Refreshing, substantial article
Published:Tuesday | September 28, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
As an earth scientist, I found it particularly heartening, for several reasons, to read the article titled 'Palisadoes road construction danger" (Sunday Gleaner, September 26, page F13) by Karl Aiken and Mona Webber, two prominent and respected research scientists in the Life Sciences Deptartment at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.
First, I agree with essentially everything they have said and join them in their inquiry as to "where is the EIA?" Secondly, I, too, have raised the issue in your newspaper of the effects of sea-level rise on the Palisadoes peninsula (see 'Planetary meltdown and Jamaica' Sunday Gleaner, March 30, 2008 pages G10-11). At that time, however, there had been no public announce-ment of any plans to construct a four-lane highway along the Palisadoes. So, I assume this ill-conceived project was brought to light after, and it begs another question from me: Were any of the specialists in the geological sciences at UWI consulted or asked for their professional opinion? The Govern-ment of Jamaica supports research institutions of higher learning like UWI, the University of Technology, and Northern Caribbean University, so why doesn't it make use of their expertise when circumstances arise?
In addition to raising a very serious issue, I found the article heartening, because in was a pleasure to read an uplifting piece with substance, that didn't delve into the tiring political diatribes that seem to have become a hallmark of your newspaper.
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On a closing note, is it too much to ask that you find some good, unbiased journalists or researchers with backgrounds in the various sciences, to write regular, objective columns to keep the Jamaican public informed on important matters dealing with ecology, the environment, the mining industry, coastal pollution, ground water resources, and so on? Such articles could be used in high schools, both for discussion and reference.
I know many of your readers, including me, who are fed up of the daily diet of politically coloured, subjective articles you publish, and truly wish to see and read more objectively researched pieces, like the one on Palisadoes by Aiken and Webber.
I am, etc.,
ANTHONY R.D. PORTER
Mandeville