By Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 13th July 2023)- Minister of Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, Constituency Empowerment Dr. Joyelle Clarke is encouraging members of the public here in St. Kitts-Nevis to get into the habit of taking reusable bags to supermarkets and other places of business when shopping.
“It’s not just the supermarkets; it’s everywhere. The agro strip, the market-when you’re buying everywhere no plastic because very soon, we will not be importing single use plastics and Styrofoam, so we welcome your support,” she stated while providing a ministerial update during the Prime Minister’s press conference held on Thursday 13th July 2023.
According to her: “As it relates to ‘No Plastic Bag Mondays’, the cabinet recently approved the request by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, Constituency Empowerment to extend the ‘No Plastic Bag Mondays’ campaign.” “This campaign is a partnership with supermarkets and vendors across the federation. We recognize the importance of banning singleuse plastics, and I’ve mentioned before that the ban on the importation of single use plastic bags has been approved.
However, the timeline will be based on the continued negotiations with our stakeholders. The Environment Minister continued: “However, today I am happy again to state that to all stakeholders and allow me please to identify our supermarkets, our shops, stores, street vendors, persons who sell in the market, fruit vendors, food stalls, and importantly to all patrons of such establishment that the …cabinet has approved and is supporting the ministry’s saying ‘No Plastic Bag Mondays’ indefinitely every Monday going forward.
We encourage all of us not to ask supermarkets and fruit vendors for plastic bags, not to look for them but to walk with your reusable bags to all of these establishments especially. It’s not just the supermarkets; it’s everywhere.
The Agro Strip, the market-when you’re buying everywhere no plastic because very soon we will not be importing single use plastics and Styrofoam so we welcome your support.” In providing another area of update, she informed that her ministry will be leading an educational campaign entitled ‘Climate as a Bread and Butter issue’. She highlighted that last month in June, the world experienced its warmest June on record.
“According to reports from Aljazeera news line and from some scientific reports, it has possibly been the warmest June in a hundred thousand years. July 3rd -and some of you note if you can remember-it was also recorded as the hottest day ever recorded globally according to data from the US National Centers for Environment Prediction.” The Climate Action Minister stated:”Now I share all of this one note on temperature because there is a need for us to appreciate the dire situation as it relates to climate, food and most importantly water in St.
Kitts and Nevis. Hotter temperature enhances evaporation which reduces surface water from our soil and from our vegetation, our lakes, our underground water.” She added: “One of the first ways we feel the warming crisis in St.
Kitts and Nevis is the water situation that we’re experiencing, and it will get worse and we do appreciate the civil engineering; the work that has to be done to ensure that we can access water but we must appreciate that unless we change, we will not have more but the climate crisis is manageable if we continue to supporting the work of our Minister of Water and the entire department as they push for more water for our people.” Front Banner Image: Forest Ranger from the Department of Environment Jourdan Cassius poses for a photo with the message ‘STOP USING PLASTICS’ following a 2022 march held mark the end of a month of activities for Plastic-free July (held on Friday 29th July), organized by the Ministry of Tourism in Partnership with the St. Kitts Sustainable Development Council. (Spokesman Snap)
