Better Caribbean Launch "Speech"

There have been plenty experiences and collective conversations which have led us to launch this Better Caribbean program. I have "Speech" in quotations in the title because I actually didn't read or say this at the launch. I thought it would be too long and since most people aren't fans of long speeches, I am trying this method of sharing instead.

If you have the time I appreciate any eyeballs which scroll through this. It is all the truth and hopefully this "speech" allows any reader to understand just how real this is for us.

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Thank you all for joining me for the launch of this Better Caribbean Program which hopefully signals a shift in how we work in the region.

When we started the Caribbean Sustainability Collective in 2014 our eyes and minds were set on answering the question – how can we work together to do more – more for the sustainability of our islands, more for our people and literally how can we as consultants for Green Business Barbados do more without burning ourselves out. Each of us (green business coaches) had at least one other job other than with GBB program and we were involved in multiple projects but we were realizing that our efforts were being duplicated, diluted and to a degree going unrecognized by the general public.

So we asked again, if we wanted to sustain our resources and the people who depend on it, what do we need to do?

We decided to continue to work on our projects and make space for “organic partnerships”, in true Caribbean fashion we would see how everything went, do our work and hopefully the cooperation would fall into place. We took this route because the work of orchestrating and nurturing partnerships takes time, time which none of us really had as we juggled our existing workloads.

However, we chipped away at forming partnerships, we worked on the Sargassum Hack, applied for a UNDP grant and generally did our awareness building through social media with the video projects of Jehroum Wood and Maya Trotz which were used to draw in the public by making sustainability culturally relevant. When the GBB/IADB project came to end, we realized that we needed to build an institution for cooperation – both physical and within a program.

Photo Caption - Sargassum Hack May 23, 2015 - Caribbean Sustainability Collective; UWI Faculty and students; Student Entrepreneurial Empowerment Development (SEED) - UWI Cave Hill Campus

We honestly (maybe myself more than anyone) became jaded by how any funding entity (both based on my experience in the Caribbean/U.S.) shaped project agendas. This is understandable. As far as I know we still can’t go to the bank then ask for a loan, THEN tell them when and how we will pay them back.

However what if we could?

What if we could apply that level of self-determination and autonomy to the way innovative, sustainable and effective projects and partnerships are developed in the region? What if we could reverse a colonialized mindset of having our businesses, projects and organization work always depend on the terms of what is happening in the UK, U.S. or anywhere outside of the region?

Now in this day and age, we in the Collective are very aware that we have limited resources in the region and we are part of a global economy, but the shift which we want to be a part of is ensuring that our needs in the Caribbean shape the terms of the investment and benefits of any sustainability projects we work on.

Yes, many projects, programs and organizations say that they are tuned into Caribbean needs but their funding mechanisms, grant processes or strategies to engage the public do not allow them to do what is really needed at the rate which we need it to happen in the Caribbean considering the stressors on our economy – climate change, always looming economic recessions, fragile markets, environmental resource destruction and deteriorating health and quality of life.

I was faced with the urgency of this work last year. I received the opportunity to represent the GBB program at the Caribbean Green Economy Conference in Jamaica. Although the conference occurred before we had a chance to close out the GBB project and therefore share our best lessons learned and cases, we decided to go because there was no other conference of its kind in the region exactly in our niche area, and there would not be another as far as we knew for another 2 years. Also in my perspective (and this still stands) the model of the GBB program was relevant and replicable enough to create some valuable partnerships for the program, the green businesses and GBB coaches working tirelessly to certify the 21 businesses which joined the program.

So I went, I met Ministers from three different islands, resourceful people from across the region and international UNEP green economy representatives. My lament during the entire conference was that there is so much interesting work, useful minds, information and representation of Caribbean relevant green economy partenrships gathered at the conference but how is this all going to actually and directly impact our societies?

Is the intent going to get lost in closed door conversations and conference reports?

It has always been hard for me to be in these types of spaces especially if I am not sure how much of a public good this exercise, conference/event would be or if I wasn't allowed to share exactly what was said for the wider public benefit. Being in the space of Caribbean Green Economy Conference last year February 23 was also hard for other reasons. What happened last year also inspired me and pushed me to develop this Better Caribbean program.

Only two months before the conference, my grandfather Victor Marshall called to tell us that he wasn’t doing too well. This was a man that was full of life, who I never saw sit still, always had something to do and was a serious Karaoke singer, I mean serious like 4 nights a week serious if he could….and he could sing, church choir and everything. Soon after that call, he found out it was stage 4 colorectal cancer. This is a man who had made diet changes for his blood pressure and he had two strokes by the age of 50 which had led to him making certain lifestyle changes. So it surprised us all, but what I realized when we tried to take care of him after the diagnosis, was that he was getting a lot of mixed messages on what would be best for him to eat/drink/do at this stage.

Some people may have the attitude well – “You gonna die anyway so what difference it makes?” – I saw the difference….the question is how bad do you want to feel while you are still living.

Some people brought souse and ice-cream; a nutritionist suggested that he eat bacon and shakes with heavy cream….we tried to bring fruits and veggies because as you can imagine this form of cancer is most sensitive to what you eat… how your colon function. Although we were hopeful for a cure, our focus was still on just being there for him and to protect him from further suffering.

It was hard, my grandad was a longtime handicapper for the Barbados Turf Club and wanted to make it to the annual Gold Cup Race… but he didn’t. He passed away last year on February 23. So I dedicate this launch to him, he always encouraged me to be who I needed to be, his constructive criticism and insight into the “Ole Boys” club he gave me every time I walked across to him in Brittons hill will always be remembered.

This work is urgent because I know that there are so many others out there who have had similar thoughts and experiences, been confused about what is really best for them and simply want their loved ones to live healthier and happier lives.

With the Better Caribbean platform we will focus on engaging the public and facilitating learning about the types of products/technology we need for a Better Caribbean – sustainable, healthy, non-hazardous, and resilient. There is a lot of confusion out there on what is what, and we blindly assume because we import it - it must be of a higher/better quality.

The truth is we need to be more discerning about our consumer choices…after all money is tight for most of us and we don’t have money to waste on products/technology that are going to make us sick in the future, fail before their time or cause our islands further issues. We also do not have the luxury of time and space based on all the stressors I’ve mentioned already or in the Better Caribbean Why blog.

With the Better Caribbean program we have designed a funding mechanism and results oriented business program grounded in science, service and solutions which will meet the needs of local businesses because first before we put our skills, services or perspective on the table for program participants to use – we will ask what is it that you need? Then we find ways to support businesses and at the same time build their resilience.

Our vision for financial sustainability is that eventually the Rhiannas of the world who understand Caribbean realities will listen to us for innovative and result oriented ways to contribute financially to the Caribbean region through this program. The Better Caribbean Program will be one of those ways – and we want to make this all very practical so we are also working towards crowdfunding a mobile learning space including the energy dancefloor in order to make this public engagement, education and business support we mentioned all very real and accessible.

Thank you all for reading this, you have already supported the Better Caribbean Launch and I hope that we can work together in some way in the future.

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Why I am writing this? I am an environmental scientist by training and a solution artist in practice. By trade, my currency is facilitating active learning in anyway possible.....

~ Ariana Marshall Ph.D.

Better Caribbean Program Director

#Personalsustainability #BetterCaribbean