DISTURBING

Treasure Beach Forum: TB Runnin's: DISTURBING
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MeDat on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - 09:42 pm: Edit Post

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/22/jamaica-hands-over-heart-its-largest- protected-area-blacklisted-chinese

Most disturbing line in this article basically illustrates that if Jamaica continues to sell off and destroy the natural wonders to be developed there will soon be no reason for anyone to come as a tourist as there won't be much beauty for the eye to behold.

Secret deals never seem to be good ones.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Van on Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 09:35 am: Edit Post

I saw this one too. While major economic development is needed by Jamaicans, this one sounds like a recipe for disaster, environmentally and economically.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MikeyMike on Friday, April 25, 2014 - 08:13 am: Edit Post

"Money Talks"
And it screams really loud in Jamaica !!
ONE LOVE !!
Mike


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By concerned on Friday, April 25, 2014 - 08:00 am: Edit Post

This is part of the propaganda from JET, this is not good. They are playing a dangerous game and may have overstepped their bounds.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mnken on Friday, April 25, 2014 - 03:11 pm: Edit Post

"concerned", you are wrong. Diane McCaulay does not produce propaganda and I find your suggestion that she does rather offensive.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Free Man on Saturday, April 26, 2014 - 08:18 am: Edit Post

There are two opposites, propaganda and secrecy. Break the silence (with the truth) and you may destroy the propaganda. It is however, highly doubtful that JET would employ propaganda to make a case. The truth has no boundary.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By concerned on Saturday, April 26, 2014 - 01:31 pm: Edit Post

mnken,don't you find her her comment about the Chinese offensive?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bowl on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 01:13 pm: Edit Post

I am not too worried. If the Chineze have any undesired motive, Uncle Sam is right next door to send his 007 equivalent to fix things in very little time.
It's good to have people like Ms.McCaulay to speak up without fear or favor.
A few Iguanas is not that important, but depriving hundreds of fisher folks their lively hood, removing reefs of which will increase the possibility tsunami putting thousands of people lives in danger, plus Coal Generating Plant, ? Don't we have more than enough carbon monoxide in the air already ?.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Great Bay on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 03:20 pm: Edit Post

Economic citizenship huh? There goes your 10,000 jobs! It is unthinkable that we should have a coal-fired power plant anywhere on the island but, with the prevailing wind pattern, this particular location spells nothing but trouble for those of us southwest of this plant.

I read somewhere recently that the Chinese had signed a similar agreement with Trinidad. How many more ports do they need I wonder?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MilwMike on Sunday, April 27, 2014 - 10:26 am: Edit Post

Dear "concerned", I read it and I see no slur towards Chinese people.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mnken on Monday, April 28, 2014 - 01:27 pm: Edit Post

No I do not find anything offensive 'concerned'. I find her comments to be the truth, and spot on as usual.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Karen Kennedy on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 - 07:25 am: Edit Post

This is the letter I submitted to The Jamaica Observer, the vast majority of which was printed in their March 14, 2014 edition.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Sir,

I believe we are in a unique position to address the situation with the Jamaican Government allowing the Chinese to build a coal-powered plant on Goat Island.

My husband and I have been land and villa owners in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth since the 1980s and have seen firsthand the permanent damage to the environment caused by lax rules—and even more lax enforcement of these rules. Moreover, when reprimands are given (and these are infrequent), the fines are so paltry as to hardly be a deterrent.

We live in North Carolina and are now witnessing what happens when a huge and powerful company (Duke Energy) with high-level “friends” and incredible profits ($2.7 billion USD last year alone) fouls the environment, even after repeated (but unenforced) government warnings and long-term citizen protests. Because of a pipe collapse a massive spill of coal ash (a byproduct of coal-fired power plants that contains toxins including arsenic), water in the Dan River is unsafe to touch, and the toxic coal ash in it is burying aquatic animals and their food. This was not the first such toxic spill. After extraordinary public pressure, Duke Energy will now attempt to correct the deadly mess they have caused—though it is impossible to fix all the destruction. However, they have 32 other similar sites—and they insist that if they are forced to clean them up, they will directly pass the cost of this clean-up on to their customers: we the people who are forced to use Duke as our electric provider.

