The Green Page - December 27, 2000

Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Page:15A
Paper Date: Wed, Dec 27, 2000
Byline: Compiled by Terry Ally

Page sponsored by The Tourism Development Corporation 

  
 

 

Keeping green machine ticking

"Great souls have wills; feeble ones only have wishes"
                                                      - Chinese proverb

WANT to learn a foreign language? Perhaps Chinese with its ancient and mystifying culture, rich traditions, and complex alphabets? Well, there are a few ways to do so. One could buy books, videos, and audio tapes and teach oneself; learn via online courses on the Internet; go to classes; or the best way possible would be to immerse oneself in the culture by living among the people. Environment is no different. To many, it is a language, a culture, a lifestyle all on its own.

Year 2000 has been a watershed year for the environment in Barbados. There have been many successes - as well as failures - but when one tallies the profit and loss statement and completes the balance sheet, the result is tremendous net profit with great potential for growth and development. The successes of this year were all documented in the Sunday Sun of November 26, with one exception - that of the Hurricane Clean-up by the Central Emergency Relief Organisation. Greening Barbados has not yet announced its plans for 2001, but one expects that, based on the good result of this year's activity, the organisation will move into Phase II in 2001.

This year was characterised by Step 1 of a classic problem-solving model. That is, to show that a problem exists and to get Barbadians to understand it and accept responsibility for it. The next step has to be a demonstration of feasible options they could use to make a change for the better. How does one do that? Actions must support a belief. For example, if we believe that climate change and sea level rise are realities, should we be constructing any longer on the beach, in watercourses, and in low-lying flood-prone areas? If we believe in global warming, should local companies be installing new power generating plants using fossil fuels? If we believe we will be hit by a hurricane, should we not have an enforceable building code? If we believe that littering and illegal dumping are health hazards, should we not do everything possible to stamp them out?

Greening Barbados' final activity for its first year of operation (and a good way to kick off Phase II) will be a Green Expo. Details are not yet available but it is expected that this will be a premier exposition of goods and services to promote green lifestyles at the individual and corporate level to show how to make the home and business eco-friendly, and would be ideally placed to attract buyers and sellers from around the Caribbean. It is expected to be a one-stop marketplace for solutions to problems as well as showcasing environmental standards such as eco-labelling, life cycle assessments, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001, and Green Globe certification.

Two chronic problems affecting Barbadians are illegal dumping and littering. A New Year's resolution could be to stamp them out. Barbadians have been crying out for the culprits to be prosecuted and a suggestion for the New Year would be to create an Environmental Police Unit. Trinidad did it by creating an Environmental Police Unit (EPU). When police are trained, they cannot possibly learn all the laws so they are trained in the priority areas. The Trinidad EPU therefore had to be trained in the specific environmental law so that when they see an act, they know what section of the law is being violated, what penalties apply, and what course of action to take. If police are to enforce and uphold environmental laws (which already exist) in Barbados, then it will call for a retraining of the officers or the establishment of a core of officers charged with this specific responsibility.

 

Eco-briefs

Toxins in fish
Just as worried Europeans are turning their backs on beef and flocking to the fish counters, they have learnt that scientists have found unacceptably high levels of toxic industrial chemicals in the region's seafood. Experts from the Scientific Committee for Food said fish, both from fish farms and from the region's seas, are regularly contaminated by dioxins and similar toxins, some of which cause cancer, hormone changes, and severe disorders.

Sick sea life
In the Florida Keys veterinarians and marine biologists are working around the clock to save critcally endangered loggerhead turtles, 45 of which have either died or become critically ill with pneumonia. It's not sure whether a virus, toxins in the water, or the recent cold spells is the problem. A little further north, at Daytona Beach, seagulls are also becoming ill. Fifty are dead and another 60 sick with a respiratory ailment.

Fines fail
Oil refineries, sewage plants and other Bay Area, San Francisco businesses continue to make illegal discharges into the bay, despite a year-old law that penalises chronic polluters by imposing mandatory fines of US$3 000 for each incident which has netted $200 000 so far. Environmentalists say the fines are not steep enough to make a difference.

Olympic bid
Beijing plans to spend US$12.08 billion cleaning up its heavily polluted air to improve its bid to host the 2008 Olympics, a government minister said. The Chinese capital, one of the most polluted cities on earth, is vying with Paris, Istanbul, Osaka and Toronto to stage the Games.

West Nile Virus over?
There have been no further reports of the West Nile Virus in humans or other animals in New York fuelling speculation that New York has reached the end of the West Nile Virus season.