Saturday, February 15, 2014

Our failure to address de-silting

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7 comments:

Unknown said...

The time is NOW (if I may borrow some of the emotive oratory from Dr. M.L.King's 'Now is the Time' in his "I Have a Dream" speech- as he implored America to make a change-for the better). Upon his and mentor Ghandi's vestiges, I propose the need for an ecological movement that can work seamlessly with the ruling party of the day.

Humans, especially the island bound need to constantly evaluate their limited resources in order to make fair / sound decisions for now and the future. If one plans wisely for future survival, the accrued savings pass on to our children's well being.

We humans typically view our divine cognitive endowment to lay claim to "top of the food pyramid" or most important stakeholder in the web /chain of life. However, ecological common sense exposes our vulnerabilities at every turn to the point where scientific minds joke about the predictability of the cockroach to survive beyond human extinction -if we stay the course on "man's" self destructive trajectory.

Biblical footnotes indicate that we are ordained as shepherds / wardens over all life forms. I deduce this responsibility was divinely gifted in tandem with the gift of our unique capability for higher levels of cognitive processing prowess -not necessarily equated with wisdom.

The human ego (prone to rebellion) has a difficult challenge in placing the fairness of the WHOLE / GROUP above its own integral part within the whole. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Gestalt).
Ecological or sustainable efficiency requires that we view our human self as a natural resource in harmony with all the other natural resources. After the industrial revolution humans took the aloof if not predatory view that they are "entitled" to scour all the lesser forms of cognitive reasoning (flora & fauna) to suit their gluttonous if not depraved consumerism. Even the most recent form of slavery was supported by neo Darwinian philosophers who proclaimed 'survival of the fittest' to justify the despicable if not unpardonable "Middle Passage".

The smog of LA, Mexico City, Bejing are the visible signs. Acid rain and the widening ozone hole are not even reported in the mainstream any more. Evidently, there is one tell tale signal that has a biblical predecessor and is now sending its opening 'range finder' salvos across our landscape- WATER.

We humans cannot ignore the superiority of this most pervasive natural resource - It dominates in near 2/3 congruence. Our bodies are composed of approx 2/3 water and our spaceship 'Earth' is also approx 2/3 water. Now aqua maximus is in revolt and we can no longer maintain denial over our role in her 'piss off" (pun intended).

We scoffed at the 'tree huggers' who warned of released CO2 levels (e.g., slash /burn in the tropical rain forests). Now we are a bit more attentive to the glaciers around our planets (the frozen precipitation in the Himalayas is probably => to the volume of water in the Caribbean Sea). All released forms of water end up in the oceans -the dynamo that drives all our weather patterns.

We ignored the release of CO2 but his bad azz cousin H2O is gonna stick it us -for sure! CO2 + H2O = deux bondah as in Lee Van Cleef's swagger from the epic film "The Good The Bad & The Ugly" !

February 16, 2014 at 7:44 AM
Anonymous said...

When we continuously elect visionless individuals whose main goal is to dog-in-the-manger occupy positions of power with no concern of making a real difference in the quality of governance of the country, we get it.

Yep! We get it: the snowball effect of calamities meted out to our very stubbornly stupid, and stupidly stubborn population.

They do the same darn things over and over, and each time they expect a different result.

Characteristically, they continue to worship those who pull the wool over their eyes by fooling them with partial solutions, veritable plasters. Such people may have vindictive memories like elephants, but their schooling does not equip to think. That is, to think critically and analytically.

Therefore, they are always firefighting. The whole damn world is and remains a threat. Everything to be done becomes or is turned into an emergency. Short-termism dominates such thinking especially with the 5-year election cycle.

They love to boast experience. But does that mean 30 plus years of doing nearly the same thing day in, and day out? Experience? You would call that experience in the 21st century? Lord have mercy!

Like the Roman czars, our PMs past and present are just too happy to entertain the plebs. Meanwhile, if you are not a party stalwart, the d-EVIL snags the hindmost.

February 16, 2014 at 8:35 AM
Anonymous said...

I feel you- like the youngsters say when they get the substance in a conversation. Coincidentally, it appears that any meaningful change will come through a conduit to their budding potential intellects.

February 16, 2014 at 4:02 PM
Unknown said...

A strong grass roots "Environmental Green" movement is sorely needed. The government can initiate it in the schools, community centers and press releases.

Some focused parts of this ecological movement must be specifically tailored to fishermen and farmers( e.g.,the protection of coral and spawning areas; water and soil conservation).

Construction/engineering should undergo mandatory training in advanced guidelines formulated by government on the advice / scrutiny of models from around the planet.

Concerned bloggers point to the timing of the regional X-mas eve trough and the current Valentines Day deluge of Snow /ice in the NY metro area (by the by the north and western suburbs were slammed 4x worse than NYCity- commercial bus routes were closed to many western suburbs). We need to use our typical party time of celebrating to attend to conservation measures.

The pomp of our fine lady Governor-General inspecting the troops and the visiting color guard from neighboring states -A1-OK. Following a few culturally enriching activities, the rest of the time should be planned in wide scale volunteerism.

This form of volunteerism is analogous to community beautification of parks, restoration and beach clean up projects. It is not designed to take away from similar STEP programs. It may actually boost the dignity of said routine jobs-on a national scale.

But that that is not the impetus of a national volunteerism campaign to celebrate this independence anniversary. Firstly, it brings all walks (status quo) together on a common understanding of service to the nation of which we are an integral part. Traditional carnival celebrations have been leveling the status quo to bring folks together since the start of play mas. Why not the same for nation building 101, which is what volunteerism inculcates, oui?

