Trinidad /// "With rising sea levels our island is sinking here…"

C2C Interview /// University of the West Indies, Trinidad

Do you have a favorite childhood memory of the ocean?

I have too many amazing childhood memories of the ocean! We would go into the sea while it rained, when there were jellyfishes, and at night as well… it was really nice.

What’s your relationship with the ocean today?

I haven’t been there in a while but now at a lot of the beaches… the sea is actually reclaiming the land… at one beach the tide broke the road and it looked like an apocalypse image.

Is that a King Tide as an affect from climate change?

For sure… with rising sea levels, we are sinking here…

What do you think Trinidadians can do to protect the ocean?

Really and truly there is not a focus on the environment here. In Tobago they do a lot to protect the ocean but in Trinidad it is lacking. I think we need to change the way we look at the ocean. If we continue with this high consumerism attitude that we have by us not paying attention to global warming… we are melting the ice caps… and Trinidad is going to disappear… the animals are dying because they cannot live in higher degree temperatures of water and then the rising tide is changing animals’ habitations. Individuals need to change their attitudes… Everything has to start from within.