Meanwhile, if anyone is so naďve as to believe the Chinese will care more about Jamaica’s environment than their own, they are deluding themselves. Our son and his family have lived in Beijing, China, and he still travels to China on business for several months out of the year; he has been doing so in excess of two decades. He was forced to move his family back to the United States because they literally couldn’t breathe in China’s polluted air. China’s toxic air pollution is now so bad that it resembles a nuclear winter, slowing photosynthesis in plants—and potentially wreaking havoc on the country's food supply; it has also exacted a significant economic toll, grounding flights, closing highways and keeping tourists away. China has an exceedingly poor record for caring about toxins to humans, knowingly shipping everything from tainted toothpaste to food products abroad.

The ongoing environmental disasters in Jamaica, North Carolina, and China have something in common: the failure of government officials to bother care sufficiently about their citizens—and instead just look for short-term revenues instead of the longer-term, deadly consequences which they choose to ignore.

Respectfully yours,
Karen S. Kennedy


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Concerned Citizen on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 - 01:16 pm: Edit Post

China's river pollution 'a threat to people's lives'By Yang Jian (Shanghai Daily)13:46, February 17, 2012 UP to 40 percent of China's rivers were seriously polluted last year after 75 billion tons of sewage and waste water was discharged into them, the country's water authority said yesterday.

Water shortages, serious river pollution and a deterioration in the aquatic ecology in 2011 were described as "quite outstanding," and could threaten the country's sustainable growth, Hu Siyi, vice minister at the Ministry of Water Resources, told a press conference in Beijing.

China, with a population of 1.3 billion people, consumes more than 600 billion cubic meters of water a year, or about three-quarters of its exploitable water resources, Hu said.

The per capita of water resources is only 2,100 cubic meters annually, or about 28 percent of the world's average.

About two-thirds of Chinese cities are "water-needy," he said, while nearly 300 million rural residents lack access to drinking water.

Zhou Xuewen, head of the ministry's planning department, said a lot of water was wasted in agriculture, an industry which uses 60 percent of China's water.

Only half is used effectively, Zhou said, 20 percent less than in developed countries.

Hu said that about 20 percent of rivers were so polluted their water quality was rated too toxic even to come into contact with.

"The deterioration of water quality has threatened the safety and health of people, while the water quality problem has limited the economic and social development and people's lives," Hu said.

Hu said the ministry was investigating an incident early this month when a South Korean cargo ship spilled toxic phenol that contaminated the drinking water source of Zhenjiang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province.

In another accident, a spill of toxic cadmium in a river threatened drinking water supplies for millions of people in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region last month, Hu said.

In southwest China's Yunnan Province, a chemical plant piped 5,000 tons of chromium tailings near a reservoir that feeds the Pearl River, one of China's major rivers, in June 2011.

"With the rapid development of the country's heavy industry, a large number of chemical plants have been built along the Yangtze River and near some drinking water resources that have posed great threats to water safety," Hu said. "Because of the grave situation, we must put in place the strictest water resources management system."

The State Council unveiled a guideline yesterday to regulate the use of water under "the strictest criteria," capping the maximum volume of water use at 700 billion cubic meters by the end of 2030.

The government will also tighten its supervision over exploitation of underground water, further protect sources of drinking water, and restore the aquatic ecological system by introducing licenses and other measures.

