The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

I recently read – and I am sure it was in The Tribune – that despite the danger to our planet – there was still talk of oil in our waters and the possibility of drilling for it. I thought I must have been reading it wrong, especially when I recall that the oil spill clean up at the Equinor South Riding Point facility in East Grand Bahama was slowed down because of COVID-19. And our Prime Minister has just returned from speaking at a Climate conference in Scotland to determine how the countries of the world can control climate change to save our planet from extinction. “We cannot outrun your carbon emissions, we cannot outrun the hurricanes which are growing more powerful and we cannot outrun rising sea levels, as our islands disappear beneath the seas,” he told the conference as he pleaded for our future and begged for the reduction of their excessive carbon emissions. This would very much include the drilling for oil!

I recall many years ago when an expedition came to the Bahamas searching our waters for what they called the “Lost Atlantis”. As the story goes Atlantis sank to the bottom of the ocean, never to be seen again, but the myth has kept later generations searching for what might or might not have been true. I remember when I was a child sitting cross-legged around the old folks as they told old tales – you know the kind – “de monkey chewed tobacco and spit white lime!”

Well one of the old tales was that the name Bahamas came from the Spanish word “bajamar” meaning shallow sea — and these islands were called Bahamas because over time as the waters receded, they slowly rose to the surface. And the fear today is that if mortal man does not reduce the world’s carbon emissions, we, and others like us will sink to the bottom of the ocean and once again be no more. An old wives tale for another generation of children? Unless we listen carefully and act, mankind is rapidly destroying our planet and there will be no future generations to tell the tale.

I remember Christmas, many, many years ago when our parents would drive us out west to what was then known as the Pine Barrens to select our Christmas tree. Selection made, it was chopped down, strapped to the roof of the car as we slowly made our way home.

It was also the coal burners paradise where many women would burn the trees into charcoal for sale. It was the charcoal that was put in the old Goose iron to heat it for the ironing of our clothes. How many of us are old enough to remember the old Goose? No one had ever heard of the electric iron in those days.

However, with the modern devices, the old days of burning in the Pine Barrens eventually ended, having done much damage to the atmosphere and contributed to the dire situation that we face today. However, that calamity, thank God, I hope, is no more.

If a trace of it still continues, it should be stopped immediately - and completely.

It is now time for us all to wake up, try to understand the problem, and having understood to be among those who will put their shoulders to the wheel to help save the planet for future generations.

AN OLD TIME BAHAMIAN

Nassau,

November 8, 2021