'YOU'LL DIE OF OLD AGE, WE'LL DIE OF CLIMATE CHANGE'

 I got the title for this post from a photograph in a news article online of a young climate activist carrying a placard. It got me to thinking: she was right! Most of the readers of this blog are well over thirty and most of us here in Trinidad pay minimal lip service to the matter of climate change. In fact, a lot of us tend to think that we can't do very much, if anything at all, that might affect the climate so there is no real urgency on any of us to do anything that might help to lessen our climate footprint. Our collective attitude is that this is the responsibility of the big polluters, the United States, China et al, and there isn't a heck of a lot that we as individuals can do.

You've only got to look at that statement to see how wrong it is. Climate change is everybody's business and whatever little contribution that we as individuals can make is important. Of course, this doesn't mean letting our own big polluters or the Government off the hook. It just means that we all have to bear some responsibility.

My children are now all grown (my youngest is 20) but I do have a few grandchildren whose future, thanks to climate change, is definitely not clear. We have to do something. Perhaps we can start with a drive for conservation in the schools and let the ideas of the young people percolate slowly through the society. Perhaps we can do things like making people separate their garbage so that waste food goes in one bin and plastics in another and so forth. I certainly don't have the answers, but I do think that we all need to be more aware.

On a recent trip to Montreal I noticed that at almost every corner downtown there was a garbage bin so that you could safely dispose of your litter (waste food paper, plastic bottles, etc.). Perhaps we can do something like that.

The climate is definitely changing. We've all seen and heard on the television news the devastating heatwaves in North America and Europe. And back down here in Trinidad we seem to be getting more rain than usual which is resulting in more flooding. Of course, the entity best placed to help make people more aware is the Government. Unfortunately, whatever efforts they are trying to make just ain't cutting it. Look, I don't want to criticize the Government, certainly not on this issue. But the problem is bigger than politics; it goes to our very survival on the planet. And in any case, as I've said before: there is only one reason for politics - only one reason for government; TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THE PEOPLE! Full Stop! There is no other reason.

Of course, we can squander whatever time there is left and worry about other things like who 'horn' who and who t'ief more. And we can kick the proverbial can down the proverbial road and let our children and grandchildren deal with the problem that we are creating for them.