The trees are counting on you. Vote wisely
Theresa Green writes: If the trees could vote tomorrow, we all know which party they won’t be voting for. And given that they don’t have the advantage of opposable thumbs, the more than 25,000 registered voters who do must use them wisely. Cayman’s environment is under the greatest threat it has ever faced, and the natural world, especially the trees, needs the electorate’s help.
There is only one party fully committed to maintaining the National Conservation Act, keeping the scientists on the National Conservation Council and developing a greener approach for necessary infrastructure, such as the East-West Arterial extension. In the end, the TCCP is looking like the best hope for those of us who think trees are useful rather than a hindrance to the land-for-sale pictures.
A vote for the PPM/UPM mash-up is a vote for a gutted conservation law and an NCC of retired politicians and avowed anti-conservationists. We saw recently exactly what the plan is for the legislation, and no one can be in any doubt how terrible a UPM-led coalition would be for our natural environment.
I’ve been far too disheartened recently to attack the keyboard in defence of Cayman’s natural world, as the last two years have just been beyond painful. But on the eve of another election and one more opportunity for Cayman to hit the reset button, it’s time for me to go out to bat for the trees again.
Things started well with Wayne Panton at the helm after the last election, and it appeared that the environment was finally getting its due consideration on the policy agenda, but it wasn’t long before the concrete warriors regained control. We can’t let that happen again.
This time, Panton is lined up with like-minded people who see the true value of our trees and the natural environment.
Even the coming impact of climate change on our community has had very little impact on curbing the increasing pollution, the dwindling bio-diversity and the calamity of concrete on our island paradise, as politicians pander to their wealthy backers — people who already have more than they will ever need — and the development lobby in pursuit of ever-bigger profits at the expense of the rest of us.
While the cost of living, access to affordable healthcare and the housing crisis are the issues leading the political agenda this election cycle, we can’t lose sight of the excessive over-development that isn’t just about the loss of trees but the loss of our heritage.
When the last patch of seagrass is ripped from East-End and the final grain of sand washed from Seven Mile Beach, will life in Cayman be worth the high price we all now pay to live here for someone else’s ‘healthy’ bank balance?
We should never underestimate the importance of a healthy environment, not just physically but mentally. For decades, policies relating to the environment have been dismissed as some kind of fringe issue, even as we see the increasing health consequences of our horrifying disrespect for the very earth that sustains our being.
There is no future for Cayman without a healthy environment that is protected and prioritised over profit. Without a strong conservation law, a council of experts and a government that actually knows what sustainability means, much of the other stuff dominating the political agenda is meaningless.
What good would an educated local workforce be if there’s no oxygen to breathe? What good are new affordable homes when there is no food to eat? And what good is new tourism infrastructure when the reefs and beaches have disappeared?
Too many of Cayman’s politicians have no real understanding of how and why we need to protect the environment or why conservation is so critical. The ignorance of some MPs and ministers about the existential crisis the planet is facing is cringeworthy at best and horrifying at worst. But alongside the ignorance is the greed and self-interest that have wreaked havoc on Cayman’s once beautiful natural environment.
The short-term re-election cycle and the need to attract campaign finances from those who have made their money through exploiting and destroying the natural world have won out time and time again. But for the first time, the TCCP, while not exactly a green party, offers hope for a government that will put the environment on an equal footing.
This group may not get it all right. After all, which government ever did? But their willingness to embrace the environment rather than developers’ money means that they won’t get it all wrong. Whatever the next government has to offer, unless it greens the economy and reverses the over-development of luxury condos that offer zero benefit to the local people and increasingly little to no economic advantage to the country, we are doomed.
The next government has to address planning legislation immediately, as it is poor planning laws and poor planning decisions that have fueled the vicious circle of pouring more concrete to build more condos for more wealthy foreign owners and recruiting more overseas cheap labour to fuel more development.
We are all a part of, not apart from, the natural environment. We need it to grow healthy, clean food and to breathe unpolluted air, but we also need it for our mental well-being. Despite the concerns people have about the pressing problems, from soaring light bills to failing schools, improving our way of life requires a complete shift in approach and prioritising the protection of our natural world. The environment is not a fringe issue. It is critically important.
Climate change is upon us, and it’s going to get worse. If Cayman has a future at all, it is its trees and all of the other natural resources we have left that will deliver it, not wealthy developers.
To my 25,000 fellow voters, I urge you all to use those thumbs tomorrow and vote for the trees. They will make it worth your while in ways that no luxury condos ever could.
Check out the CNS Election Section interactive map to see who is running in each constituency.
See the list of candidates and their party affiliations here.
Category: Viewpoint
You neglected to mention the part about one of their candidates plans to dredge the North Sound. With their blessing
Convenient.
If we don’t get it right this time, by next time there won’t be any trees left.
A very good article Ms. Green however trees don’t vote and we need people to vote with a conscience and not what these politicians can provide as a hand out. Tomorrow’s decisions will make or break the future if f these islands. Please vote with our children’s children in mind.
Well said, dear heart, especially the part about TCCP may not get it right, but they are the most probable to do that which is critically necessary for the environment. We must be the voice for the trees, the turtles, the land, the air and the sea.
Consider which group is most likely to FINally mitigate the growing dumps on all three islands. I think we have lined the collective pockets of the MLAs and now the MPs. They have profited largely at our expense, and at the expense of the environment, and our primary tourism product.
I applaud Theresa Green’s views and wish enough people feel the same way to make a difference. But sadly, beloved Cayman has been consumed by greed culture for too long.
When the big special interests call in favours for their donations, it’s back to same-old,same old.
If the trees could vote there sure as hell would do a better job picking the government then we have for the last 20 years — let’s face it half the people we’ve elected can’t even pick their own noses.
I agree vote for the trees.