of the people, some of the time, but you aren’t going to fool all of the people all of the time.