Local environmental activists contend that in several places along Barbados’s west shore—the famed Platinum Coast, lined with luxury hotels, condos, and expensive homes—erosion has been exacerbated by the construction of seawalls and groins – concierge.com
Fellow blogger Mullins Bay has been a lone voice calling for government intervention to arrest the rapid erosion occurring in the Mullins Bay area. The insensitivity which successive Barbados governments have shown for the environment is unacceptable. The neglect of our environment is unbelievable when one considers it is the main ingredient in our tourist product.
BU is pleased (with mixed feelings) to read that the message by Save Mullins Bay blogger is being heard. It is unfortunate ordinary Barbadians have to depend on foreign players to lend weight to the cause of saving the Mullins Bay area. At this stage any help to galvanize a government numb to the issue of efficient coastal management is appreciated.
A major North American magazine has taken an interest in the erosion taking place in the Mullins Bay area and published quite a damning article online. We hope our government does not continue to ignore the Mullins Bay area when Concierge magazine and its parent company, Coned Nast, one of the largest travel publishers in the world, has taken enough of an interest in it to want to warn its readers. Tourism is our business isn’t it?
BU joins with fellow Mullins Bay blogger to ask our our government to become more proactive in managing our coastal areas, especially the Mullins Bay area.
What BU has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, Bajans are not sensitive to issues of the environment.
Loading…
Raymond
The same erosion which took six mens beach,is doing the same and the time is long gone for persons to take heed and act in order to safeguart the coastal zone.I seem to remember when Liz Thompson was Minister of Health andEnviornment; she was forever warning that this day would come if certain measures put in place were not maintained.Well , I hope something is done soon since there is not much left between Mullins and Haywoods etc.
Loading…
Anonymous
Trust you remember this comment !!
Get rid of the politicians and bureaucrats who orchestrate and have orchestrated the Greenland fiasco.
First and foremost: Liz Thompson. As I have pointed out in my last article in BFP on December 31 2006, this person should not be in government. Not only is she a notorious liar, she ignored or trampled each and every environmental concern relating to the Greenland issue. She has been a chief driving force that made the Greenland landfill issue the fiasco it is today.
By her own admission, Liz Thompson has lied to general public for several years as then-Minister of Health, when she was responsible for implementation of the Greenland landfill development. Her conduct is immoral and unethical. Also, I am pretty certain that her conduct constitutes a violation of her ministerial oath. In most countries, this alone would be grounds enough for dismissal. Yet, in Barbados she is a senior government minister. Not only that, she now is minster for – of all things – the environment. Given her track record on Greenland, having Liz Thompson run the Department for Environment is like the proverbial fox guarding the chicken coop.
Liz Thompson is also coward, and totally untrustworthy. Not once, as far as I know, has she apologized for her continued lying about Greenland, which is the least she owes to Barbadians. Even when finally fessing up, she lied again (Daily Nation article dated December 17 2000), when claiming that “…all local and international studies confirmed that Greenland was the best location for the landfill”. Just when exactly are we to know when she speaks the truth? I, for one, do not believe a word she says.
It is incomprehensible to me how Bajans tolerate a person such as Liz Thompson in Government, let alone as a minister.
Ricardo Marshall, as I have pointed out before, is ignorant and incompetent in the position he presently holds. He has proven this numerous times, both in the printed media and in his appearances at my public presentation and on Brass Tacks in February 2006. As an example, I refer to my lengthy article “Nothing good about Greenland”, which appeared in the Sunday Sun on February 27 2005. In this article I show, point by point, that Marshall does not understand the issue(s) at hand. Marshall needs to be replaced.
Then there is the current Minister of Health Jerome Walcott. He has come out dead-set against incineration, which makes no sense. But I have the impression that he is a smart man. He is clearly following and pushing Government’s course that began long before he was in Government. (This also tells you that there are forces in Government pushing Greenland that I am not naming here, and that date back to at least 1995). I would hope that, one day, Mr. Walcott can liberate himself from the corrupted thinking that permeates the BLP’s party elite. I am pretty sure that he realizes the folly of the Greenland endeavor, and that incineration along with a smaller landfill outside of the Scotland District National Park is the way to go. If he manages to rise above partisan politics, Bajans just might get a garbage incinerator after all. Or when a new person takes over the Health portfolio.
In conclusion, I wish to repeat the final paragraph of my article “Nothing good about Greenland” from February 27 2005:
“I respectfully suggest that the Government of Barbados immediately abandons its plans to use Greenland as a waste disposal site. The government followed ill advice to build this site. This was a great mistake. But it would be a colossal mistake to go any further. The government should cut its losses and move on. Admitting that one has made a mistake is painful, but it can be a virtue. I would view it a sign of strength and wisdom, if the government abandons Greenland as a waste disposal site and moves to sensible alternatives, such as another site that actually is suitable (such sites do exist elsewhere in the island, although there is no “perfect” site), in tandem with incineration of a part of the garbage. The people of Barbados would be forever grateful, rather than be burdened with an ongoing disaster and costs that will mount with time.”
I still stand by these words. But since the time I wrote them, my patience has run out with those whose actions are driven by motives other than serving the people of Barbados.
Professor Hans G. Machel
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Alberta, Canada
Loading…
Tassy Moona
We all want Barbados to prosper. I know Barbados doesn’t have a lot of money to throw at all of its problems, so my position is – if you can’t do good, do no harm. We need to stop ignoring the truth and stop telling lies about Barbados. Do not advertise sandy beaches if all you have is a pile of rocks. If you want sandy beaches – get rid of the rocks. Barbadians should not see this Conde Nast article as dissing our country, but a call to do better by way of our environmental stewardship.
Ho is it Senator Liz Thompson’s record is so bad but she copped a prestigious award from the UN for her work as Minister of the Environment and of late she has been tipped to be an Assistant Secretary General of the UN? Where is the logic?
Loading…
Raymond
Liz Thompson will be made to look lie the sacrifical lamb but but whatever ill feelings the professor and company may have for her she continues to make waves in the right direction.He should ask why there is such silence from Gibbs Glade. Ah ain’t hear yuh!Reel and come again.
The beaches on the west coast have been eroding for years. I remember in the ’60’s, there were houses on the beach side on Sands St going towards Almond Bay Hotel.These houses had a backyard to them, today the sea is right on to the road
Loading…
J
True Scout. Ms. Pinder had a shop on the seaside just past the public bath in Speightstown which is still on the seaside, and opposite the busstand, but sea level rise drove these families and businesses away by the 1970’s
The issue in Road View/Mullins isn’t when erosion started – it’s whether or not it has been sped up by the groynes at St. Peter’s Bay. It baffles us that Dr. Lorna is defending these groynes when she herself claims to be a big believer in planned retreat from the coasts.
Loading…
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.Cancel reply
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.