"The light that comes from wisdom never goes out"
We are impressed by the innovative plan to use drones to track the increasing amount of sargassum washing up on the territory’s shores. However, the growing problem also needs a …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: Cross-agency strategy needed for sargassum”
Long Bay Beach on Beef Island serves a different purpose to every visitor. Some enjoy exercising, cooking out, snorkelling among the corals, swimming, participating in water sports, visiting as tourists, …
Volunteers across the territory joined in a belated observance of International Coastal Cleanup Day last weekend, clearing piles of waste from shorelines at Salt Island; Spring Bay on Virgin Gorda; …
Continue reading “Volunteers clean up 8,828 feet of coastline”
It’s about time. More than three years ago, then-Premier Andrew Fahie’s newly elected government unlawfully disbanded the Climate Change Trust Fund Board, stalling years of hard work and showing a …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: Gov’t right to apologise and re-form climate board”
A boat full of volunteers recently travelled from Tortola to the south side of Cooper Island, where they combed the sargassum-covered rocky shore for waste that had washed up on …
Continue reading “Ghost busters: Discarded tackle cleaned up”
Kudos to the government for finally starting work on a series of management plans for the territory’s beaches. These long-needed strategies can’t come soon enough. The importance of the Virgin …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: Beach plans are a welcome step”
The importance of mangroves and other wetlands has been well known for more than half a century. The delicate ecosystems offer habitat for birds and marine life; they naturally prevent …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: The Virgin Islands must save the mangroves”
When Donald De Castro was a boy in the 1940s, mangroves lined the shore and cays in front of his family’s small waterfront home in Road Town. “We used to …
Continue reading “Mangrove destruction leaves VI ever more vulnerable to climate change”
For too long, the Virgin Islands has suffered from a failure to plan for the long term. The result can be seen in shoddy infrastructure, ill-conceived public projects, struggling schools, …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: Please read, comment on draft national plan”
Fresh off their diplomatic travels to Europe last month, government leaders explained their progress on planning for the future of environmental management, national security, marijuana legalisation, and greater self-determination. During …
Continue reading “Self-determination discussed at UK meetings”
At the conclusion of the Joint Ministerial Council meeting in London last week, Prince William made an appearance as world leaders turned their attention to how climate change is impacting …
At the first in-person Joint Ministerial Council meeting since 2019, Premier Andrew Fahie is in discussions with United Kingdom leaders this week about sustainable development, Covid-19, UK relations, economic resilience, …
At a time when much of the world is steadily switching to alternative energy, the Virgin Islands is falling further and further behind as it continues to generate nearly all …
With one 10-person team working along the road near the ocean and another working the hillside, volunteers set to work clearing all the litter in sight on Sept. 18 in …
As we’ve said before, the current government’s 2019 decision to revoke all six appointed members of the Climate Change Trust Fund board was a huge mistake. The failure to replace …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: Premier dropped the ball on climate change fund”
The territory’s outdated waste disposal system is nothing short of a national crisis, and it is endangering residents’ health and degrading the environment. We are therefore glad that the government …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: The waste strategy is great, but it must be followed”
As the territory responds to a human pandemic on land, another catastrophe is brewing underwater. The highly infectious stony coral tissue loss disease, which has been spreading south from Florida …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: New coral disease is a crisis for long-suffering VI reefs”
Kudos to the government for working with the United Nations Development Programme to explore the possibilities offered by the so-called “blue economy.” At a time when financial services and tourism …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: ‘Blue economy’ has promise in the Virgin Islands”
Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has asserted that the dominant economic model of the latter 20th Century — supply side free market economics — is obsolete in today’s …
Continue reading “COMMENTARY — Need seen to move ‘beyond carbon’”
Although among the smallest of Caribbean island states, the Virgin Islands has long been a leader in the region in formulating climate change policy and establishing a governance structure to …
Continue reading “LETTER — Gov’t criticised for undoing predecessors’ climate work”
The government plans to distribute facemasks and to reduce the smoke coming from the Pockwood Pond landfill, but the parts needed to repair the non-functional incinerator there still have not …
Continue reading “Contract for incinerator parts not yet signed”
Governor Gus Jaspert emphasised the importance of environmentally sustainable practices during a press conference last Thursday at Government House. It was one of several points he made during the “Catch …
Continue reading “Governor: UK will not take over government”
Last week’s Earth Day celebrations were a heartening demonstration of community spirit, but they were also a reminder of the looming threats facing the territory’s delicate natural environment. In the …
Continue reading “EDITORIAL: Substitute green action for green rhetoric”
Children gathered at Government House on Friday pointing at nature-themed artwork and spinning around wearing virtual-reality goggles for the first annual Re-CREATE Art Competition. “It’s amazing. Some of them you …
After a backhoe cleared a wide swath of mangroves and other vegetation as part of efforts to remove a grounded yacht from the Paraquita Bay lagoon last month, government has …
Continue reading “Mangrove removal sparks outcry, but yacht buyer says he had gov’t permission”
