* * *
Yesterday we traveled over to the University of West Indies
to have a small forum with Dr. David Smith, Dr. Eric Garraway, and Dr. Nickeisha
Reed. The three of them have a way with
words and the ability to make you Aware of issues no matter your field of
study. We critiqued and analyzed organic farming and the perception it has in
Jamaica. It was like we took the concept of “The Problem of Sustainability,”
from David Orr’s Hope is an Imperative and Ecological Literacy and applied it
to organic farming. The discussion was a heated and friendly display of
critically thinking minds, hoping to get as close to the route cause of issues
with sustainability as it relates to organic farming as possible.
Following that discussion we traveled to Denbigh with Dr.
Nickeisha Reed, to aid the Jamaica Organic Agricultural Movement (JOAM) and their
many devoted associated farmers in setting up their displays, mock farms, and
environmental discussion booths. We were truly in good company with all of the
organic famers and heads of JOAM, conversing and bringing their “Green Village”
to life. We reunited with many of the farmers that we have seen and worked with
throughout the program.
Today we returned to Denbigh to continue our work with
JOAM and their “Green Village”. We assisted
the Peace Corp with a child’s village, educating the children on sustainable
practices such as reusing and recycling, taught them about the affects the
chemicals have on Jamaica’s watershed and water runoff areas, and the benefits
and many ways of compositing. The Peace Corp and our ideas were very much in
line, identifying the problems in Jamaica (from Ridge to Reef) and using
education and fun as the tools to efficiently communicate with the youth of
Denbigh and across the May Pen area.
In my eyes the last few days have been focused a lot of
creating Awareness (the ‘A’ step of the Natural Step framework) and discussing
our views on the problems of sustainability much like that of David Orr. The
common thread I found between our assessment of issues with sustainability and
Orr’s is the educational factor. However, we discussed education of a less
formal level. Being able to reach people were they are and relate a topic to
them is what truly makes or breaks, hinders or furthers the development of a
concept, idea, of strategic plan. Along with having a different approach to the
educational factors we also seemed to consider individual and communal
livelihoods be it economical restrictions or just understanding the dynamic of
the families immediately affect by the board generalization of facts and
figures thought o produce more environmentally conscious global citizens.
We have come a long way since coming to Jamaica with just
the Natural Step framework and articles and readings from an array of authors
and studies. We have lived the sustainable and lower carbon footprint
lifestyle. We should continue to strive towards assisting in communal dialogue
and hope that words like that from Vandana Shiva can resonate with our audience
as it did with us. Remember that Humans and other animals serve a function
globally as seed carriers, whether it’s through a sticky pod attached to your
pant leg or through the digestive track of a migrating bird. It is time that we
began good stewards of our home.
“From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.” – Aeschylus
It is time to plant the seeds!
So we are wrapping up our time in Kingston on Sunday, August
5th. Before we go back to Ocho Rios and Durga’s Den, we stop to
catch a glimpse at history. Just eight hours before Jamaica officially
celebrates it’s 50 years of independence, Usain Bolt breaks the Olympic Record,
which he set at Beijing 2008, and wins another Olympic gold. It seemed as if
every person and everything in Jamaica came to a halt for about 10 minutes as
they began to introduce the race and racers. The race was all but 10 seconds
and once again Jamaica has shocked the world; Taking Olympic gold and silver
with times of 9.63 sec and 9.75 sec respectively and pushing ever other
participant in this race to close with some of their personal best. I am glad
to be able to say that I saw Usain Bolt make history once more but this time
from Jamaica and with the happiest people in the world.
Following such a great start to the day, our journey back to
Ocho Rios was a wet one as Tropical Storm Ernesto brought heavy rains to parts
of the south coast. As we drove along a riverside it was made vividly apparent
that soil erosion was a big problem. It was one thing to take about soil
erosion being an issue but it was another thing to see it first hand. This
concept of protecting the environment and the island from “Ridge to Reef” had
come full circle. The water was clear when we had gone into Kingston and now
the river was running bed of coffee with two creams and three scoops of sugar.
As we drove along the banks of the river all I could think of was, “So what do
the people with no piped water do in this area? Drinking and bathing in water
with such a high sediment content along with what ever else has rundown the
ridge cannot be good for you.”
It is increasingly evident that proper actions to prevent
soil erosion and water pollution need to be enacted and heavily enforced. I
have come to the conclusion that everything begins with education. We need
workshops and community wide initiatives to take place and make the farming
practices safe for the environment as a whole. With so many of Jamaica’s
farmers using chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers it would not
surprise me that many of the marine ecosystems are begin destroyed and much of
the marine life has began to search for new homes away from the island.
Education is going to be the first line of defense against this continued water
pollution from soil erosion in the hills and mountains of Jamaica. Protection
for the environment needs to become a priority for the masses, whether you are
a farmer or not. The consumers, the everyday Jamaican, needs to begin to demand
these things so that it will inevitably stop being overlooked and pushed to the
back of the nation’s to-do list.
* * *
Hopefully, as Ryan sees the need for a more ecologically literate Jamaican citizen we can also see that we all need to become more ecologically literate. What do I mean by that? In the most basic terms, it means seeing that our beliefs and actions have consequences on and in a patterned and interconnected world. Creighton and Cortese write that “calls for students to develop an awareness and understanding of the
importance of the natural environment and the effects of human activities on
it, as well as an appreciation for the complexity of the interactions." Tarah Wright writes that it's "an understanding of
the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of human-environment
interactions, and the skills and ethics to translate this understanding into
life choices that promote the sustainable flourishing of diverse human
communities and the ecological systems within which they are embedded." It means understanding that what you eat or don't affects the health and well-being of the air and water, the land and the creatures that reside in and on it including humans, developing a sense of duty or responsibility to consider the health of more than our selves and acting as well as we can. It's a tall order in our world.
So maybe the Jamaican people should become more aware and demand change. But a Jamaicans ecological footprint pales in comparison to an Americans. So do we we have an even greater imperative? It would be hard to convince me otherwise. You?
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