Protect The Environment and Protect Your Life

The Jamaican state and the people will have to do things differently post this Melissa period. We live in a hurricane zone, and we are sitting on earthquake faults. From birth, children should understand and learn what to do when there is a hurricane or an earthquake.

Our people should learn basic first aid in schools, and organizations should ensure that a certain percentage of their staff have current knowledge and training in the principles of first aid.

I got some important information from Dr Barbara Carby recently, and I will share it with you. She continues to make her contribution to disaster preparedness and share how to mitigate against some of the challenges of these disasters.

Below, she shows how she cut back the leaves of her banana and plantain plants.

Dr Barbara Carby, former head of ODPEM, applied the disaster risk reduction principles to her plantains and bananas and cut off the leaves before the breeze came. "These survived," she said, "but the big trees, which had not been cut, went down."

This picture below is the Jamaica's National Forest.

Had Melissa touched down in Kingston, not only would the houses on the gullies have disappeared, but massive trees like those in the picture above, would damage residential buildings.

Dr. Carby understands the importance of our birds and the bees to our environment. More people need to think not just of themselves but of all the other living and non-living things that support life in Jamaica and the world. Below, the picture shows she has put out ripe mangoes for the bees to collect nectar. Dr. Carby says she is following the directives of NEPA to protect our wildlife. You should do the same, or else wi corner dark.

When you see a flower

Remember the work of our bees;

Whenever you take a shower

Remember our trees;

Whenever you see that bird  fly high up

Remember, he helps to clean up;

Whenever you see garbage in the gully

Remember who created the folly.

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