Paradise Lost - the Peter O'Connor column

THE LORAX, a classic children's story by Dr Zeuss, tells the story of how humans helped destroy their environment

What is it about us that makes us so willfully indifferent to our natural environment?

Why is it that people from the so-called first world can see, admire and gush over the beauty of our natural wonders—our mountains, forests, rivers, wetlands, beaches and oceans, but we see all this as “bush”, “swamp”, and places to fete noisily and desecrate with garbage and destruction?

In our desire to be “developed”, with tall glass buildings, we are casting away the very foundations of development. 

The first world learned, painfully and to its detriment, the value of the lands they inhabit, and of the forests which produce the streams which give them water, the rivers and lakes which they were destroying, and the plant and animal life which all contribute to a society’s survival.

And we refuse to learn from their bitter experience. 

In our rush to add the essentially inconsequential “bling” façade of development, we willfully destroy the foundations of our existence here—the sources of water, clean air and healthy living. 

We are wiping out our wild animals, cutting down our forests, and bulldozing our mountains, to construct unnecessary buildings.

Do any of our rich, educated and influential citizens who live in Westmoorings (Diego Martin) or Haleland Park (Maraval) understand why these valleys flood every time a shower of rain falls? And do they understand why, when the same amount of rain, or more, falls in the Arima, Guanapo or Aripo Valleys, there is no flooding?

Their grandchildren know! 

But when they leave school they will be told by their elders that the knowledge is not as important as knowing how to cut down forests, bulldoze hills, excavate quarries and fill in the swamps, to make money and “look developed”. 

This of course is more important than all that environment and tree hugging nonsense they were taught in school, especially if daddy or granddad is investing in or lending the money for some new “development” in a pristine valley or secluded beach.

And even if the good people at Town & Country Planning Division (and there are good concerned citizens there) or the EMA deny someone permission on valid grounds, “all it takes is one phone call to a government minister” (any government, any minister!) to override the denial. That is in quotation marks folks, because it is an exact quote from a senior government official.

In this land of benign anarchy, our laws, our rules, our institutions established to protect us are irrelevant. As we all know, and sadly we all accept as the norm, everything is “circumventible” and money and friendship talk more than the laws, morality or justice; and certainly more than any environmental concerns.

And this brings us to the focus of today’s commentary: the sudden expansion of National Quarries Ltd. in the Arima Valley. 

To the surprise of everyone in the valley’s communities, including the Asa Wright Nature Centre, and contrary to commitments made by NQL, the quarrying operation suddenly “expanded itself” over several acres. 

A whole forested hillside has been roughly denuded of trees and plants, wiping out valuable habitat to a wide range of birds, and animals.

The once beautiful panoramic view from the famous Asa Wright Verandah now reveals an ugly, growing scar. For the first time ever, the sounds of heavy equipment destroying the valley are heard at Asa Wright, drowning out the bird songs and bamboos sighing in the wind. 

It is like listening to the chain saw which is cutting off your leg. And soon, if this is not reversed, overseas visitors, who come to Asa Wright to appreciate our birds and wildlife, will have “VIP Box Seat viewing” of the dynamite blasts which will eventually obliterate the hillside. This is what we really expect nature lovers will want to visit Trinidad to see?

Now I know some of you will shrug and say, so what? Don’t we need the stone which the quarrying will provide? But at what price, I ask?

We are a people who have never considered the consequences of our actions. Do we want to become like Haiti, and destroy all of our forests and hills? 

And what will we do when we destroyed it all? So, at what point to we draw a line, and say enough!? Surely it is when an action becomes particularly offensive to nature and to us. 

And if we allow NQL to continue, soon Arima and surrounds will flood like Diego Martin every time it rains. Is that what we are willing to accept?

Fortunately, there have been, for a rare change, positive concerns emanating from the relevant government ministries, which might resolve this issue, maybe by when you read this. If those concerns translate into tangible action, then maybe another piece of paradise will not be lost.

JYOTI recommends that you read THE LORAX, a children's classic by Dr Zeuss, lamenting the destruction of the environment to make way for development and industrialisation. Also read the Sunday Express story: Energy Minister probes quarry works near Asa Wright