Environment

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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Submitted by Local Hero on Wed, 2008-07-30 01:14.

Spatial Planning - Govt offices full.

The only way this study will be of any use to the island is if it is published, fully and unedited and undoctored, online, for the public to see, the students promise to so. Our govt has resisted zoning, environmental and spatial planning for decades and there are plenty of studies and reports, on development, education, crime and many other issues, that have been ignored or kept out of the public domain, we don't need another.

I look forwards to reading it and hearing more about their 'jollifications'.

Daily Herald Editorial - What’s the hold-up? - 25th July 2008

Dutch students on spatial development study - 24th July 2008

Dutch team to help with Spacial planning - 24th July 2008

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Submitted by Local Hero on Mon, 2008-07-28 03:57.

Red Cross in financial hole.

For most of us, the news that the SXM Red Cross is in financial trouble doesn't really mean a great deal, if you are reading this then most likely you are well off enough to be living in a home you are relatively comfortable with or have somewhere safe to go in a storm. This isn't about you, it is about the people at the lowest level in our society, the ones living in plywood shacks, shacks which were supposed to be eliminated after Luis.

The Red Cross supplements the services the Govt provides at shelters and you would be guessing right if you assume that isn't a great deal, few if any of the shelters even have generator and old, young and sick people could be packed away in dark and dangerous conditions.

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Submitted by Hady Nufyet on Mon, 2008-07-28 00:56.

The Economy, Energy and Development

It was just over a year ago that I wrote a blog about the SXM condo market being past it's prime. Less than two weeks afterwards the island's Economic Affairs Dept reported a positive assessment of the real estate market with a nice big bold headline. Remarkable coincidence eh?

Just like in the US, where Dubya and McSame are trying to convince the public that everything is just fine and that really, it's mainly psychological and people whinging, if only people would think positive then things would look better, we have the same here. Only problem is, the facts keep intruding.

SXM economy to be stable next 2 years - 24th May 2008

Maria: Island's economy successful and resilient - 25th March 2008

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Submitted by Local Hero on Sun, 2008-07-20 10:43.

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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Submitted by Caribdude on Sun, 2008-06-22 10:34.

GEBE & Geothermal energy

From West Indies Power Holding BV

"Geothermal Power is the use of super heated hot water and steam located in the Earth (Geothermal Resources) which are extracted by specially designed wells (Well field) and allowed to convert to steam when it reaches the surface. That steam is then collected in pipes (Gathering System) and sent to a geothermal steam turbine which uses the steam to generate electricity (Power Plant)."

Let me start by stating that I am not in any way affiliated with West Indies Power Holding BV or do I seek to do so. I am an objective observer and a consumer of GEBE electricity and am of the opinion that GEBE is currently overcharging their customers and do little (nothing) to seek ways of reducing the price of electricity.

From recent reports in The Daily Herald, one can gather that local energy and water supplying company GEBE has been made an offer by Nevis based West Indies Power to buy geothermal derived energy (= clean energy) but up to this point (June 19th, 2008) GEBE has not responded to their offer of buying clean energy from them.

Why, you ask. Please read on.

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Submitted by island guru on Sun, 2008-06-22 07:11.

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

Submitted by Local Hero on Mon, 2008-06-02 07:19.

Enviro Week - EWE - 4-8 June 2008

Imagine... a park full of green products and services that will help St. Maarten become a bit more of a nature friendly island and a more livable island for the younger generation. With our eco-expo we make it a reality and you can even participate with your green products or services.

A solar cooker contest, a car that runs on water (French Lycee), a car that runs on biofuel, local biological food, green cleaning products, wood crafting, local natural art, solar heaters, water saving and energy saving products, water from air and a raffle. There will also be workshops in between with related to agriculture, solar power, energy and water saving and some interesting keynote speakers. Details, updates and press releases below.

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Submitted by Local Hero on Tue, 2008-05-27 01:25.

Inaction in Action - EWE

Late last week the Today had a wonderful little O & C article about EWE, bringing it back into the public eye. I've been meaning to write a post about it for a while, we are still waiting to hear just what exactly the Govt is doing to follow through on it's two resolutions to preserve the estate. I'd be willing to $100 down on 'not a damn ting'.

The article went into some detail about Henri "I want to be a Millionaire" Brookson's contract with the BV developers and ownership of the estate, something I thought Brookson had already cleared up back on January the 28th, maybe he was bullshitting.

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Submitted by Local Hero on Tue, 2008-05-27 00:27.

