Grenada Green Group
Thursday, 22 September, I watched a taxi driver finish his meal and brush quite a lot of the remains into the water of the Carenage. Such an everyday sight, as the food joined bits of paint being scraped off a ship, closely followed by the rust below. I was too far away to see what the food was; even if I had rushed up to examine it, anything floating would have been lost among the plastic bottles and ‘styrofoam’ cartons that have long been a feature of the scenic waterfront of the Caribbean’s prettiest capital. All food for the browsing fish, which are food for the fish we eat.
The taxi drove off, revealing its number to me; also “Taxi and Tours” on the windscreen. So this litterer, this defacer of one of the Island’s most famous and beautiful features, is one who earns his living by showing “Pure Grenada” to the tourists. This shows you what we are up against.
This happened during International Coastal Cleanup Month after divers and SGU had worked so hard to liberate Grand Anse from litter so that the new season’s tourists can tell their friends how clean Grenada is. And after the Grenada Hash House Harriers had spent a weekend picking up many bags of garbage in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
We know the good guys, who want a clean, mosquito-free environment, supportive of our main export industry, tourism. We know at least some of the bad guys, and we see more daily. We would like to know which side the government is on — with a 13–month–old Litter Act which they are yet to implement.
