Social Impact with Emma » recycling : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

COVID-19 and the Air We Breathe (At Home)

April 25th, 2020

Everything is connected, so they say. There is nothing more connected than the health of our planet and our own human health. I hope we may be starting to realize this, at last, with COVID-19. I think we are seeing this more clearly, now that COVID-19 has been with us for several weeks. “Seeing clearly” […]

Comparing Ourselves to Others: The Singapore Syndrome

November 9th, 2018

We Jamaicans have a bit of an obsession with Singapore, don’t we? Our romance with this small, densely populated country – some 18,000 miles away, with a population twice that of Jamaica – still lingers. Some of the passion may have waned, as romances tend to do, in the past few years. But what sparked […]

Earth Day 2018: Can We Win the Battle Against Plastic?

April 23rd, 2018

This Earth Day, I found myself struggling with some philosophical truths. We humans are in danger of destroying everything around us (and thus, inevitably, ourselves) with situations that we have ourselves created (and one material in particular, which was this year’s Earth Day theme: plastic). Climate change has now been acknowledged by most scientists as […]

Talking Trash: The Important Role of the Private Sector

April 1st, 2016

“Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica.” We have heard the catchy song and watched the witty and clever videos with Rushaine “Dutty” Berry, Bella Blair and other young and talented performers. Everyone is enjoying the social media content. The Jamaica Environment Trust’s (JET) “Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica” campaign is making an impact, at least with a certain audience. […]

Room To Breathe: Greening Our Cities and Towns

January 14th, 2015

I had an interesting conversation with a young Jamaican woman I know recently. She is currently visiting the island from Canada with her eight-year-old son. It was instructive, she said, to view Jamaica through her young son’s eyes. He expressed his thoughts on arriving in Kingston with a refreshing bluntness, as children often do. While […]

Putting Down Rootz in Spanish Town

October 8th, 2014

Anticipation was in the air as we arrived at the gate of the St. Jago Cathedral Preparatory School in Spanish Town last Friday morning. Students were bustling around in small groups. Some trailed after their teachers with questions: “Miss!” Hot 102 FM was setting up in a shady corner, arranging wires and cables. On the […]

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