The place of choice for mosquitoes to live, work, raise families
Dear Editor,
The heights of nastiness in Jamaica today is unprecedented, to say the least, we have sunk to an all -time low in which we are covered up to our necks in garbage.
Our harbour is suffering, the fish are dying, our gullies are choking, and we are reaping the personal and collective rewards that not even Panadol can cure.
We have not learned from the chikungunya epidemic that swept the island in 2014 leaving us curled up on hospital benches with joint pains. The Aedes aegpyti mosquitoes had a field day reproducing in food and juice boxes, plastic bags, tins, and areas where our litter has caused drains to be blocked and water stagnant. We have not cleaned up our dirty acts and the Aedes Aegpyti is at it again with the outbreak of dengue on the island. We have created the perfect environment for rats, roaches, mosquitoes, and flies to live, work, raise families and put a strain on our medical facilities.
While we can blame the Government for not fixing roads and garbage not collected, it would be grossly unfair to blame them for our blatant acts of nastiness. We have got so nasty that we throw our garbage any and everywhere. Littering has almost become second nature in Jamaica, as men, women and children openly act in no regard for the environment, land or sea.
It is sickening to the eyes travelling around the island to see the boxes, bags, bottles, disposables, car tyres, old furniture and appliance waving from sidewalks, posing in the road and relaxing in the gullies. It is embarrassing the volume of garbage discovered by civic groups when they embark on clean-up drives, especially on our beaches.
Jamaica, it is not a good look, we need a re-socialisation from nastiness to cleanliness. Bits of paper lying on the ground still make the place untidy. Let’s pick them up. Hezekan Bolton h_e_z_e@hotmail.com