I have a habit; a nasty dirty habit. When uh drink something uh must pelt it. When uh see garbage uh must kick it!
There is a litter lout in all of us. A Crop Over litter lout is just that, someone who for one reason or another is not very environmentally friendly when attending events during Crop Over time. Better Caribbean encourages us litter louts to #dobetter in the dialogue below.
LITTER LOUT: Wuh who’s wunna? And wuh wunna people from Better Caribbean and de #dobetter campaign could do me? Wuh wunna can’t slap muh?
BETTER CARIBBEAN: But we could Snap yuh! (Cackle) And we will. We aren’t doing enough about our litter problem in Barbados, so it must be because no one believes it is that urgent. Or maybe it is that we don’t have examples of how to #dobetter. We are trying to show evidence and examples of all of this through our Better Caribbean Blog and Program.
LITTER LOUT: Tek off something and pelt it way. And I ain’t tekking off muh clothes so de easiest thing to pelt way when I hear that song is de cup in muh hand. I mean, why on earth should I even worry bout littering when dum gots people paid to pick up de garbage when de fete done?
BETTER CARIBBEAN: Why worry? Because we are a small island creating too much waste! Flies, flooded roads, mosquitoes, overflowing garbage and the lovely stench of garbage juice are all signs of this. If someone picks up your waste, it still ends up filling our landfill. When it is time to expand the landfill, do you want a Mt.Stinakaroo next to you?
LITTER LOUT: Reduce, reuse, recycle, yadda yadda yadda! Wuh I don’t see how I can even begin to recycle at a Crop Ova event; not to mention Kadooment Day.
BETTER CARIBBEAN: Look for our recycling bins set up on Spring Garden highway at Mount Gay’s headquarters. We are recycling only plastic bottles on Kadooment Day but you can return your glass directly to Mount Gay or B’s Recycling any weekday.
Ask your drinks truck to hold onto the plastic bottles until they reach Spring Garden or give your bottles to one of the many people who depend on recycling bottles to make ends meet. When we throw away recyclables we throw away opportunities.
LITTER LOUT: But it ain’t all my fault. Sometimes de party does be burst and clog up and I can’t move bout easy so. I rather just wukkup in one spot and not have to worry bout finding a garbage bin every single time. Wuh wunna should do is tell de organizers what they can do to mek sure people don’t litter at dem events.
BETTER CARIBBEAN: Yes! That is exactly what we want to help with but we need your help to ask for that on social media with the hash tag #dobetter #bettercaribbean and tag the events/bands you want to see us work with.
LITTER LOUT: So you mean to tell me that wunna even taking dis green thing tuh Kadooment Day? Instead ah pelting waist wunna rather pelt waste in a bin pun Spring Garden road?
BETTER CARIBBEAN: Yes, but you can still pelt waist. We want you to enjoy yourself! Just don’t pelt waste any and everywhere. Use the bins you see, hold onto your waste until you find a bin or ask the bar staff to take back your bottles. Do Bad then Do Better.
LITTER LOUT: Ort man. Wuh wunna ain’t mekking no sport. I gine follow wunna pun Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope (pretty much everywhere) to see all de work wunna gine be doing fuh Crop Ova. Wuh is wunna name pun social media?
BETTER CARIBBEAN: @BetterCaribbean on Facebook and Instagram, @dr.ariana_m on Periscope and Ariana.jm on Snapchat.
LITTER LOUT: Preach de good green gospel en trut. Dum got nuff more people like me out dere. I gine try to #dobetter fuh Crop Ova yuh hear.
BETTER CARIBBEAN: Thank you Litter Lout. Everyone can make a difference. With your help we will be on the lookout for how we can make that difference for a Better Caribbean.
What it is we really mean by better?
Visit us our website to find out!