Environmental Injustice - The Footprint of a Rasta

It is evident that the tremendous negative environmental impacts that islands are facing – rising water levels that threaten to submerge islands in the Bahamas, Indian Ocean and the Maldives; mega hurricanes that devastate complete islands (Hurricane David in Dominica; Hurricane Ivan in Grenada); coral bleaching that threaten coral reefs everywhere, are caused by the growing global damage to the environment.  However, the damage to the islands is not equivalent to the damage that is caused by their own environmental wrongdoings. 

The fact is that islands bear more than their FAIR share of environmental damage.  Islands’ activities to save Planet Earth, while no doubt need to be improved, bear no relation to the damage that they suffer.  At the same time, islands cannot seek justice by pity alone.  There needs to be more research and clear statistics that measure the impact, for example of a Rastafarian's way of life in Dominica, Jamaica and St. Vincent, compared to the environmental footprint of a wealthy citizen of a wealthy country.  How many Rastas will it take to ‘achieve’ the same level of environmental damage as a wealthy rich country consumer?