The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The lack of proper environmental education in Bahamian school systems is preposterous. The systematic oppression of Bahamian students in that we have to pay for private curated education in order to learn information that is vital to our future is a representation of where our country stands on the issue of climate change.

Countless times have I heard from young Bahamians that they need well-paying jobs to be successful. There is an idea put in young dreamers’ minds from the brink of education that they need to be an accountant or doctor or lawyer. Bahamian education systems are unfortunately outdated. BGCSE exam papers are the same as they were in 1999. Additionally science, especially environmental science, has changed since then. What happened to learning about climate change, ocean acidification, rising sea levels? Why don’t we learn how to impart real world change?

Instead, we send our government officials to climate and world events on our behalf to read pre-written scripts on issues they aren’t even particularly concerned about.

How are we to allow those who do not particularly care for an issue to lie to the faces of this country and to impart false hope in the smallest minority of Bahamians who actually long for the change they speak of. Empty words are blasted at us every election season to win over the environmentalists in us all. The issue of politics should be put aside in matters of the climate crisis and climate safety. For there will be no Bahamas left to vote if we do not act fast in preserving our nation. We are already at risk being a low lying country and the children of this country do not even know this. The youth are the very change makers we depend on to save our country, and they aren’t educated as to the risks that lie ahead.

HEATHER BROCKBANK

Grand Bahama,

February 22, 2022.