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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Pictured (left to right) are Joe Darville, Save The Bays Education Director and Robert Kennedy, President of Waterkeeper Alliance.
(Photo courtesy of Save The Bays)
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Veteran educator and Save The Bays director will represent the Bahamas branch of the global Waterkeepers Alliance at largest ever event of its kind
Joseph Darville, education director of the fast-growing social and environmental advocacy movement Save The Bays, has been invited to represent The Bahamas at a historic stand against the dire threat that climate change poses to the future of the planet.
The People’s Climate March will take place this Sunday, when masses of earth’s citizens are expected to gather more than 2,000 events around the world to call for climate change to be reversed for the sake of future generations.
“The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, an oceanic-archipelagic nation, covering an area of over 100,000 square miles, is of critical importance in the urgent mission of climate change,” said Darville.
“As goes the health of the ocean, so goes that of the Mother Earth. Our waters and marine life are still some of the most pristine on the globe. However, in recent times and rapidly increasing, the invasion of mega and unregulated developments along our sea coasts and over the waters, are the harbingers of massive destruction to this ecosystem. Significant and irreparable damage has already been done.”
Darville will join those marching to the epicenter of the stand – United Nations Headquarters in New York, where world leaders are taking part in a landmark climate summit. With 100,000 marchers expected to turn up at that event alone, the aim is to demonstrate to political leaders that climate change is not just a concern for scientists and researchers, but also the public at large.
Darville, a veteran educator and longtime social advocate, said it is urgent that the people of The Bahamas have a representative present to give voice to their concerns, as this country’s elected officials seem to be uninterested in doing so.
“Unfortunately, our national leaders are either ignorant, or just plain indifferent to the imminent threat and total destruction of the wealth of this nation which lies within the cradle of our ocean,” Darville said.
“These waters are majestic and they have been entrusted to us as stewards to pass them on to future generations into perpetuity. This land and sea form our sacred heritage patrimony and it behooves every citizen of this nation to arm themselves with knowledge and action to defend and preserve this God-given treasure.”
Darville will take part in the march as part of the delegation sent to New York by the global Waterkeeper Alliance, a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) which coordinates more than 200 stewards of the marine environment, or “waterkeepers”, who are assigned to rivers, bays, lakes and coastlines around the world.
“As official Waterkeeper for The Bahamas, it is an esteemed privilege to have been invited to participate in the People’s Climate March,” he said. “Along with tens of thousands, I will sound the alarm to awaken the consciousness of our people. We will now partner with the entire world to save this planet from annihilation,” he said.
“Due to our ignorance and greed, the misuse and abuse of this magnificent gift so graciously bequeathed to us, all lands, all seas, rivers, lakes, brooks and streams are under immediate danger from climate change-causing pollution.”
Founded just over a year ago, Save The Bays has taken The Bahamas by storm. What began as a grassroots environmental awareness campaign quickly mushroomed to cover a variety of civic and social justice concerns and grievances as other advocacy groups flocked to STB’s banner.
The movement now has more than 500 registered members, the largest Facebook audience of any Bahamian NGO with 17,000 followers and more than 6,000 signatures on its petition calling for an EPA, an FOIA and an end to unregulated development in The Bahamas. You can keep up with Darville and Save The Bays by liking Save The Bays on Facebook, where photos and updates will be posted of the march.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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