Planning for the Future

A few years ago the Federal government jacked up gas prices and taxes and caused the French side to find new suppliers. The last Texaco in Marigot has now closed it's doors and Artsen Shell appears to be hanging on by the skin of it's teeth. The Dutch side stations all suffered and if I recall correctly, the taxes had to be reduced so they could compete a little better and keep their doors open.

Our economic affairs department and private sector have been unable to offer up any ideas to ease the burden of recent food and oil prices on the public and I have yet to see an indication that any of them really comprehend that the problems of today are nothing compared to the problems that are coming. It's not about 'tightening our belts' and 'weathering the storm', it's about the need for a fundamental change in how we live, think and consume, times are a changing and there will be no choice. The Growth and Consume Party is starting to wind down my friends and St. Maarten needs to prepare for a knockout hangover.

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Energy and Water | Environment | Hady Nufyet's blog | 4 comments | read more

Submitted by Hady Nufyet on Tue, 2008-05-20 03:49.

SXM Sea Turtle Nesting Season....How you can help! Turn those lights off!

Jadira Veen of SXM PRIDE sent me this information and asked me to post it.

This is a sign from a street in Ft. Lauderdale and the lights on that stretch of beach are off from March to October. They are doing this to help protect the sea turtles and their babies when they nest.. Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation will be trying to get some signs made just like the one pictured above. PRIDE has already received a donation from a very concerned American beach resident to help with the turtle signs.

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Environment | barcann's blog | 1 comment | read more

Submitted by barcann on Thu, 2008-05-08 08:50.

Science Fair 2008 - Belair Community Center

The St. Maarten Science Fair Foundation is pleased to host its 14th annual Science Fair at the Belair Community Center from Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 april 2008 with a total of 22 projects. The Fair is open to the public on Saturday 19 April 2008.

The setting up and judging of projects will take place on Thursday and on Friday, the 6th graders of the primary schools on the island will visit from 10:00 – 13:00.

Science Fair 2008 will close off on Saturday evening with the award ceremony for the following participating schools: Milton Peters College, Sundial, St. Dominic High, the Learning unlimited Preparatory and the St. Maarten Academy.

New video - Great Bay Water testing - Louise & Roxanne (Learning Unlimited)

New Video - St.Maarten Science fair 2008-too little too late

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Environment | Tourism | Flipper's blog | 16 comments | read more

Submitted by Flipper on Thu, 2008-04-17 02:36.

GEBE, EcoFest and Climate Change

Island Vision long ago lost my respect and I don't plan to be sending in nominations this year for their enviro awards, I just can't be bothered, sorry. It's not that I can't think of people to nominate, the usual crowd spring to mind along with a few newcomers like Laura Bijnsdorp and her team. There are people out there who deserve to be recognized for sure.

It's not the lack of transparency with the nominations or votes, nor is it the plagiarizing. No, it's more to do with the people he invites to present awards and make speeches, it's partly to do with Stephane's desire to 'be Someone" and his enabling politicians, officials and businesses to fraudulently portray an environmental image when they have none. I cringe and feel ill just being in the same room as some of the people he invites. No thanks.

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Submitted by Local Hero on Sun, 2008-04-13 21:49.

Caribdude's World Wide Web - 31st March 2008

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I posted a WWW blog entry here, but now that I look through my packed bookmarks in my browser it makes sense. I've got a ton of stuff saved up in there and I'll share a bunch of it with you all below. Hopefully you will all find something of interest, and there's no rush to look through all the links in one sitting, this post will be here tomorrow too :)

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Environment | World News | Caribdude's blog | 1 comment | read more

Submitted by Caribdude on Mon, 2008-03-31 13:10.

Keep St. Maarten Clean Video

A short movie to promote the importance of throwing away your own trash. Everywhere along the St. Maarten beaches, hillsides & roads there is trash. People do not seem to see the importance of cleaning up their own mess. This lazy and irresponsible attitude has to change.

YouTube Video - Clean St. Maarten

Hats off to Laura Bijnsdorp and the gang, good job. I hope going off to college won't mean the end of your videos!

Update - Laura's video a hit - 12th April 2008

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Environment | Flipper's blog | 4 comments | read more

Submitted by Flipper on Fri, 2008-03-28 16:40.

Another one bites the Dust.

Jadira Veen reports from the scene....

YouTube Video - Nature destruction at Over the Bank in St. Maarten

NAf. 7,000 fine suggested for destruction of old trees - 27th March 2008

According to reports I have, interest was expressed by the Emilio Wilson Park Foundation via Wilhelm Patrick to save the old house and move it to the park. I am also hearing that what is left may be mostly salvaged. Perhaps the fines can cover this?

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Submitted by Local Hero on Fri, 2008-03-28 16:12.

