Our island gets more polluted every day
It is becoming increasingly commonplace to see us as residents unfortunately decline and our respect and true love for Bonaire diminish day by day. If Bonaire is known for anything in the region and internationally, it is for its beauty, its well-kept nature, its crystal clear sea full of life. But what stood out to most tourists above all else was how clean our island was. It is not so long ago that we began to see rubbish along the roads, garbage bags thrown into the world and old things left on the streets. This used to be rare. Sadly, this beautiful view is gone, garbage has slowly taken over and this disgusting sight has become commonplace. The reality is that we as citizens are losing interest and we are neglecting our responsibility to keep Bonaire beautiful and clean as it was, as it should be. We are forgetting one of our duties as citizens, which is to maintain and preserve our environment.
Who’s responsible?
It’s sad to see our neighborhoods decay, our streets run dry and our Kunuku roads neglected. It’s sad to see trash and old stuff everywhere, not to mention places of tourist value, like the one pictured: the Seru Largu. But the question now is: who is responsible for this situation? There are people who say that this is the responsibility of the Selibon waste treatment company and they are right in part because Selibon takes care of all the waste, but we must not forget that although they do this in a structured and planned way, they cannot do it alone. There are people who say that the Bonaire administration is responsible for this distressing situation, and they are also somewhat correct, because our island administration must ensure a healthy, clean and suitable living environment so that our inhabitants can function properly. It also has to check for irregularities and cases against the law.
The duty of every citizen
But they can’t handle this alone. There are other people, I am one of them, who think that the responsibility for this situation is really and primarily on us as citizens. We must use our common sense and our conscience to ensure that the place where we live, where our children play, where we drive around and enjoy beautiful views, can be a clean and tidy place. I repeat: this is the duty of every citizen! All of us who live here have to make sure that we don’t dump our waste in places where it’s not allowed. The island administration must ensure that this is controlled and enforced when necessary, and Selibon must do its job with policy and planning. This is a team effort, but it starts with us. This is how we can guarantee that Bonaire can be the beautiful place it once was.
Let’s take good care of our island of Dushi
At the moment, the cleaning and hygiene of many parts of our island is in a very poor state, but specifically on the Seru Largu the situation is very unpleasant and precarious. Even worse, the situation on the Seru Largu is a disgrace to us all. An appalling sight in one of Bonaire’s most beautiful and tourist attractive places: trash hanging around and even old furniture. It is time for us to use our common sense, appeal to our conscience and show that we truly love our island, show more civility and take good care of our Ōdushi island!