Friday, June 16, 2006

Corpus Christi planting success


They didn't send out the security detail for us this time.
On World Environment Day, they went in and destroyed the trees we'd planted a week before. A further indication of how petty and destructive these people who are introducing these death industries can be. If they can't do a simple thing like honour a buffer zone, how then can we trust them to properly dispose of spent pot liners? How can we be sure that the workers in those plants will have proper gear, will have access to proper health care when they inevitably fall ill?
But I digress. We set off early yesterday morning on the now familiar road. Through the Caroni plains covered in a light early morning mist. Past still sleeping villages and under the glare of the incessant Atlantic LNG flare.
Union Village Council President Elijah Gour chose a new spot for us to plant, this time right on the boundary of the estate, down inside where we could see the workers getting on with goodness knows what, given that Alutrint HAS NOT been given a Certificate of Environmental Clearance by the EMA.
In the past couple of weeks since the rains have come, several parts of the cleared 1000 acres have become impassable lakes. It seems that Mother Nature is reclaiming her territory.
We planted samaan trees and coconut trees and cane. Huge canonball trees, yellow and pink pouis. Trees to grow big and strong. To protect the hill from further erosion. To try and replace the lungs that were so unceremoniously ripped out.
To say to the powers that be that we are not giving up this fight.
It was a beautiful morning for planting. Not just trees. We will reap a bountiful harvest from these seeds of defiance.

3 Comments:

Blogger Professor Zero said...

You go! :-)

2:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why were the trees destroyed and by whom? The villagers in La Brea? The NEC? The contractors on the site? Or maybe it was RAG coming back to the UIE like a thief in the night and deliberately destroying the trees after planting them to generate hysteria. It won't be the first time that a "conspiracy theory" tactic was employed by this group.
I believe that what really happened was that the seedlings were planted on Indian Arrival Day in the wrong place and at the wrong time and had to be removed so that construction works on the utility corridor could progress. Maybe if RAG were to wait six more months before re-greening the buffer zone with the 2500 trees then much more value will be added then. As it stand now, deliberate planting of trees in active construction areas is tantamount to murder of the poor plants that cannot fend for themselves.

7:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

what an interesting moniker you have al power ...
that aside, I wonder why you would think the Rights Action Group would need to resort to such tactics.
They are planting trees al.
They are honouring the earth.

9:58 AM  

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