Smelter not part of the solution

Wayne Kublalsingh
Friday, July 31st 2009

The human race is in peril. The imminent threats to our survival on the planet are twofold: communicable disease and carbon, or carbon equivalent gases. The Europeans, perhaps the greatest culprits in generating these perils, have taken the lead in finding solutions. They are off now, like a shot from the gun, running the race for survival. They are, for example, rushing like Bolt to find a vaccine for swine flu. They have been the first to establish clear laws and targets designed to delimit carbon. President Obama has also taken a lead in searching for the best health care formula for the human species in the United States. He has vowed to invest in renewable energy technology to put the brake on carbon. What is our nation's solution for survival? If smelter is it, then we already dead. We're not even off the starting blocks.

Smelter will place one million tonnes of carbon into the earth's atmosphere every single year for 50 years. It has already taken away from the map of carbon solution one thousand acres of mature forest. It has already taken from the map of global warming three dams in La Brea. If allowed to continue it will - from hydrogen fluoride, dust particles loaded with toxic compounds (particulate matter), pot lining loaded with cyanide and hydrogen fluoride, and various combination of over sixty organic and inorganic compounds-debilitate the health of humans, plants and animals in the peninsula. Besides, smelter is uneconomic. The costs outweigh the benefits. A trick is being performed to tell the people of La Brea that smelter is theirs. But, the smelter would be Chinese. It is the Chinese who would earn the grand bulk of benefits. What can the people, lands and communities of the South West Peninsula contribute to the global solution to disease and carbon? How can La Brea, a place wracked by false information and false promises, find a direction for itself? The answer is simple: La Brea must be part of the global solution, not part of the global problem. Take the cleared forests, the badlands being built for smelter, and convert it into an industrial park entirely devoted to renewables. The lead in this was taken three years ago. A report on photovoltaics was laid on the desk of Prof Ken Julien in November 2007. This project alone, the conversion of silica, into a powerful light-attracting glass, a panel, would bring 1000 permanent jobs. La Brea can become the Caribbean mecca for renewables. Take the badlands and convert them into an industrial park entirely devoted to research, technology, training and production of food products. The lead in this was taken ten years ago. In 1998, a UWI/TIDCO/CARDI team wrote a plan for a Food Park, a cluster of industries entirely devoted to healthy, indigenous, economically viable food products. The coconut industry in the peninsula is reeling from disease caused by a tiny bug. The buffalypso industry is dormant afflicted by brucellosis. The soursop industry is beset by a fruit fly. La Brea can become the mecca of science, research, technology geared to produce indigenous health-food products (mozzarella cheese, oils, nectars) for the global food market. Take the badlands and convert them into the watersports industry of the Caribbean. The peninsula is blessed with water, an aquifer from Penal to Cedros, dams, an abundance of springs, a hundred thousand acres of flat water sitting on the Peninsula. Boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, water polo, diving, synchronised ballet at the levels of leisure, amateur and professional sports. A blend of water tourism, leisure sports and professional watersports at the highest international level. Just as Cuba has dominated in amateur boxing, Jamaica in sprinting, we can take the lead in watersports. Smelter is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem. La Brea must not be part of the problem, it must be part of the solution. When we mobilise our lands, peoples and communities we can convert the Peninsula into an economy based on renewables, health products, and sports. La Brea can become an antidote to global warming and disease, not a cause of it. We must connect to the world with solutions, not with carbon and sickness. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161511291