Dear Editor,
During my time as a primary school student, there was this old expression, “Your environment reflects you.” Many of my generation would remember that after lunch if the teachers were dissatisfied with the state of the classroom, he or she will have the entire class clean up before class resumes, regardless of who the culprits were. And rest assured, there was no remonstration whatsoever. On other occasions, there were days when the entire school population was summoned to clean the school yard. Those were the good old days and something of the past. However, from the incontrovertible evidence available, we have strayed from that maxim and seemingly evolved into an uncaring and unconscionable people. How can one conjure that it is perfectly fine for us to keep our immediate surroundings clean, but ignore that the environment in which we dwell and interact, demand the same kind of attention and care? How can we as individuals think that dumping, littering, and making the environment unsightly and uninhabitable is someone else’s business? It is unfathomable and unthinkable.
During last week, I took a ride across the Essequibo River with the ferry, and during the ride, the amount of dumping of food boxes was simply appalling. What was even more shocking, was the fact that these adults did not only do it with flagrant disregard for the environment but were also seemingly oblivious of the presence of empty bins in their field of visions. However, their acts suggested no guilt and why should they, after all, they would not be reprimanded for the offense. But this is symptomatic of the kind of culture that we have cultivated and come to accept as normal in our country. I remember on one occasion I was riding a speedboat to the Essequibo Coast with a family. The mother of the children had just finished her beverage and lobbed the bottle into the ocean. However, seated next to me was one of her children, who could not be older than eleven savouring a bag of plantain chips. Upon completion of the chips, she crumpled the bag, so I politely asked her what she was going to do with it. With a smile on her face, she said “throw it into the ocean.” So, I asked her to give it to me, which I brought home and trashed. The point is, if the adults do not set the example, then how do we expect the kids to know and do better, and this explains why there are so many issues in our society today.
Nonetheless, we know of the drivers and sometimes customers who would chuck the trash bags through the windows of vehicles. There are even some audacious individuals in some communities who place their filled garbage bags in front of other people’s residences. On the Essequibo Coast, I have even noticed that at the main entrance to the senior schools and Guyana School of Agriculture respectively, a burgeoning heap of plastic bottle bottles, adjacent to the security hut. What kind of decadent culture is this? How can it be okay to litter the environment with impunity? And we know that if these folks set foot on foreign soil, they will unhesitatingly comply with their regulations. Ultimately, I think that there ought to be public campaigns continually in the forms of announcements, posters and definitely consequences for littering. I know that Environmental Science is done at CAPE level, but it should also be taught at the CSEC level as well.
Sincerely,
Raul Khan
