KoraAnnotation9

Kora Fortun EcoEd MS Research Program Annotation 9 March 25, 2011

Baily, Trish (2009) “Environment Has Changed During the Past 25 Years,” //The BVI ?//Beacon,” June 11.

Bailey is an environmentalist who live in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), and writes for the //BVI Beacon.// Baily also captains a yacht.

The main topic of this article is how and why the environment in the BVI is changing. Uncontrolled and unsustainable development has grown. People in the BVI need to build respect for their environment if they want to continue to live sustainably. This is hard because the government violates or changes the helpful laws just so a rich company can destroy the reefs. These actions discourage us and we won’t see the point. Meanwhile, poorly constructed things lead to erosion, hurting the coral reefs close to shore. The whole reason we need to protect the pristine life forms is simple. They play a big role in our protection from storms, rising water, tsunamis, and flooding. A big part of the BVI’s economy has to do with tourism. The government knows this, but they don’t know the costs of a tourist seeing at turtle sickened of dying. Without the necessary, long-term solutions, “Nature’s Little Secrets” will turn into a dump.

__Quotes__

“Most of our mangroves have gone – simply gone. Sea Grape plants are pulled out in favor of imported coconut palms, and the highly invasive Hawaiian Sea Grape, and houses and restaurants are plonked right on the foreshore.”

“The whole integrated system – salt ponds, mangroves, coasatl vegetation, seagrasses and coral reefs – serves to buffer the islands from the erosive and potentially devastating effects of storms, rising waters, tsunamis and flooding.”

The evidence in this article supports my focus on coral reefs. I will use it in my case study of the BVI.