Do more to protect environment

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I visited a friend on April 22 as she planned on celebrating Earth Day by planting a tree, avid gardener that she is. However beautiful her garden may be, the stench from a nearby gully could not inveigle me to stay and enjoy the visual delights of her pristine and verdant flower beds.

It is this odour that I take umbrage with. I gather that the gully in question, the Rochester Gully, that traverses Red Hills Road, is often a conduit for treated and, at times, untreated sewage (when a treatment plant on White Hall Avenue malfunctions, as appears to be the case now).

In addition, residents in nearby communities use the gully as a dump to deposit dead animals, garbage, landscape debris and the like. All this eventually gets into the sea, polluting it and severely affecting marine life. It must also be emphasised that this can present health problems in breathing in noxious chemicals and encouraging the breeding of mosquitoes and vermin, and the host of social complications that engenders.

CONCERTED ACTION

I am not sure which entities are directly responsible for offences of this nature, as it could jointly be the purview of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, National Environment and Planning Agency, Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, National Water Commission, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Water.

Some concerted action needs to be taken to address definitively these environmental issues, as our very survival depends on it. Is there a Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act? There should be, if we are serious about sustainable development in this country.

Are we aware that there is an expansion of 'ocean dead zone' where pockets of the sea are so depleted of oxygen that fish and other aquatic life are threatened. This is exacerbated by pollutants like effluent and fertiliser that contaminate our coastal waters and promote the growth of algae which further depletes oxygen.

Similarly, the 'rainforests of the ocean', our coral reefs, are in crisis mode from pollution and their destruction can mean the erosion of our beaches, an important facet of our tourism industry.

We all know of the severe drought that we have been experiencing, and the attendant conservation measures implemented by the NWC. What we need to realise is that our actions directly impact the inconvenience we endure from water restrictions.

Putting it simply, every time we cut down a tree without replanting another; every time we burn rubbish, sending plumes of smoke in the air; every time we use the AC and not a window, or make unnecessary trips in our luxury vehicles; every time we refuse to 'reduce, reuse, recycle', we are contributing to global warming, climate change, rising sea levels and depletion of the ozone layer.

It's still not too late to effect change if all of us, as citizens of this 'Land of Wood and Water', fast becoming a misnomer, commit to living more sustainably. Every little action counts. It's for us to decide that we care enough about ourselves, our neighbour, our country, our planet.

As this Native American Proverb asserts: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

ELAINE PARKER

elpar64@live.com