The government plans to invest 4 trillion yuan (US$634.9 billion) in water conservation projects over the next 10 years, of which 1.8 trillion yuan will be spent during the 2011-2015 period.
This will mostly likely happened in Jamaica as the chinese does not care about the enviroment. This is only possibe because a uncircumcized Government will continue to give away Jamaica to the uncircumcized Phillistines.I left there in the 70's when this same government told me there is 7 flight to miami so take your money and leave. Today those words are haunting them as they search for funds for their pocket.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By concerned on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 - 01:53 pm: Edit Post

My apologies- the comment was not McCaulay's it was WIlson's, the gentleman from the UWI. However, JET has enlisted people from all over the world to weigh in on this matter, [edited by TB.Net]


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By From Yard on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 - 11:40 pm: Edit Post

OK, so how can we start protesting? are we heading to Twitter, Instagram, Face Book. It's about time the Jamaican Government wake up...
Why is every one in the Government sleeping? Our environment is heading for a disaster. Soon the very Prime Minister will move to Farine.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MeDat on Thursday, May 01, 2014 - 08:24 am: Edit Post

"
The ongoing environmental disasters in Jamaica, North Carolina, and China have something in common: the failure of government officials to bother care sufficiently about their citizens—and instead just look for short-term revenues instead of the longer-term, deadly consequences which they choose to ignore.

Respectfully yours,
Karen S. Kennedy"

TRUE TRUE TRUE! Nuff said. Money talks and is the only thing they hear. Poor people we can't do much about this, From Yard, I wish I knew what we could do but this nasty truth has me kind of hopeless. These things are happening too much in JA too often.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By jeanie on Thursday, May 01, 2014 - 01:41 pm: Edit Post

There is only one Jamaica, and if you want your children and grandchildren to be able to live here, we must protect the environment. I am not a Jamaican citizen, so I can have little impact via government. There is no controversy when it comes to coal burning..it is dirty, destructive, and unhealthy. With a beautiful island so rich in solar and wind power, it is a shame to ignore these resources, and instead burn coal. There is no Planet B. we need to take care of the only planet we have. If you believe you and your children have the right to breathe and to drink clean water, you better get up, stand up..stand up for your rights.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By MikeyMike on Thursday, May 01, 2014 - 11:18 am: Edit Post

Money, Money, Money !!!
ONE LOVE !!
Mike


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Archie on Thursday, May 01, 2014 - 05:13 pm: Edit Post

There are so many more pressing and dangerous and fundamental problems, other than Goat Island,in this country, about which there is nary a word.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By JAMROCK on Thursday, May 01, 2014 - 08:00 pm: Edit Post

Was there any acknowledgment by the government of earth day( April 22)i did not see anything in the media maybe i missed it ,coal fire generating plant we are gonna be in for a life time dose of pollution and once its there we will have to accept it forever.(WO UNTO THE INHABITANTS OF THE SOUTH COAST) ,


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Karen Kennedy on Friday, May 02, 2014 - 02:37 pm: Edit Post

Here's a Letter to the Editor that ran in The Observer on May 1st:

"Dear Editor,

Recently, in my neck of the woods, Christiana, I saw where two businesses owned and operated by Jamaicans have been sold out to Chinese who will continue operating them or try something else with the space.

This has been the pattern for the past two or three years, where seven of the nine supermarkets in this town are now owned and operated by Chinese immigrants.

Personally, I don't have a problem with this development, but I have a few concerns and questions to ask.

I have often heard it said that the Chinese operate tax-free for five years in this country. My question is why? We need to have a system in place so ensure a level playing field for all people who wish to invest their money and operate businesses in this country.

It can be argued that this is an incentive to encourage overseas investors to invest in Jamaica. Is this only extended to the Chinese? Such a policy is only meaningful if we as a country can gain significant benefit from it.

Whenever the Chinese take over any businesses they seem, in my view, to employ less people than were employed by the previous owners. Is it that they are smarter than we are that they find a way to cut expenses right from the start?

I am also concerned that we are not checking on the statutory deductions of the persons employed to them. Do we ensure that these deductions are paid over to the government so the country can benefit from this form of taxation.

