St. Maarten Private Eye

Beware The Lean Green PR Machine.

The green revolution is inevitable, it's going to happen because there really is no other choice, the way we live today is unsustainable and we all know it. As we grow more aware of the damage we do, as we are more and more affected by the damage and pollution we have already caused, in particular that of our local environment we live in, the only moral and logical choice is to go 'green'. The big concern is will it happen soon enough?

Many huge companies have recognised this and are moving towards cleaner energy, not only is it now viable financially, but it is also good for business to be seen as green or organic. It is also becoming good for votes. Tthere are some who are more sincere than others, there are some who think planting trees makes you 'green', and others who think they are, (perhaps want to be), but really don't know that much about it. Beware the Lean Green PR Machine.

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These past few months the PR machines of Indigo Bay and to a lesser extent Barbaron, have been working hard to convince us all that they care about the environment, that their projects are in fact good for it. I'm not sure exactly which group they fall into just yet, but certainly I have my doubts about their claim to being 'Green'.

The Island Government will take all necessary steps to ensure that the new development at the former Dawn Beach Hotel “becomes a success story in terms of the protection of the environment, the beach, public access to the beach, public parking, etcetera.”

Those were the words of Roy Marlin April 2005 when talking about the Westin development, we know what happened there. Also fresh in our memory is the agreement made with Aquarius and the subsequent banning of the two enviro foundations from the property. Why? Well, because they were asking questions, about if the agreement was being complied with, They accused the NF of trespassing when they fowarded some photographs taken by a resident of the area. We have heard they even banned Paul Mooij from the property too, but this is unconfirmed as yet.

This past weekend, some friends visiting the island decided to take a walk down to Cay Bay beach via the trail from above Little Bay, a trail they had walked on many times over the years. They took their camera and they sent us the photos. They did find the trail partially blocked, a bar placed across it and a pallet that appeared to have once been stood up against it. There was some barbed wire too, but being tourists with their Museum bought hiking guide book in hand they decided to risk it, so they tell us in their email.

I doubt St. Maarten has any right of passage laws in regards to such trails, Indigo do have to provide access to the beach, but considering the amount of 'preparing' being done they could perhaps argue that is it restricted, or from the other direction. Still, no use crying over spilled milk is there now.

Indigo state that they plan to restore the beach, the first photos below shows the beach from just before Hurricane Luis in 1995.

The following photos show what it looks like today.

Now first of all, I'll admit I don't know a great deal about replenishing a beach, but it seems to me that whatever has been going on there is just a little suspect. Certainly if a storm were to come then all that hard work digging up all the stones will have been wasted. Perhaps the idea was to have the sand wash down out of the piled up rocks in rain and back onto the beach? What exactly is going on down there and is it environmentally friendly. I have my doubts.

In the photo below you can see how a dirt road has been created not more than 20ft from the sea. Note (also in the photo above) the line of boulders placed by the waterline. What do they mean? It is understood that there are plans to place a rock groin into the sea. Have the relevent studies been made to see if this is in fact needed? How far will it go out?

Having been an avid snorkeler many years ago, I know well that there used to be reasonably healthy reefs on each side of the bay along the rocky shore. I do not know their status now, but has any environmental study been made with the replenishment plans, or does VROM think an archaeological study is enough?

I also have questions about the need to clear so much land at one go when the project is forcast to span over the next 7 years. It would seem to me that if a storm comes now there is going to be an awful amount of silt washed into the sea and if some of the properties are not going to be built for several years, why clear all the land down to it's bare bones now?

And then there is the burning of the brush. It did not need to be burned, it could have been chipped and composted, mixed with the top soil they are scraping off.

The developer states that they wish to work with local environmental groups "as best they can", he states that the Nature Foundation has offered recommendations which they plan to follow. I hereby politely request the Nature Foundation to make those recommendations public. I would also suggest to the developer that if they really want to be friends with the environmental groups on the island then they need to make ALL their plans publicly available and talk to them ALL.

Seriously, stop with the PR bullshit, we are not mushrooms and resent being treated as such.

Before

After

Moving onto Barbaron.......

We already know of their insidous plans to fill in part of the Little Bay pond, they plan to remove 40 meters (131ft) of mangroves and fill in 20 meters (65ft) into the pond.

The past week, dozens of heavy truck with loads of dirt have been seen departing the excavation, one followed truck found led to the discovery it was being transported to the back of French Quarter. This transportation alone, using trucks that belch out black smoke as many trucks on St. Maarten do, is shameful and disgusting. So Carchesi is going to plant some tropical plants around his project and call it a botanical garden and that makes his project green? Again, mushroom PR. Feed them s**t and keep them in the dark.

I wonder how he plans to change the beach he has now to the one he wishes he had?

So beware the Lean Green PR Machine, far too often it lacks real substance.

Flipper

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