The waves are coming!

Reports are circulating that we may be in for some spectacular 16ft killer waves in the coming days. Be very careful out there and take precaution. Surfer dudes: While you may think this is a great opportunity, waves this size are powerful and can be extremely dangerous. Check here and here.

Red Alert continues, extreme caution - 20th March 2008

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Environment | 1 comment | read more

Submitted by SXM PE on Tue, 2008-03-18 21:38.

An Invitation for Expression of Interest - SXM Waste and Dump

For over a week I've been thinking about how to tackle this story and issue, an issue which has been blogged about many times here on SXM PE by various writers, and which I have been delegated to take on this time. It is an issue that the solution decided upon by our Exco will have a major impact on the future of the island, it's people and their health.

It's a vitally important issue, which since the govt advertisement placed in the papers (the DH at least) on the 28th February, nothing has been reported on since. If you missed the ad then you probably know nothing about it, fortunately for you, us 'Treehugger Types" notice these things :)

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Environment | Caribdude's blog | 9 comments | read more

Submitted by Caribdude on Sat, 2008-03-08 11:40.

Self Genocide - Is it a word?

Our Island Government does very little to protect the environment or punish polluters so I guess we can only assume they have little interest in cleaning it up. I do not consider Clean St. Maarten picking up garbage on the sides of our roads so our tourists don't see it to be 'cleaning it up'. I dare say that if we didn't have a tourism based economy they would even be doing that.

Just because you can't see pollution doesn't mean it is not there. Toxic and heavy Metals, chemicals, pcb's and more all create soil contamination and very few of them can be seen with the naked eye. Many can and do cause serious illnesses, from rashes and nausea, to cancer and organ failure, depending on the substance and quantity. Building new developments on land contaminated by previous use can be a serious health hazard to those living or working there in the future. There are two such sites that I want to talk about below.

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Environment | Simpson Bay Lagoon | Local Hero's blog | 4 comments | read more

Submitted by Local Hero on Fri, 2008-03-07 12:01.

Marine Ordinance, Zoning and Water Testing

The SXM Nature Foundation was started 11 years ago and one of their primary missions was to establish a protected marine park. Statia Marine Park was also started in 1997 and late last year their Marine Park celebrated it's 10 year anniversary, while SXM awaits the Exco. And waits, and waits...

The marine park ordinance and many other environmental legislation has always been put to the back burner of government. There is also no zoning, back in 1976 the Fed Govt. told every island to start with zoning plans, SXM never started and we are where we are today. The only land that has zoning is Fort Amsterdam, a last minute effort to halt the owners from further developing their land which they bought from the Claude Wathey government. Which shows it can be done, regardless if the land is privately owned. (Like EWE.)

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Submitted by Local Hero on Sat, 2008-03-01 11:34.

A Certain Sense of Impending Disaster in Bel Air

Have you gone to the beach next to Bel Air recently, where you can clearly see the massive amount of excavation done to the hillside just north by Barbaron for its new "development"?

Barbaron has carved out a massive quantity of hillside: my guess is many thousands of metric tonnes of hillside are gone, shipped to somewhere on the French side.

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Development and Construction | Environment | caribsnooper's blog | 40 comments | read more

Submitted by caribsnooper on Mon, 2008-02-25 22:32.

Climate Change Roundup - 25th February 2008

It's been a while I know, maybe some thought because I hadn't written a blog about it in a while that the issue had gone away, sadly I have to report negative to that thought. Climate Change is still with us, it''s going to be with us for the rest of our lives, and our children's lives too. How our grand children are going to do is anyone's guess right now, I think it's quite sure to be a different World than you reading this have grown up in.

The problem now is that Climate Change news is common, most people like myself who have been paying attention to the issue are resigned to the inevitability of it, it's happening now and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. It's no longer a question of stopping it, it's too late, the only questions and challenges now are if we can slow it down and reverse it before it sets off a chain reaction that is unstoppable.

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Submitted by Caribdude on Mon, 2008-02-25 10:49.

The EWE Saga - Cont.

So here we are again, the Emilio Wilson Estate back in the news with Henri "I want' to be a Millionaire" Brookson announcing that he is now the owner of the Estate.

So far I have been unable to confirm this, my sources tell me they have not been able to confirm an official record of this sale/tranfer or whatever it is. Considering that the company Henri is fronting for (or is this move on his own?) have lied about purchasing the estate before (1st Jan 06), it's difficult to know what the truth is.

Please join me below for a short stroll down 'memory lane' and to discuss this story.

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Submitted by Local Hero on Thu, 2008-01-31 19:21.

