Letter: Let's end the littering of our savannah

The Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Trinidad is a wonderful asset that many of the local population and occasional visitors alike, appreciate and enjoy. One must respect and admire the circumstances under which it became the national treasure it is.

And as one of those that makes it almost a daily ritual to make a couple of circuits of the Savannah, it is noteworthy that one encounters the same faces of fellow devotees, on a regular basis.

And day after day, as this occurs, I find myself wondering if we should not and could not demonstrate our appreciation tangibly, by actually paying for the pleasure it affords us.

I am not suggesting for a minute that we think in terms of actual cash. Although I would note that apart from a few of the more acutely disadvantaged, to whom the Savannah is both home and place a sleep, most of us that circumnavigate it on a regular basis are relatively affluent folks.

At least affluent enough in our circumstances that we deliberately exercise because our daily work and lifestyles do not oblige us to keep fit by manual labour.

What I propose, is that we each, “pay our dues”, by picking up just two individual pieces of garbage from the many strewn along the sidewalks and the adjacent grassy areas, and deposit them in the bins supplied.

It would be a minimal price for us to each pay. And whilst I have no wish to denigrate the paid efforts of the workforce now responsible for regular cleanup, with respect, they are demonstrably not able to keep pace with the littering to the extent necessary. And how much simpler their work would become if the litter was more exclusively contained in the intended receptacles for it, instead of scattered widely as it now is.

It is surely an all too widespread condition that we live among garbage and litter. More so frankly in this country, (so potentially beautiful), than in many other countries both larger and smaller, and often irrespective of their “developed” or “developing” status.

As initial steps towards improving our living conditions in this context, we need to increase our individual awareness and consciousness of the problem, and equally we need to educate our fellow inhabitants, (irrespective of their age groups), so that collectively we make lifestyle changes of benefit to all.

I sincerely feel the price is a small one, yet with a wide reaching effect. Just how much of an inconvenience is it for any of us to walk with a glove, or even a plastic bag that we can use temporarily as a glove, and to pick up just two styrofoam food containers, cigarette packets, bottles, etc, and to place them in the intended and appropriate bins?

John Lindsay
(868)779-1090