PROMINENT member of the United Church clergy, Rev Naggie Sterling, made a subtle jab at Government and its management of the country’s natural resources on the weekend, saying economic gains should not be pursued at the expense of the environment.

Conservationists raised the alarm in the past few weeks about bauxite prospecting being undertaken by a Government-backed bauxite operation inside one of the suggested boundaries of the Cockpit Country, an expanse of wet limestone forest, the bulk of which sits in Trelawny.

In his sermon at St Stephen’s United Church on the occasion of the launch of Environment Awareness Week last Sunday, Sterling did not name specific projects, but said “some of the proposed mining” will only compound the “rapid extinction of species” which is currently “at a rate never before recorded in human history”.

“It is time we stop making excuses that in order to have a strong economy we have to accept the devastation of God’s creation,” he said.

His reference also seemed to hint at Government’s plan to build a transshipment port facility on Little Goat Island — an uninhabited cay off the Hellshire coast that is part of a legally protected area called Portland Bight. The ensuing arguments and counter arguments have pitted economic development and its promise of job creation against environmental preservation.

Rev Sterling argued that man, in general, has abused his role as steward of the Earth, which he said has resulted in extreme weather events such as more intense and more frequent hurricanes and longer, drier periods of drought that cause hunger, disease and displacement among vulnerable populations. He referenced the rising temperatures, rising tides, beach erosion, and decreasing rainfall associated with climate change.

“Right here on our little piece of rock, homes and buildings that were well within the legal distance from the shore now find themselves too near to the shoreline. Many of our beaches have simply disappeared, rainfall is becoming less and less and rising temperatures haunt us day and night,” Sterling said.

“As human beings we were chosen by the Creator to tend his creation and we have failed miserably. Our consumption of the world’s resources is nothing short of abusive. As privileged people we have become blind, deaf and dumb and we are experiencing a poverty of spirit unparalleled in history through our own doing,” the pastor continued.

The title of Sterling’s sermon, ‘The Fierce Urgency of Now’, is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr’s 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in which he advocated for civil rights for Black people in America. The term is now widely used in reference to climate change and its threatening effects.

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today,” Rev Sterling said, further borrowing from Dr King. “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding riddle of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late…”

In keeping with the theme of National Environment Awareness Week — Our Planet. Consume with Care — government minister with the environment portfolio Robert Pickersgill said that it is time to change the way we live, produce and consume. He acknowledged that the country continues to face “the challenge of proper waste management and air quality” but called on the population to practise the three R’s of environmental preservation — reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Pickersgill referenced Vision 2030, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2011, as well as the National Anthem, the National Pledge and the National Song for Schools to make the point that a healthy natural environment is almost a birthright which “must be implemented and secured for generations to come”.

“Our natural resources and land must not be infringed upon without consultation from the relevant authorities,” the minister said, before listing other actions that he said must be discontinued if long-term sustainability is to be achieved.

“We must substantially improve our use of energy. We must reduce emissions of both climate changes gases and pollutants. We must stop inappropriate fishing, farming, and clearing of forested areas…(We must) use, reuse, recycle, recover,” the minister said.

National Environment Awareness Week wraps up today — World Environment Day — with an Open Day and launch of a collection of academic and research papers on environmental subjects at the National Environment and Planning Agency’s head office on Caledonia Place in Cross Roads.