Bahama Pundit

Clean Energy Still in the Cards Despite Global Recession

by Larry Smith

Will the global economic slump set back efforts to promote green energy? Well, there is one significant source of optimism in this regard—the new American president, Barack Obama.

Although the short-term outlook for clean energy may be poor, Obama acknowledged in his inaugural address last week that "each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

He has pledged strong support for a clean energy economy in America, by doubling the production of alternative energy in three years and implementing a nationwide carbon market to cut the greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels. In the process, he promises to reassert US leadership on global climate policy.

Happy Groundhog Day!

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

In the 1993 film Groundhog Day Phil Connors, an egotistical television weatherman wearily relives Groundhog Day over and over again. 

Unglued by this numbing repetition of a single day the Bill Murray character invents increasingly creative ways of killing himself.  But after every suicide attempt he reawakens to yet another Groundhog Day and the wheel of misfortune begins once again.  

Mercifully, he eventually breaks the pattern and literally discovers a new day.  In real life some of us are similarly transformed while others slog through seemingly endless Groundhog Days.

Truth be told, most of us live somewhere between Groundhog Day and the day after: between tedium and transformation.  Yet it is the general direction of one’s life that determines its eventual trajectory.

The Fergusons of Farm Road—A Sociocultural Perspective on a Turbulent Era

by Larry Smith

Ezekiel was a fire and brimstone Baptist preacher who also drove a taxi. Mina was his wife, a part-time straw vendor. Samuel, the eldest of three sons, was a professional slacker who worked and chased women in a hotel. Blossom was his precocious little sister, and their eccentric neighbour, Miss Lye, was a hard-nosed street vendor.

They were The Fergusons of Farm Road, a quintessential afro-Bahamian family who all made their living from tourism. And for a few seasons during the 1970s we were consumed with interest in the antics of this mirror-image family. The 15-minute radio serial premiered on May 13, 1970 and ran on ZNS for 137 weeks initially, although no audio has survived.

The Fergusons was co-written by Bahamian Jeanne Thompson and Jamaican Sonia Mills. Thompson is a lawyer who dabbled in newspaper writing during the 70s and was prominent in theatrical circles. She retired as a supreme court judge in 2007 but still does some lecturing at the UWI law faculty.

Andrews University Publishes Proposal to Address Development Pressures on Abaco

by Larry Smith

"Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?" asked Alice.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get," said the Cat.
"I really don't care where" replied Alice.
"Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," said the Cat.
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Over the holidays I drove into Marsh Harbour from Treasure Cay, and was confronted by an obnoxious sight - acres of rusting machinery and thousands of derelict vehicles distributed along both sides of the Great Abaco Highway.

This was not casual littering. For the most part, the dumps are scrap metal and auto parts businesses - it's called 'urban sprawl'.

Abaco probably represents the best the Bahamas has to offer these days. A large island with significant natural assets, fresh water reserves, successful farming and fishing traditions, a thriving second home and yachting market and a pool of relatively cheap (mostly Haitian) labour. As a result, it has achieved a certain critical mass.

But with a total population of about 15,000 Abaco has reached a crossroads. It is at the point where it has to deal with all the difficult quality-of-life choices that confront a rapidly developing society.

Rethinking Community Service

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

We are quite good at mimicking concepts and programmes with little understanding of what they mean and their relevance to The Bahamas. 

By rolling the latest buzz words from our lips or pens many pretend mastery over complex subjects, reducing them to clichés and slogans.  Big words such as sustainability and diversification often get play even when poorly understood.

As recent events in America demonstrate, diversification does not always lead to sustainability, and efficiency and effectiveness are not the same.   It is possible to be quite efficient and absolutely ineffective.