Activists seek public opinion on environment

| 19/01/2021 | 26 Comments
Cayman News Service
Site in Rum Point where mangroves were cleared before planning permission given

(CNS): The local activist group, Amplify Cayman, has published on online survey which it says is designed to gather data and gauge public opinion on local and global environmental issues impacting the Cayman Islands. According to a release from the campaigners, the aim is to influence candidates running for office in May to set environmental policy platforms that they would “align with the perspectives of the Cayman people”.

The survey questions are based on the guiding principles of the Cayman Islands’ Environment Charter, upheld by the Cayman Islands Constitution section 18, the release stated.

The activists said that they will collect, review, and provide resulting data to local and international stakeholders, which include the general public, non-profit organisations, private sector actors and government stakeholders.

“Globally, leaders agree that a truly sustainable recovery post COVID-19 presents the need for data-driven decisions and policies, that are centred on the overall well-being and health of a nation’s people and natural environment,” a spokesperson for the campaigners stated. “With an election set for May 2021, it is also the hope that the results of this survey will assist candidates running for office.”

The survey, which was launched last week, is available to take online until 15 February and respondents will be eligible to win one of ten $50 grocery gift certificates.

Take the survey


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Category: Land Habitat, Marine Environment, Science & Nature

Comments (26)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Mangroves – Prospect/Patrick’s Island, what the hell is going on there with cutting them all back? Heard it was to control mosquitoes- if so, why not be transparent about it? @AustinHarris are you alive – bet this joker turns up before the May elections.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Who are Amplify Cayman?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Amplify, not a single question about the DUMP?

  4. Anonymous says:

    I’m sorry, but I must take some exception to question 4. Kids: Cayman does not have natural farmland open spaces and prairie lands. It’s all from chopping down and clearing natural state forest and habitat, then using toxic herbicides like glyphosate-based Roundup and old stocks of paraquat to clear it all. Some of the “buy local” crops here have been ritually nuked with chemicals to get to the finish line. DoA won’t even publish the full list of the chemicals they regularly dispense in wholesale quantities, and we probably don’t want to know. It is a tough environment to grow anything, the salt air burns leaves, there is limited natural top soil, the limited fresh water aquifers are tapped, their quality muddled, and limestone caves dissolved from application of above ground fertilizers. Many of the participants greedily bleed-over into property that isn’t theirs. Why would we want to protect the farmers doing all of this under a false banner of environmentalism? For sure, let’s grow the crops that can thrive, and build appropriate greenhouses that seal agricultural chemical leaching from the ground – ie. our tomatoes are fantastic and in season. For the rest, wouldn’t it be easier and more environmentally and socially responsible to source agricultural crops from our CAL partner trade routes?

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, there are good reasons why Cayman has no agriculture to speak of. Blazing heat and an extended dry season are not helpful either. It wouldn’t hurt to seed some tropical hardwoods among the scrub left over from all the abandoned pasture.

    • Anonymous says:

      “the limited fresh water aquifers are tapped, their quality muddled”

      The fresh water lenses are tested annually by both WAC and overseas labs. If there was an issue, we’d know.

      • Anonymous says:

        There’s lots the public don’t know that WAC is custodian of. Water pipelines full of muck, gasoline soaking residential and commercial pipelines, and just about every freshwater lens in Grand Cayman contaminated with sewage from septic systems.

        • WACiosi says:

          WAC don’t give a $hit about natural freshwater in the Cayman Islands nor what gets dumped into it, after all they are in the business of selling desalinated water.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yes we’d know in about a year, 18 months or never. You must be a jaded employee and consumed plenty of their koolaid.

      • Anonymous says:

        Your last paragraph is really funny 🤣🤣🤣🙃🙃

    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      I agree with everything you said.

      However, we have an incredible resource awash on our shores that we treat as a weed — the sargassum. It contains all the requirements of most plants, naturally ordained into the proper proportions, even the trace elements.

      I am undergoing raised bed experiments, and plan to take advantage of the DOA assistance. I hope that assistance is more than just commercial fertiliser. I believe we can mix our common sandy loam with powdered seaweed, and perhaps amended by shredded coconut to produce a viable growth medium.

      If it works, I’ll be loud about it. 😉

      • Anonymous says:

        So cool Beau!!! Please do report back, somehow. I’d love to know what you’re having success growing, also – if it’s not too personal.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Caribbean islands contribute maybe 0.00000001% to global pollution and trash, yet will feel 99.9% of the negative consequences.

    As a result, we could go fully carbon and trash neutral in Cayman but still have these issues.

    Agree that we should still move to renewables to rely less on a finite, imported energy, though.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Good effort. But I’m not filling in a form that requires my contact details.

    • Anonymous says:

      Scared of men in black showing up at your door? Grow up and grow a pair!

    • Anonymous says:

      are you afraid of lying?
      hello, the world is fake

    • Anonymous says:

      For flakes, use a “nom de plume” and a burner email…not that hard to workaround.

    • Eden Hurlston says:

      Hi. To have any credible survey data you need a unique identifier.  This is to ensure that persons do not enter multiple times.  Hence an email address.  
      Some persons have not used a verifiable email address and may have to be eliminated from the survey.
      Details of our privacy statement are on our website and you need to opt in to receive communications.
      Thanks!

  7. Anonymous says:

    The Island is eroding away. Climate change is killing us. Major developers contribute to the destruction.

    • BeaumontZodecloun says:

      Perhaps we should concentrate on legislation which prevents construction at or near the high tide mark.

      Our ancestors knew better than to build there, however they were never dealing with the profound amount of dollars that are now in play.

      • Anonymous says:

        It all started with a pen being touched to paper to approve such destruction.

        Now the approvement is either not needed or sought after.

        Pen and paper can only go so far until one realises it’s the sword that’s mightier than everything else.

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