Published On: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 Tribune

WHETHER you are one of those who believe Earth is going through a natural evolutionary cycle and -- instead of humans heating it up and making it uninhabitable -- it is freezing itself into a new Ice Age, no one can deny that our environment is changing and we are assisting in that change.

One only has to do the bumper-to-bump drive to work in the morning, the afternoon creep to pick up the children from school in the afternoon, or the exhausted haul home in the evening to know that this country is cursed with one of a community's greatest polluters -- the personal automobile. Not only do the carbon dioxide fumes of an idling car clog our lungs -- even the lungs of those motorists who think they are protected because they do not smoke -- but the time wasted raises a person's blood pressure and anxiety level -- the cause of much of the road rage we see today.

As for some of the jitneys spewing polluting black fumes from their exhausts, and the landfill trucks enveloped in black smoke as they pick up speed, one wonders if some in Road Traffic's inspection department are doing a Nelson on the community -- that is focusing a blind eye on these offences.

And so for those who do not think we are killing the planet, we are certainly killing ourselves.

One only has to drive past the BEC plant at Clifton to see the ribbon of sulphur rising skyward from its chimneys to know that all is not environmentally well in our country. If there are those who claim that this pollution has no adverse affect on our climate, then certainly it is destroying the health of the nation. Regardless of who, or what is at fault, something has to be done about it.

Although our carbon dioxide emissions might be minuscule in a global context, taken per capita -- according to the United Nations -- if all countries were to emit CO2 at the same level as theBahamas, the world would exceed its current CO2 output by 200 per cent.

According to the UN's 2007/2008 Human Development Report, the Bahamas' carbon dioxide emissions per capita exceed those of many industrialised countries, such as France, Sweden,Switzerland and Portugal.

With each resident producing 6.7 tonnes of CO2, says the report, the Bahamas outstrips even Hong Kong in its emission rates per capita. Again, per capita, the Bahamas is way ahead of all other Latin American and Caribbean countries with similar population sizes.

It is only because the Bahamas has a very small population that its contribution to global emissions is almost insignificant. However, that does not mean that Bahamians can shrug off their individual responsibilities to clean up their act.

According to Environment Minister Earl Deveaux it is hoped that within the year the Road Traffic Department will be able to test the pollutants emitted by buses, trucks and cars to improve theBahamas' air quality. He said the quality of fuel being brought in will be controlled by testing to ensure that it meets Environmental Health standards.

He recognised that the lack of clean air affected the tourist product. Visitors, he said, had the perception that as a tourist economy the Bahamas had clean air, and a green and healthy environment. This, he said, is what makes the Bahamas "special and unique and we seek to protect that."

Vehicle emissions are the main cause of the grubby look of Bay Street as store owners fight an expensive battle to keep their store fronts clean.

On December 14 Prime Minister Ingraham joined representatives from 192 nations in Copenhagen,Denmark, to find solutions to global warming. Many respected scientists believe that it is the greatest threat facing mankind.

The Bahamas, a low lying, archipelagic nation, sitting atop subterranean mountains, is the world's fifth most vulnerable country threatened by rising sea levels. Scientists have predicted that if sea levels rise by 1.5 to two feet, 80 per cent of the Bahamas' land mass could be submerged. Over the years those who have lived near the water's edge are aware of the constant rise of the ocean. We are among those who believe the scientists who say that man is destroying his planet. Man has not been a good trustee for future generations.

Not only do we have to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels -- and thus on our dependence on oil -- for our own health and safety, but the world would be a safer place if it could free itself from the threatening grip of the oil rich Arab world.