Green Options

Texas A&M professor and world-leading cave researcher, Tom Iliffe, and others discovered numerous new species in an underwater cave a mile long in the Canary Islands recently. The cave was in Lanzarote off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. One of the species might be one of the oldest crustaceans in the world. It might be about 200 millions years old, from the time of dinosaurs.

While it may seem that countries should just ‘take the hit’ on internationally effective ‘green’ taxes, the real risk is that the loss of tourism, with its relatively green profile means that other income sources become more appealing. These could include extractive industries like mining or oil exploration, intensive industries like swift-rotation monoculture farming, or exploitative industries like logging.

Haiti’s sorrowful rank as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world has been directly attributed to the degradation of Haiti’s natural environment (less than 1.5% of its original tree cover remains intact) as well as a lack of governance structures, underinvestment in social capital, obstacles to private investment, and a spiraling “poverty trap”.

The tiny Caribbean island of Bonaire claims to be the very first 100% sustainable island in the world. Located in the Netherlands Antilles, its waters have been protected since 1979 - making it one of the most pristine snorkeling and scuba diving spots that can be found.

Travelling from Italy to Central America takes a long time: an intermediate stop in France or Spain and many hours flying over the ocean. But when you arrive on one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean you forget to be tired.

This past weekend, a major summit was held in Lima, Peru between leaders of European Union countries and also Latin American and Caribbean countries. Numerous agenda items were on the table, but the overall focuses of the meetings were upon the global food crisis, climate change, poverty, and potential trade agreements. Of course, what would an international summit be without some

1. good, old-fashioned name-calling to put everyone on edge before hand
2. a President attending a “rival summit” and taking time to go play some football! (Soccer for Americans.)
3. and an uninspiring finish where seemingly little got accomplished, but yet we can hold onto hope because there are plans to keep the conversation going.