Prince Charles' Environment Film to Air in U.S.

Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, has made a film about climate change and attempts to find innovative solutions to global environmental problems that will be shown on U.S. television.

U.S. network NBC said on Tuesday it would showcase the TV movie, called "Harmony", in November and described it as "an urgent, accessible and practical call to action".

NBC said the movie, and a companion television special, grew out of three decades of work on the issue of climate change by Prince Charles. It follows the prince at work in Britain and overseas and features contributions from farmers, business and government leaders.

The project also includes footage of Prince Charles interviewing former U.S. vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore in 1988. Gore won the Nobel prize, along with an Oscar, for his 2006 global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Read the whole story here.

Mt. Trashmore scrap metal removal begins

By: Norma Connolly and Basia McGuire Pioro | norma@cfp.ky, basia@cfp.ky
Caymanian Compass

Contractors have begun removing thousands of tons of scrap metal from the George Town landfill. Two local companies that won a tender bid to remove the scrap are in the process of clearing 6,000 tons of baled scrap metal from Mount Trashmore. With one shipment of scrap already gone, Director of Environmental Health Roydell Carter said the contractors began removing the second scrap metal shipment on Monday night. The team is working from 6pm to 6am over the next several days, Mr. Carter said. They removed 242 tons from the landfill overnight on Monday, with double the amount anticipated to be removed overnight on Tuesday.

“The scrap is being loaded on a barge, and we anticipate that all the scrap will be loaded and ready to be shipped by Friday,” said Ministry of Works Chief Officer Kearney Gomez. During the day, operators are hard at work baling loose metal and crushing cars in preparation for shipment. “Looking around, it’s really striking how much of the scrap that was here has now been taken away,” said Mr. Gomez. “But this is only the first step in the plans we have for dealing with Cayman’s solid waste from now on.” Read the full story...

Bagging the plastic

The Minister for Environment the Hon. Mark Scotland showed his support for Cayman BECOME by joining Green Team Network members as they launched the campaign in stores on Earth Day, April 22, 2010: “Most people don’t think twice about the plastic bags that hold their groceries, but the fact is, they add significantly to our already overflowing landfill. Charging for plastic bags is a strategy that is successfully used elsewhere. What is more, the plastic bag charge will be used for local environmental initiatives and finding more environmentally-responsible options to other supermarket packaging,” the Minister said….read the full story.

What's in your garbage?

By: Basio Pioro | basia@cfp.ky
The Observer

The growing pile of trash at Mount Trashmore received about 1205 tons of residential waste in January alone - all those food containers, newspapers, and packaging we find ourselves innocently slinging into the bin all day long.

On Grand Cayman, there is an estimated 450 tons of all types of waste entering the George Town Landfill. Of this amount, approximately 225-250 tons per day are municipal garbage.

It’s all up to us to do our bit until recycling comes into play. So, what’s in your garbage?

Breaking it down
The Department of Environmental Health’s Leon Watson has noted a lot of the trash going to the landfill is plastic. Light, strong and cheap, it’s everywhere these days, and hard to avoid.

One strategy consumers have adopted in other jurisdictions is avoiding purchasing products that are packaged in plastic, avoiding plastic bags, or staying away from excessive packaging in general. Here in Cayman, a small step in that direction has been taken with Cayman BECOME, the new plastic bag reduction campaign launched by the Cayman Corporate Green Team Network...read full story.

Climate Change and the Sea Around Us

The Central Caribbean Marine Institute has published its second "Green Guide" discussing climate change and the sea around us. To download a copy, visit the CCMI website.

Cayman BECOME featured on Cayman 27

The Cayman BECOME campaign was featured on April 14th on Cayman 27 news channel. Earth Day is just around the corner and to celebrate, several organizations have come together to launch a new plastic bag reduction campaign. Many will agree that plastic shopping bags are a great invention to help people when they go shopping for the family groceries. But unfortunately they are not good for the environment. The three major supermarkets in Cayman use an average of 1 million bags per month and those bags go to the Cayman Islands Landfill, better known as Mount Trashmore, which is well over capacity. The full broadcast may be seen at Cayman 27's website.