I am so tired. I am so tired of seeing our beautiful island being taken away from us. We build more and more concrete and now we continue filling in our ponds.
Different government? Same idea! None of them really care about our environment.
We are going to fill in our lagoon with a causeway and a sewage plant? We don't care about cleaning it up. We just want to fill it in.
Our salt pond? Part of our national heritage. Most of it is one big dump; the highest hill in Philipsburg. Now we are going to fill in even more of it for a cricket stadium and a drag strip?
Maybe I am too old, but none of it makes sense to me.
Why isn't there a public outcry over this? Why isn't the community protesting? Maybe they are just as tired as I am, feeling that government does what they want no matter what.
I just happened to be re reading National Symbols , edited by Lasana M. Sekou.
On page 107, there is an illustration of the ponds of St. Maarten.
If you have the book, take a look and count how many of those ponds are left.
The chapter in the book starts with this sentence: "A ring of over twenty ponds constitutes one of the most striking natural features of St. Martin."
Well, not any more, and it is only getting worse.
Instead of a government who says let's preserve and clean up what we have left, we have a government (another one) who says let's fill it in.
The environmentalists on the island are speaking to deaf ears and climbing obstacles that are impossible to overcome.
By the way, the annual International Coastal Cleanup will be held this Sunday at La Belle Creole, starting at 8:00 AM. I wonder how many politicians from either side of the island will join into help.
I will be counting them on one hand just like I am counting what's left of our ponds on one hand.
Sadly submitted,
Barbara Cannegieter