St. Maarten Private Eye

SXM is a tiny speck on this planet and our emissions are minor, alone we would make no difference at all. But we are not alone. Millions of people in thousands of communities, towns, cities, states and countries around the world are making an effort to reduce their emissions and switch to cleaner renewable energy systems. Together they make a huge difference and St. Maarten should be part of that effort instead of the pariah it is now with no policies, no plans and no visions or political will to do anything at all.

If that argument isn't enough then consider the fact that the island is a slave to oil, completely and utterly dependent upon it, not just for transport and electricity, but for everything we eat, drink and consume. Oil prices are not going to go down, over the past 5 years they have gone up over 300%, from around $30 a barrel when Bush invaded Iraq to over $110 today. Climate change is going to cause, in fact is already causing, massive disruption and destruction to shipping, agriculture and economies World wide.

There is a tendency on St. Maarten for bubble thinking, that what happens out there in the ROTW is not our problem, it's someone else's. It is our problem, we are part of the cause and a vital part of preparing for the consequences, is to invest in energy independence and food production. We are doing zero with either and this, to me, is criminal negligence on the part of our government.

They operate and plan with very little thought for the future of the island, while millions of people are working to help combat climate change, our leaders continue to believe that the future is going to continue much the way it has. Sorry Maria, but the message is not that Climate Change MAY affect our tourism economy, it WILL affect it and may very well destroy it in the coming years. The time for talking passed a long time ago, we are at the point where immediate action and policies are needed and nothing is there. Nothing.

The ICCP Website contains many reports and summaries for governments, I doubt even one of our politicians have taken any notice of them. Someone else's problem, we are too small and too poor to do anything. That is Roy Marlin's approach, the only time the man mentioned climate change he talked about carbon trading. By doing little to reduce our footprint we will therefore have plenty to trade when someone eventually comes knocking on our door.

I strongly suggest this new video from TED with Al Gore, filmed in March this year.

Al Gore: New thinking on the climate crisis

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