St. Maarten Private Eye

Hola from Barcelona IUCN Congress

As a result of a family health situation I am currently in Barcelona, Spain. Unknown to me before planning my trip was that the IUCN Congress would be held here at the same time, I am now writing from the Media Room at the Conference Center.

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. The Congress, held every 4 years, is huge, over 8000 people are attending and there are over 900 events, workshops, forums, presentations and more over the next 4 days.

I'm not officially representing any SXM NGO, but those who read here know that my interest is mainly on the environment and Climate Change. I will be trying to attend anything that I think may be beneficial to my writing knowledge, our island's NGO's and I will try to write something here daily. Please visit the IUCN Congress Website and feel free to make recommendations or ask questions.

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Climate Change | Energy and Water | Environment | Garbage and Waste | Caribdude's blog | 1 comment | read more

Poisoning the People

Last week the island was again subjected to clouds of smoke from our dump, I swear it's like one of those candles that you blow out and it relights itself. The only way to really put it out is to wet your fingers and stop the smoking and smoldering, something that the dump management (Windward Roads? I don't know, these companies all change names so often), Mr Buncamper and the fire department just don't seem to get. The dump is still smoking and smoldering today, blaming it on scavengers is an old and very tired excuse that is not only weak, but implies that they are incapable of keeping the dump secure.

SXM Pride's press release warning of the health concerns of dump smoke is accurate, in fact, if you really look into the matter you will not only be very concerned, but also very angry that it keeps on happening. If you really want to know more about what you and your children are breathing every time the dump burns, then read on.

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Environment | Garbage and Waste | Health | Roy Marlin | SXM Pride Foundation | Theo Heyliger | Local Hero's blog | 5 comments | read more

Climate Change and World Resources - Update

It's been a while since I wrote a blog rounding up the news on Climate Change and I had tons of links saved up in my bookmarks, it was time to clear them out.

Below you will find a selection of news and video links that I think are well worth checking out, I've added many more to the SXM PE Global Warming / Global Resources Thread. i don't time to write much about them now, but I think most of them speak for themselves anyway. Feel free to add your own links and comments below.

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Climate Change | Energy and Water | Environment | Garbage and Waste | World News | Caribdude's blog | 3 comments | read more

Dump the Dump Management

Does anyone out there know how, or is able to, get hold of a copy of the Dump Management agreement/contract Windward Roads has with the Island Govt?

Personally, I think it's time they were fired, either they are lousy managers or they are doing the job on the cheap and not hiring enough staff to look after the dump.

And the Fire department needs checking into too. Time and time again we suffer the toxic and poisonous smoke from fires, fires that are often seen starting small and are left for days until they become bigger and harder to control.

Video - Great Saltpond Landfill burning May 29, 2008

On Line Petition Here.

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Environment | Garbage and Waste | Local Hero's blog | 11 comments | read more