Targeted areas of national volunteerism are:
-Disaster preparation /evacuation drills- community wide- hospitals- nursing homes-schools.
- Designated traffic regulations as in evac routes or restricted use routes-emergency vehicle priority corridors etc.
-Temporary shelter-who-how-when to use.
-Clean up and create green pathways to and from. Install recycle trash receptacles including compost designated bin.
-forest preserve and the like- bracing trees to withstand high wind loads and or to keep them in location if they fall. Clearing of trails ravines, streams
-All rivers will need studying , scouting for potential problems, suggestions for debris bypass around major bridges during heavy downpours. Scrutinizing the entire watershed of tributaries to a major river to trim back the introduction of potential debris.

- Clean up and add more protective devices around protected habitats (e.g. motion sensors, solar lighting, hidden cameras including low light and infra red. Especially that little islet between Praslin /Mon Repos.
- CPR and first aid Classes for community centers staff and other designated group leaders.
- Planting new native trees shrubs in bald spots
- water safety courses
-defensive driving auto and bikes
-nutrition therapy courses
-substance abuse classes
-holistic health & hygiene classes
Well that's my short list for independence weeks of celebration. It is geared towards enhancing a mature progressive outlook.
Viva St. Lucia



February 17, 2014 at 1:26 PM
Tosh said...

Charlee, you make some very valid points. Ultimately there needs to be less people on the planet, people who understand and want to live within the parameters of nature.

St lucia cannot keep bulldoing forest for buildnig/agriculture. Need to preserve habitats for the birds and flora.

SNO the other day said that more weather monitoring equipment had been stolen. This is an outrage and should be dealt with in the strictest possible terms. Those villains will be indirectly causing more misery in time to come.

February 18, 2014 at 2:49 AM
Unknown said...

The idea of volunteerism is a major hall mark of Citizenship. It is sort of like a license -to be a citizen- More importantly it is renewable, hopefully on an annual basis or as circumstances allow.

All mass volunteer activities begin with selection or matching abilities to the demands of a well defined task analysis. This is followed by discussion classroom meets (multimedia productions on most topics are freely available to government agencies.

The key to make this work is to start with one large scale model with cross generational / socio-economic participants. Script it tightly, record it live via al media outlets,edit it as a training motivational tool.

Certificates with official Seals and unique #'s are great just rewards.

So too are free advertising or tax value credit for commercial entities that supply materias (e.g., water, chefs for live food prep, gloves, safety equipment etc,.)

How about our diplomatic corps negotiating charitable tax deductions for those in the diaspora who would participate ( at least a charitable tax write off may offset the cost of airfare.

It may also help with a massive buildup of targeted supplies .
equipment. Theses are all doable - it,s only a matter of trust via transparency /accountability n'est pas?

I know of folks who pay to go spend 2-4 weeks of their vacation in remote corners of the world with at least 4-6 hours a day volunteering on building a rural school building, a community well, a clinic, an airstrip.

Just imagine the outpouring of St Lucian nationals abroad if bilateral gov agreements allow them to off set a large percentage of their out of pocket expenses in charitable acts of volunteerism.

Yes sir, watch as the returning / visiting sons & daughters of "Helen" alight from Pearson, JFK, Heathrow et al with that unmistakable Yul Bryner swagger (from The Magnificent Seven)-
and with that Sidney Poiter tough on the outside but compassionate on the inside COOL!
Yea, Hewanorra's asphalt would echo "Glory be" from the sheer cliffs of Moule a Cheque to the summit of Mt Gimie- Amen...


February 18, 2014 at 9:22 AM
Unknown said...

The idea of volunteerism is a major hall mark of Citizenship. It is sort of like a license -to be a citizen- More importantly it is renewable, hopefully on an annual basis or as circumstances allow.

All mass volunteer activities begin with selection or matching abilities to the demands of a well defined task analysis. This is followed by discussion classroom meets (multimedia productions on most topics are freely available to government agencies.

The key to make this work is to start with one large scale model with cross generational / socio-economic participants. Script it tightly, record it live via al media outlets,edit it as a training motivational tool.

Certificates with official Seals and unique #'s are great just rewards.

So too are free advertising or tax value credit for commercial entities that supply materias (e.g., water, chefs for live food prep, gloves, safety equipment etc,.)

How about our diplomatic corps negotiating charitable tax deductions for those in the diaspora who would participate ( at least a charitable tax write off may offset the cost of airfare.

It may also help with a massive buildup of targeted supplies .
equipment. Theses are all doable - it,s only a matter of trust via transparency /accountability n'est pas?

I know of folks who pay to go spend 2-4 weeks of their vacation in remote corners of the world with at least 4-6 hours a day volunteering on building a rural school building, a community well, a clinic, an airstrip.

Just imagine the outpouring of St Lucian nationals abroad if bilateral gov agreements allow them to off set a large percentage of their out of pocket expenses in charitable acts of volunteerism.

Yes sir, watch as the returning / visiting sons & daughters of "Helen" alight from Pearson, JFK, Heathrow et al with that unmistakable Yul Bryner swagger (from The Magnificent Seven)-
and with that Sidney Poiter tough on the outside but compassionate on the inside COOL!
Yea, Hewanorra's asphalt would echo "Glory be" from the sheer cliffs of Moule a Cheque to the summit of Mt Gimie- Amen...


February 18, 2014 at 9:30 AM

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