Orville Taylor | Environmental focus

Our grandchildren will have much less wood and lots more water than we have today. As we prepare for the general election with both major political parties scuttling like rats during the short window of the cat’s absence, there is a reality check to cash. Global climatic conditions and local factors are leading to the loss of land mass, disappearance of flora and fauna and habitat for myriad species.

Fish stock is dying, crocodiles are missing some of the fish that they typically feed on and we are putting too much emphasis on the ‘man’ in mangrove. Crocs are not snakes or croaking lizards. They are far more intelligent and resilient. If you displace them; they will turn up on beaches, in marinas and if you live in an improperly designed community, where they can leave the canals or gullies; they will ‘time-pedal’ you, turn up on your lawn or porch and snatch rover or worse…

This little island with its islet satellites, has begun its six months of hurricane alertness. To be fair, given our long and deep history with tropical cyclones, we understand this known enemy. Most Jamaicans will be stocking up on batteries, kerosene oil, canned meat and fish as well as sealable mackerel pails with saltfish, rice and floor. Indeed, a child recently cracked me up by saying that his mother must not prepare any ‘meal’ for him, because that is what the dog eats. However, cornmeal is a Jamaican staple; turned or otherwise.

For those who have choices, they will be checking roofs, and collecting water in plastic drums. True, hurricanes have been predicted to be more frequent and stronger. Yet, this short term preparedness is perhaps what might be our major distraction. You see, we are prepared for the events of hurricanes but we are not as alert to the processes of other overall threats to the environment. Our daily practices strongly affect our overall readiness, because degraded environments turn natural occurrences into natural disasters.

Poor management of the earth, via careless construction, drainage designs, and improper farming techniques lead to soil erosion. Misuse of pesticides and industrial effluent contaminate the aquifers and destroy the marine environment. Pesticides oftentimes kill natural predators, such as those benign insects who feed on beet army moths, and our homicidal fears of lizards, break critical links in the food chain. Lizards eat insect pests.

Fake or artificial people are not the only synthetic threats. Like some other countries, Jamaica has too much plastic waste. Globally, there is a plastic island in the Pacific Ocean that is larger than our land mass. As large as it is, estimates are that, like icebergs, more than 70 per cent of the plastics is on the ocean floor below the island. Locally, only 40 per cent of used plastic bottles is retrieved for recycling by a private sector entity which enlisted the squeaky clean entertainer who, ‘talk how mi feel’ as its pitchman.

Plastic containers give a different twist to the meaning of bottleneck, in gullies and rivers. To the credit of the governmental environmental agencies, some debris traps have been set at gully and river mouths. However, some people are simply too nasty. We must stop dumping garbage, especially non-biodegradable material and appliances into these natural waterways.

World Environmental Day was June 5, and there was a major beach cleanup, spearheaded by the National Environment and Planning Agency along with other stakeholders and volunteers. Before that, another group supported by the GraceKennedy Foundation engaged in a cleanup of Kingston Harbour.

Doubtless, these initiatives are commendable and important for nation building. Still, there is far more that we need to do in reducing the amount of litter, including plastic from entering in our channels, because everything ends up in the ocean.

True, other global factors outside of our control such as climate change, resulting in the aforementioned increase in number and ferocity of hurricanes and the algal bloom, such as the massive spread of sargassum as well as bleaching of the coral and overall the harming of marine life along our reefs.

We are not able to control the rise in the sea levels due to melting of the polar ice caps, which leads to more fresh water from land entering into the ocean. For the record, melting of sea ice does no more for the raising of sea levels than when ice cubes melt in one’s glass. In physics they call it displacement, and thankfully I looked up occasionally from the comic books in science class.

A concerted effort needs to be made to not just enforce residential zones and thus, regulate unplanned settlements, which make town planning virtually impossible. At the same time, it is a headache to manage the way these communities treat their immediate environment

The disposal of solid waste and effluent such as factory runoff while the individual responsibility of business owners and households; ultimately, the government must ensure that the average citizen is held accountable and importantly understands his obligations.

Government cannot be excused for not strategically guiding the disposal of plastic in places where they can be collected. Indeed it is conceivable to have a fully cooperative relationship with the private recycling entities to have a double win; removing plastics from the ecosystem and at the same time generating revenue.

Beyond this I am encouraged by an initiative to target cosmetics, like facial scrubs and other domestic products, generally seem as harmless but which however contain microplastics. In a country like Jamaica where skin bleaching is a pandemic, it is hoped that government will also clamp down on this practice not just for aesthetics but because many of these chemicals once washed off, will enter the ecosystem and food chain with disastrous effects later on both flora and fauna.

Finally, travelling residents must recognise that not only guns and drugs ‘mash up’ the place. A smuggled in plant or animal can devastate an industry or start a pandemic.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.