It took Hurricane Melissa, a wretched, wanton witch whom I narrowly escaped to get me writing again, so though it is good to be here, I’d have been glad for some other motivation.
If suffering Hurricane Melissa from afar was traumatic, any attempt to represent the suffering in the places she obliterated defies language. I saw one such description and it was heartbreaking, never mind all the folks in the home in Black River survived. Insofar as we can carry weight for one another, I carry weight for those who have lost family members, property, land and livelihood. I pray for their comfort and the restoration of their health, and homes and other property, but I pray especially for their strength, for an abundant and constant determination that wholeness of body, spirit and circumstance will prevail.
What recourse do small islands have, particularly the small islands of the Caribbean, some of which have just experienced a storm of unprecedented power that devastated the places it passed over, leaving dread, disaster and death in its wake? Protest on the warming regional waters? A flotilla of vessels demanding climate justice would be an invitation to extra-judicial murder. Plus, the stone that, according to the late Barbadian poet, Kamau Brathwaite, “skidded, arced and bloomed” into our archipelago of islands, flung them wide and separate into the sea, so those at one end of the arc are very far from those at the other. Language and politics divide us further, never mind that, where weather is concerned, our island destinies are the same. Warming waters will rise and eventually submerge low-lying states. Before that, weather events will become more frequent and dangerous. We will rebuild only to face destruction-on-a-loop. If we do nothing.
NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS INEVITABLE. This effect has a cause. Saying that polluters can “drill, baby, drill” without threatening the survival of humanity will not make impending annihilation for our species go away. Rather we need to say continually, and with a deafening roar, that burning fossil fuels must stop. We must also do what needs to be done to ensure that termination.
We have some tools at hand, meagre as they might seem. Do we have to fly as often as we do? I know an academic who has made it a policy to fly to only one conference a year. Must we fly short hops? Can we take the train or bus instead? Walk or ride a bike for near-to-home journeys? (There are health benefits from both.) We are carnivores, true, but do we have to eat as much meat as we do? (Health benefits here too.) Have we made sure all our light bulbs are LED? Do we upcycle, recycle or mend, instead of buying new clothes and accessories? Are our loads of laundry always full? Run on the cold cycle? Do we turn off the tap when we’re cleaning our teeth? (I’m very guilty of that one.) Do we languish under long showers? Yes, it’s all small stuff, but “one-one cocoa full basket…” We can also teach the youth by our example, as we put de cocoa-dem inna de baksket.
As we restore those parts of Jamaica demolished by Hurricane Melissa, sustainability and resilience in the structures we create must be a priority. We must use solar power where we can. We must work with governments already using geothermal, wind and tidal energy to implement their use in our critical infrastructure, like hospitals and clinics, schools and colleges. We must harden our energy infrastructure, so it is less vulnerable to natural disasters as well as cyber threats and even physical attacks. We must ask churches and community organizations to spearhead conversations about climate change, responsible carbon footprints, and environmental best practices. Above all, we must demand that our political representatives agitate for climate justice for the islands of the region with resolve and forcefulness. We must not continue to suffer the effects of what larger countries do as they continue burning fossil fuels, thus promoting the heating of the planet and causing avoidable cataclysms.
This 2023 document sets out ways and means for the Caribbean to implement a transition to sustainable energy https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/issue-brief/a-roadmap-for-the-caribbeans-energy-transition/ It notes, inter alia, that “The region’s geographic diversity and breadth, as well as its location, have primed it for an abundance of renewable-energy potential.” We can, if we are serious, get off the fossil fuel train. A few Caribbean states have made a commitment to move faster on divesting fossil fuels as an energy source. Barbados is one, and Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley is to be commended for being consistent and vocal on the matter. The obvious question is: Why haven’t the governments of all Caribbean islands made this commitment? The scientists say we have 12 years before we reach the tipping point at which earth plunges into climate chaos. For some predictions on what earthlings might face if we do nothing, see https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/predictions-future-global-climate
The clock is ticking towards 2035. It is not long.
Right now, those minded to can support Jamaica’s recovery efforts by donating to the government initiative at https://supportjamaica.gov.jm/ or https://foodforthepoorja.org/ or https://www.mustardseed.com/where-we-serve/jamaica/ A warning to be careful not to donate to websites unless we are assured that they are a legitimate part of the relief effort.
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