The Environment, the Haitian people and Consequences of two Ideas.

By Dr. David Brown

All of us have a definition for the environment and share a vision of a future that is sustainable. That includes all of the people of the Caribbean including Haiti. Few in the United States have the opportunity to fully experience the relationship between our environment and happiness and satisfaction. The families living in the rural villages of Haiti do have such an opportunity. This is expressed in their families, their music, their art, their communities, their schools and their daily lives.

The lives of all of us in the Western Hemisphere are linked socially and economically. My idea of ‘family’ was extended by a student from the Caribbean, from the nuclear ones that I knew, to the extended rich relationships that she knew and that, in fact, my own grandparents had known. There are integral members of those rich extended families, some in rural Haiti and some living in Bridgeport and other parts of the United States. These families and communities share visions, responsibilities and obligations.

How should they/we think about the environment in the context of our mutual cultures and the ideas of fairness and sustainability? The last 500 years of economic trade and history has stressed the land and peoples of Haiti. At one time the land of Haiti was fertile and forested and it provided clean drinking water, energy, and nutritious food but now it is stressed. On December 10, 2004 Wangari Maathai of Kenya, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement presented a solution to a similar problem in Kenya that is elegant in its simplicity “help the people on the land grew seedlings and plant trees”. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for it.

An equally elegant idea is to provide the school children access to school books and build an infrastructure of learning based in each community. Although neither idea is expensive both can begin at the community levels and both will have very rapid payback in terms of both hope and money. Those of us not in Haiti who wish can provide resources and encouragement. The school education programs are becoming a part of each community’s culture, leading to after-school programs, teacher training, a lending library and a community center. Sustainable ideas almost always grow out of each individual community’s perception of their needs and values. Listening to the visions of the community is a wise strategy that results in amazing consequences.

Dr. David Brown is an adjunct professor in the Applied Ethics department at Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. He is a professor of Environment Ethics.