Environment

Too many things are unacceptably wrong with this brown water situation. The State tells us it is temporary, and so far, it seems that is the only thing we can believe. Yet, while we know it can’t go on forever, the transience we are encouraged to accept is annoying because …

Covid-19 was a masterclass in socioeconomic inequities but heatwaves have also ignited pervasive disparities in our society. The elderly, those living alone, children, low-income communities, homeless, outdoor workers, athletes, stray animals and those with chronic illnesses bear the brunt of heat-related risks. Their limited access to air conditioning, inability to …

“[…] ‘No rule was broken’ is a legal answer to a question that isn’t, at its heart, legal. It’s a question about what the Savannah is, who it belongs to, and on what terms it was ever meant to be touched…” The following Letter to the Editor on the Government’s …

Is this new UNC Government celebrating our Independence, or declaring its independence from public accountability and the rights of its own citizens? In 1999, under the administration of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, part of the Queen’s Park Savannah was paved—reportedly to facilitate the Independence Day Parade. Now, because the North Stand …

“[…] As the applause faded, I thought about our inconsistent and unreliable water schedule, even in the rainy season. I’ve seen farmers complain about losing 35% of their crops to relentless heat. “[…] Data centres are water and energy monsters… This is not development—it is deferred reckoning…” The following Letter …

There is a strange irony in the national conversation now unfolding. We are being asked to consider hosting artificial intelligence (AI) data centres but most of us know remarkably little about what they are, what they consume or what they may demand of the country. As a result, most of …

“[…] (John Aboud’s Superior Hotels) consistently refused to adjust the project’s scale, design, or mitigation strategies, demonstrating a profound lack of understanding regarding the severity of the impacts on the sensitive marine environment. “[…] A development of this magnitude at this specific coastal location is fundamentally incompatible with the two …

I first noticed the candlestick tree at the back of Garden with Wings in the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was one of those trees that seem to be quietly at work without asking to be explained. Its flowers and fruit hang directly from the trunk and branches: long waxy “candles”, …

There is something quietly disarming about watching a child see a giraffe in the zoo for the first time. The pause. The widening of the eyes. The small hand tightening around yours, as though this impossibly tall, gentle creature might suddenly look back. In that moment, something happens that medicine …

A recent comment from a visiting sailor has stayed with me in a way that is both embarrassing and deeply concerning. He shared that as he approached Trinidad by sea, he did not need a map to know where he was. The number of plastic bottles floating in our waters …

In 1818, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Trinidad were established under British colonial administration. That same year, Mary Shelley published Frankenstein: the story of a scientist who assembles a living being and then abandons it. Nearly eighty years later, HG Wells wrote The Island of Doctor Moreau, where natural life …

“[…] Writers from tourism-oriented Caribbean states mainly target free-spending first-worlders seeking sea, sand and stress-free living in preferably sunny climes. “[…] Dr Clarena Spencer has spent much of her adult life as a secondary school teacher and it’s easy to tell from the text. Best Vacation Ever is an educational …