The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.
by Michael Rudder
The Barbados Workers Union (BWU) recently celebrated its 80th anniversary. As far as one can say that each division of the union makes or has made a contribution to the total union, unequal though the divisions be, I can make note of the genesis of one division.
I along with departed staff members of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation – Reynold Culpepper, Ed Browne, and Art Tappin – spent a number of Sunday mornings with Mr. Oxley the BWU’s representative hammering out details of the first agreement for what was to become the CBC Division of the Union. .
Years later when an island-wide general strike was called by the union, I felt it more important to make sure that the country could be kept informed as the day progressed, so I did not join the strike. Was that the right move?
When Anguilla decided to break away from St. Kitts and Nevis the British government sent troops to restore unity. On the morning when the armed troops came ashore on Anguilla to be met with flowers I was “on the air” at the time and I played a “request” for the troops – Go home and do it. Prime Minister Barrow had the then General Manager tell me afterwards to desist from making political statements on air. Was ‘the request’ the right move?
Again, when there was controversary at the UWI with the “young Turks” as they might have been called, ‘raising cane,’ I went to interview them.
I was challenged by them to broadcast their concerns which included a word or words not normally allowed on air.
I did broadcast the interview which I believe helped to soothe tempers, however, not so with Mr. Fredrick Smith who, days later, met me in Bridgetown and admonished me with, “You want locking up!”
Interestingly, one of those young protesting law students subsequently became the Attorney General of a neighbouring state. Life!
Green Energy
I make note of these things to show how making one right move may collide with a view held or a decision made by another person. And so it is with ‘renewable energy/green energy. The world is so caught up with a push towards green energy that we often overlook the big picture.
Al Jazeera has recently broadcast a very informative documentary, ‘The Dark Side of Green Energy.’
The television programme detailed the important role of rare earth metals along with copper and lithium, among others, play in the production of green energy
These metals are largely extracted through open pit/open cast or in larger contexts mega mining. This method of mining also includes coal mining, which is significant in maintaining the current “carbon footprint.”
The open cast mining calls for large investment and large machines. The earth is permanently scarred by this method. Yet this scarring and degradation of the earth, along with the pollution which takes place, is hardly ever mentioned in the
“green economy chatter”.
A further problem is the pollution of ground and drinking water used in extraction processes. The air may also be polluted by dust and toxic fumes. Meanwhile any recycling of green energy products is certainly lagging.
Consider the wind turbines, which can contain tons of steel and aluminum; these are not yet being recycled. Germany is one of those countries where the blades are just lying on the ground in various places.
There is, obviously, much more work to be done before what was seen as the right move towards green energy is truly that.
