A call to action to protect environment

THE EDITOR: I love this country and it is always with pride that I present my TT passport to immigration officers. I feel honoured to be a Trinidadian.

It has been a long and tedious 2020 for me with covid19 and all its restrictions. I am a working mother of three young children. One sat the SEA examination this year and another will sit it next year.

With the school term ended in December and the excitement of Christmas, I thought what better way to start the vacation than a long overdue trip to one of our beautiful North Coast beaches? We went to relax, unwind, and wash away the stresses of the challenging year.

Not much to my surprise but much to my dismay, the beach was completely covered with litter. My initial reaction was one of disgust, anger, and frustration because this, of course, is nothing new to life in sweet TT.

I quickly sprang into action and eagerly began collecting as much litter as I could. After 30 minutes of gathering plastic water bottles, packaging for chips (both foreign and local brands), empty tin cans, beer bottles, rum bottles, soft drink bottles, cigarette lighters, plastic bags and, yes, even a mug branded the Ministry of National Security, I decided something had to be done about this litter. But what?

I began to photograph much of the litter and to make a list of the product brands that were strewn on this beloved beach. I thought I would post on social media and call them out. Why do large corporations profit from the sale of these products yet have little or no responsibility or accountability to help reduce and hopefully one day stop this insanity and total disregard? Why is there little or no social responsibility and accountability from the citizens of this blessed land? What is the plan of action from our leading businesses and corporations? What is our government’s role in protecting our environment?

So many questions with so few answers.

I hold myself partly responsible for this as I have sat by for so many years frustrated by the lack of consideration my fellow citizens show for our environment, but yet I have never spoken up about it. When will this insanity end? When will we as a people understand the negative impact we have on our environment and be the change that we so desperately need?

When will we stand up and do something?

This is a call to action for all the major corporations and businesses and all citizens to act now.

MICHELLE ANN SCOTT

via e-mail