Dear Editor,
Fifty, Sixty, Eighty, A hundred, Two hundred years ago, the “developed countries” sacrificed the environment and nature at the “altar of development”. Nature must make way for development, they said. Then we started to cry about global warming, the ozone layer etc. Part of that sacrifice was the human sacrifice as various people were enslaved, indentured and impoverished to make that happen. Today, the rest of the world, with Guyanese politicians in the lead, are asserting their right to destroy nature at the altar of development. Forest deals are coming, mining deals are ongoing, oil exploitation deals have and are being made. And the Government gives Exxon the RIGHT TO FLARE or PAY-TO-FLARE. And the impoverished classes sink lower.
Flare, cut, burn away nature. What a legacy we leave for our children of these Guyana lands 50 years from now, compliments of our generation’s politicians blinded by greed and corruption. We will carve a headstone to last for 200 years. Upon this stone will be inscribed the names of Granger, Ali, Jagdeo, Trotman, Harmon, Edghill and others in a list of those who, in the name of development, led to the destruction of our Children’s future for their short terms gains. Let the future know that not only plutonium bombs made massive destruction, but those who refused to learn from history and became worse with sustained destruction. Flare on.
Sincerely,
Dr. Yog Mahadeo