The havoc we wreak - the Peter O'Connor column

I had hoped to “continue on my theme”, identifying the causes of our collective discontent, and try to offer some solutions, or at least a way out, this week. 

But as I write, sitting high in the Northern Range at the Asa Wright Nature Centre, aware of the collapsing Arima Blanchisseuse Road, hearing on the radio that the North Coast Road is closed again, and reading about the flooding we have just endured—and more to come—we need to accept our own responsibility for this ongoing havoc.

And in fact this discussion is really just a detour (flood and landslip induced!) on our road to self discovery of how badly we have failed ourselves in our own land. Indeed our willful destruction of our environment is just one of the several collapsing pillars upon which our failing society now teeters. 

And this is part of the attitude, arrogance, corruption, cronyism, disrespect, indolence, lawlessness, laziness, nastiness, nepotism and selfishness which all now brand us, individually and collectively.

And then we, with pretensions of religious fervor, blame “Gord” for all the mess we have created.

First, let me tell you that there is an exact correlation between all the roadside landslips and the removal of trees from hillsides. 

In those areas where the forest has been left standing along the Arima Blanchisseuse Road, there are no landslips. The areas cleared for farming and quarrying, or where trees were felled for no reason, the landslips have occurred. And the same is true along the North Coast Road, and other roads where slippage is happening.

But if it is “my land”, or even land which I illegally seized to “plant food, and de people does need food”, then surely I have the right to cut down all the trees, and burn the land? 

What does it matter if after a couple of years the land slips away, and the roads which serve Blanchisseuse, Brasso Seco, Las Cuevas and Maracas are closed for days? That is Gord’s fault, not mine.

How long will it take us, as a people, to accept the responsibility for what we do? 

And when will we all stop turning a blind eye (and a deaf ear to the few who do speak out) to these things which we know are wrong: Felling trees along mountain roadsides, dumping garbage in rivers, leaving litter on beaches, alongside rivers and in our parks, blasting noise from mega-amplifiers in our communities (even so-called “pastors” are doing this in Jesus’ name!), parking illegally, breaking traffic lights, and the host of other wrongs and inconveniences which we tolerate. 

And we tolerate these things because we are afraid to speak out, and the perpetrators, knowing our fear, use this license we give them to inflict even more damage upon us, and upon our environment.

And the fear of speaking out is not simply a fear of violence from the perpetrators, although that is now a real fear in this society where, by abdication of our collective responsibility, we have emboldened the criminal element sufficiently that they can threaten us. 

We also fear the government, worrying that if we speak out they will find ways to retaliate—by denial of contracts, refusal of licenses and the like. We fear our children, and are unable to set standards of discipline, respect and achievement because they will howl and browbeat us with “but everyone is doing it/ getting one/ going there!”

So, anarchy prevails at every level. The loudest, or the strongest have their way, and the rest of us shut up and step aside. The communities all along the North Coast are marooned—people cannot get to work, children cannot get to school, medical help, food and supplies cannot get to them. And why? Because people who claimed the right to fell trees while we sat and watched, have destroyed the roads.

How can we begin to change this? 

We must be prepared for the long haul, at least a generation’s worth. Chairmen of major banks (do not worry, I am not calling your names—not yet at least) must find the courage which should go with their status, and condemn what is wrong, and openly support what is right. You cannot simply tell me to “keep on writing”, although I promise you that I will.

Remember, Corporate T&T, when Stephen Cadiz sought your support to march against crime, and you were too afraid of Manning and Martin Joseph to do so? Had you placed your company’s logos on t-shirts and brought out every single employee and their families then, maybe today we would have had no State of Emergency.

But your fear is part of the havoc we wreak, even more harmful than the landslips and floods we help to create.