I am also concerned about where they send their profits. Do they keep profits for re-investment in Jamaica or do they send them back to their own country. The main concern is if their doing business here help us in Jamaica or is it to the benefit of China more.

In the final analysis, I believe that a five-year tax-free incentive is too great a price to pay for the little return we get from them being here. I am proposing that this policy be reviewed immediately with a view to levelling the playing field so that our Jamaican business people can at the least compete.

Gary Rowe

Christiana, Manchester"


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Karen Kennedy on Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 07:19 am: Edit Post

For everyone who thinks his or her voice will not matter, here is your chance to make sure your voice will make a difference.

If you care about Jamaica, if you care about the environment, if you want to do one thing to make the world a better place, I urge you to sign this petition today—and I urge you to share this link with your friends all over the world—and ask them to sign it too.

http://chn.ge/1ecZdCO

You have the ability to make a difference.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pan. on Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 12:33 pm: Edit Post

As long as the government is controlled by business men and lawyers, money by any means will be the way.

To them "Land We Love" is Highway 2000, hotels, the stadium etc. Not Life.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By worried on Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 03:34 pm: Edit Post

Why should we pay for this guy to send people to Jamaica to protest and endanger the future of the Jamaican people? Iguana/humana, pick your choice.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tax payer on Thursday, May 29, 2014 - 12:14 am: Edit Post

Pinch, or BITe some one and observe their reactions.

TRY this on the gov't and observe the response. R U a tax payer. Do not PLAY ignorant with me. You KNOW what to do. Just do it! Majority WINS every time


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pete on Thursday, May 29, 2014 - 11:12 am: Edit Post

I will choose the Iguana any day.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Friday, May 30, 2014 - 12:43 pm: Edit Post

Aye Pete, and the birds, bees, butterflies, frogs, fish, trees, shrubs, cacti etc.

Once the 'developers' armed with accountants and lawyers get a foot in the door, the architects and engineers get bothersome nature out of the way.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tax payer on Thursday, May 29, 2014 - 07:39 pm: Edit Post

When we let FEAR CONTROLS US, WE BECOME INTRO-VERTS- and USE-LESS: When we have a squab-ble with OUR neighbours-we TAKE-UP Guns,Knives,Sticks and Stones and GO FORTH. But,FEAR ENTERED US quickly as government name is mentioned. Being PUT IN PRISON IS the night mare.

There are Courts of Laws and you cannot be put in prison for Speaking and protesting your rights. Ja is still a Democracy. One person may be put in prison. But GROUPS and CROWDS make that difference. Violence will not SOLVE OUR CRISIS. Let YOUR VOICE B HEARD IN the market place of IDEAS. A closed MOUTH, no body can HEAR.

The Poor and help-less IS WAITING ON OUR ACTIONS.

BE a LION-HEARTED like richard. You too can be history, remembered. My Mother said, TIME waits for no one. Fellow J'Cans, Let US MAKE OUR MOVE QUICKLY.

OUR HEARTS will BE GLAD...WE did!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By worried on Friday, May 30, 2014 - 08:50 pm: Edit Post

WELL YOU GUYS SEEM TO LOVE IGUANAS MORE THAN PEOPLE! Amazing, I hope the iguanas appreciate it, because the people won't!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Duppy know who fi frighten. on Thursday, June 05, 2014 - 07:36 am: Edit Post

To 'worried', it is incredible that you really believe it is just about iguanas. I can't even begin to go into the numerous travesties that the Goat Island project involves. Get on google and do your research. [edited by TB.Net]


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Friday, June 06, 2014 - 09:04 am: Edit Post

Tax Payer, land we love is the only focus that a critical mass of us will rally around. Not only Ras and Seven Day respect life, many are realising that the path we are being put on is unsustainable, environmentally and financially in the long run.

The quality of the soil reflects the health of the people, the health of the people is tied to their wealth. The health of the forests and gardens reflect our inner being.

Look around. Dry, burnt, built and smoking...more and more.

Yes Azibo, let's talk Ital.