Two nights ago, while surfing the channels on my satellite receiver I was halted by the view of a landscape that featured a banana branch in the foreground of the picture of a tropical mountain range. All wet, green and inviting: I knew immediately that it was a view of our Northern Range. Although I'm not sure when it was taped. The channel I had stopped on was the National Geographic channel, which was featuring a story about the fauna of the island. The host was an English-Jamaican photographer whose name I have forgotten. However, the sight of those birds that visit the Asa Wright Sanctuary and the view of its environs made me nostalgic.
Not nostalgic in the sense of being homesick, because my last trip to Trinidad occurred in late March, early April of this year. This nostalgia was one of regret, the regret of knowing that the hills I saw on my last trip were dry and brown with sporadic fires, developers and illegal quarrying eroding what remained of the beauty of Trinidad's flora.
I grew up in Sando and I remember as a child being fascinated by the mist that capped the green knoll early in the morning before the sun came up. I remember the distinct chill and freshness of the air I breathed into my lungs. The San Fernando hill is all gone now and in place of nature's beauty stands grotesque man made structures that includes a restaurant serving plausible Chinese food.
Now I know some fires are inevitable because of the heat, however, as a child I do not remember that many nor do I remember it being that hot. Smog now covers the sky in the dry season, and the rainy season only promises more floods and possible mud slides if this keeps up. Remember Venezuela? They are still recovering.
The government's planning and development and environmental agencies seem to have no problem with the imminent disaster that this portends. However, as a people we need to understand that by destroying our environment we eventually destroy ourselves. A sighting of the Scarlet Ibis is a rare occurance in Caroni because of all the toxins that permeate those wetlands. Nature after all does have some self-preservation instincts. Foreign developers love to operate in an environment where they have no accountability. So people, if you do have a vote, before they sanction that NorthCoast development make sure your government has not sold away your children's future. I live in California where the recurring cycle of fires and mudslides has been relagated to fudder for the local news media. However, these disasters usually occur in affluent enclaves whose residents, already guilty of developmental sprawl, are heavily insured against these disasters. The example of Venezuela is much more likely in Trinidad. It is no accident that the less developed areas of our island are much cooler during the dry season. The news of the depletion of our ozone I'm sure has reached Trinidad, lets raise our voices in unity with the rest of the conscious world as they try to save this earth for future generations.