Destroying Cats,Turtles, and Coral Reefs

It has not been a good day today for environmental lovers and animal lovers. The news in TDH about the Maze coral reef being badly damaged by some boat was disheartening to say the least. They destroyed coral that took 15 years to grow.

Then there was the other article in TDH about someone on Great Bay Beach trying to sell baby hawksbill turtles that had just emerged from the nest. At least this story has happy ending, as someone called the Nature Foundation and they were able to save the turtles, and re-release them into the sea.

And then I receive an email that the owner of the Summit Hotel poisoned 30 cats to get rid of them. Is that the only way to get rid of them? Poison them? I do not understand this kind of thinking, although it may be that they only used animal repellent rather than poison. I hope that is true.

(The owner of Summit has posted a comment below reporting that they did use repellent and not poison - Flipper)

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Environment | barcann's blog | 2 comments | read more

Submitted by barcann on Wed, 2008-01-30 16:34.

Tourism, Education and Economic Justice

By Terry J. Peterson

"Anyone who votes against this budget, would be voting against the future of SXM"
-Roy Marlin, 2008 Draft Budget, Island Council Meeting, Dec 2007.

"The Island Council missed a golden opportunity"
-Sarah Wescott Williams, 2008 Draft Budget, Island Council Meeting, Dec 2007

The 2008 draft budget approved by the present administration is another bikini budget in which the more significant parts are concealed and the less significant parts are revealed. It is unfortunate that the current government would justify allocations to Tourism by suggesting that it is the future of Country St. Martin. It is alarming to think that school children, policy makers and many others may believe this hollow proposition. It would seem that this is the reason why our government finds it necessary to use tax payers’ money to train young St. Martiners to become dishwashers, bellboys and housekeepers in brand name hotels. What golden opportunity? The future of St. Martin is not tourism. The future of St. Martin is education! We need to build an educational system so that we could transact in knowledge production and knowledge export.
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Submitted by rebelwithoutapause on Thu, 2007-12-27 12:44.

International Coastal Cleanup Video 2007 - St. Maarten

I am so happy to see that the youth of St. Maarten are actively getting involved with environmental causes and making use of the internet to do so. Below is a link to the video made by Laura Bijnsdorp and others for SXM Pride about the 2007 International Coastal Cleanup. Excellent job peps!!!

Please go check it out, sign in to YouTube and give it 5 stars!

St.Maarten International Coastal Cleanup 2007 - YouTube Video

The results of this years clean up can be found here and the video by Caribdude for 2006 can be found here.

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Environment | Flipper's blog | 3 comments

Submitted by Flipper on Thu, 2007-12-06 05:55.

See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil- Ignorance is Bliss?

Who gives a damn what we say? Are they listening to us? Do they really care?
Who will they blame next when SXM becomes a country?

It was a pitiful sight to see how our Commissioners behaved before the Dutch? Like the picture above, Roy had his hand over his mouth, Louie had the SXM flag over his eyes and Theo became deaf after he fell in a pothole. The others suffered immediate amnesia.

The headlines below confirm that we are doomed under the Democratic Party.
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Submitted by sybille on Tue, 2007-11-13 17:13.

EPIC - Love the Lagoon - Log 11

By Rueben J Thompson

Love the Lagoon, Environmental Protection in the Caribbean

EPIC recently received an email from a Lagoon Log reader inquiring whether or not Sint Maarten’s Environmental Foundations and projects such as EPIC’s Love the Lagoon Project are Government financed. The answer to this question is unfortunately a simple: no the island’s environmental foundations and projects are regrettably not government financed in anyway.

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Environment | Flipper's blog | add new comment | read more

Submitted by Flipper on Tue, 2007-10-16 23:42.

Beware the Lean Green BS Machine

The latest issue of Environews finally drives the final nail into it's credibility as an environmental magazine. A front cover telling us how high Indigo's standards are with a 4 page spread of clear BS PR from the developers. Unsurprisingly it is not credited to any writer and there is a double center spread advertisment from Indigo telling us it's going to be "one of the most enviromentally friendly developments in the entire Caribbean".

A while ago Flipper posted a blog titled Beware The Lean Green PR Machine., some call it PR, I call it BS.

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Environment | Local Hero's blog | 8 comments | read more

Submitted by Local Hero on Mon, 2007-10-15 20:19.

How much is it going to cost to do nothing?

"The costs of doing nothing are far far higher than it will cost to make the changes to policy and mentality we need to make now. We are going to pay already, only the cost has not been determined. II'm willing to bet it's more than any of you reading this are prepared to pay." - Me.