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Go Green! Save Planet Earth! Preserve the Environment! Save the Ozone Layer!
These chants have been echoing for decades as the human race has slowly but surely come to realize the devastating impact of its actions on nature and the delicate balance of the world’s ecosystems.
Up to recently, countries around the globe have taken some measures to go green and preserve planet earth for future generations. Just look at the Paris Agreement of April 2016, with 195 signatories all pledging to do what was necessary to cut down greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. This is just one of the numerous courses countries have embarked on to put ‘earth saving’ measures in place.
While we in Dominica are not a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions we are also taking actions to go green. In his 2018 Budget Address, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced that the country will be taking more concrete measures to go green and develop its resilience through the banning of single use plastic and Styrofoam food containers.
Business places have come on board with this announcement by providing their customers with reusable shopping bags and the Government also took on the massive nationwide project of distributing reusable shopping bags to the populace. Other entities have joined the effort by ensuring they provide biodegradable food containers to consumers when serving meals and so on.
Some of you may be thinking, what can I as the upcoming generation Y do? How much impact can I have on helping Dominica to really go green?
Here are a few tips:
For starters, how about we go digital? We are in that modern age where technology rules and just about everything has an online option. We are the generation to lead, and further develop, the technological revolution so why not do it? In this way we are using less paper, saving the trees, and definitely going green. Doing all this, while keeping our health in mind of course (staring at those computer screens can really add up).
While we’re on the topic of technology, how about we turn off computers and lights when we’re done using them? This simple act will reduce the demand on harvesting fossil fuels to provide energy to keep these electricity driven items going.
Since we’ve touched on energy, let’s opt to use renewable sources of energy, and advocate for these sources to be more readily available. We know of DOMLEC’s hydro power plant, we have heard of the government’s plan to develop geothermal energy on island, we also hear of solar farms being used to provide energy to people’s homes. Let’s get onboard with these programmes and push to eventually have wind energy as an option in Dominica.
Speaking of fossil fuels and energy, have you ever thought of owning an electric car? These vehicles are extremely beneficial to the environment as they have zero exhaust emissions. And if you use renewable energy to power your vehicle you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions even further. This as well would help the country go green. If the electric vehicle isn’t an option for you, how about carpooling? That way we reduce gas emissions by using one vehicle to transport several people to one area, instead of using let’s say five different vehicles.
Have you heard of the three R’s? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? Why not engage in that practice to go green? We can get creative with our purchases to reduce the amount of waste we produce. And we can recycle material like glass, aluminum, and cardboard so they can be used for other purposes.
As generation Y we can’t underestimate our influence in helping this country reach its national goal of building resilience and going green. And naturally where we see something that can be improved we must do what we can to lead by example and set the trend on how to really go green for 2021 and beyond.
Written by: Andrea Louis
For Generation Y Dominica
Generation Y Dominica 