Eventually, they become invisible. These two cars, and many like them island-wide, together with heaps of discarded tyres and the usual food containers in drains.
Invisible except to tourists and to mosquitoes. That is, to our main source of income and our main health risk. The rainy season has started, and with it ‘mosquito mas’. Mosquito eggs can remain dormant for 450 days, that is, well over a year, waiting for just a tablespoonful of water to turn them into larvae. These cars in Grand Anse contain many crevices to harbour water.
Someone told us recently that he was tired of the anti-litter messages. So are we. But we also remember the paralysis of chikungunya, the pain of dengue, the danger of birth defects from zika.
We don’t get it. Diabetics stick to their diets. Some, not all, people watch their weight and know the dangers of fast foods and too much sugar. Everyone knows the consequences of safe – or unsafe – sex. It seems that most are happy to take responsibility for their own health, but not for the health of the public at large.
We trust NAWASA to give us clean water. We trust Solid Waste to empty bins. We can only urge everyone to be trustworthy about disposal of waste that attracts rats and mosquitoes. There is no agency that stops the littering and dumping habit, though we believe that the law will soon be enforced.
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the pollution.
Grenada Green Group (G3)