EDITORIAL

The Best Gift Of All

Monday, December 8, 2003

Christmas is a time for giving, and a time when, children in particular, look forward to receiving presents.

So why not resolve to give all the children of our Islands the best gift all… a secure environment for their future?

Our world - including Cayman - is getting smaller by the day. We are at last beginning to understand that its resources, even the mighty oceans, are finite. One day they will run out.

It is down to all of us us to shepherd and preserve those reserves in the best way possible. Certainly in the Cayman Islands we, of all countries, should realise how limited space and resources are.

Yet, what do we do? We bury, burn or pile up our garbage with barely a second thought, and then we go on creating more. 

Stores give out plastic carrier bags for every little purchase. We take our shopping home and promptly throw the bags in the garbage. Why don't we simply take them with us the next time we go shopping and reuse them?

And do we really need all that shrink-wrap packaging on just about everything we buy? Our predecessors managed perfectly well without it only a generation ago.

Bottles and glass are another resource we could do more to protect. It is relatively inexpensive and easy to recycle bottles, which are melted down and reused with virtually no waste. Better still, we could even adopt the practice which is prevalent in many parts of Germany and the United States of charging a deposit on bottles, which are then returned to shops to get the deposit back and the bottles are washed and reused, thus cutting down on the fuel used to create new bottles from old.

We are also prolific consumers of newspapers and other paper products, yet these can so easily be recycled, again with only a minimal outlay on the reprocessing plant.

We simply do not have enough land available to be able to go on burying our rubbish on the basis that "out of sight is out of mind."

The young recyclers of John Gray High School are to be applauded for their efforts to promote recycling and care for the environment. We all need to do more to support them.

The Government should take the lead on this vital issue. It may not be much of an immediate vote winner, but without action now, the voters of the future will pass their verdict, and it will deservedly be a harsh one.

Recycling facilities for paper, cans, bottles, plastic and even clothes have to be made available, and strenuous efforts made to encourage and educate consumers and businesses to make use of them.

If that does not work, we might have to introduce financial penalties for those who continue to use our Islands, and indeed the whole planet, as their personal dumping ground. Our environment is too fragile to withstand the onslaught of the mighty dollar. Someone has to stand up for it.

If people are really so worried about the financial cost, they can always recoup some of it by being a little less profligate with their use of energy. Turning down, or even off, air conditioning in homes and cars will help to reduce the threat of global warming, and save consumers money.

If anyone doubts the need to save energy, just think how many energy supply companies around the globe are now offering advice and equipment to help their customers reduce consumption. At least they are not being shortsighted enough to chase short-term sales at the expense of longer-term stability.

So let's give our children that vital present of a better future this Christmas… and don't forget to recycle the packaging

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