A Facelift for Nature?
October 2, 2024
This past week marked Siman di Kultura, a celebration filled with folklore, festivities, and food. It is a time when we revel in our cultur-al heritage, and yet, while the island was celebrating, I could not help but notice a news article showing the government announcing a “facelift” for our beaches, specifically Jeremi and Lagun. The term itself, a facelift for beaches, feels like a contradictio in terminis—beaches are natural wonders, and yet, the idea of pouring concrete to “upgrade” them seems completely at odds with the essence of what they are.
As I looked again at the images accompanying the announcement, it struck me: we are not just talking about a bit of sprucing up. There are plans for large buildings as part of this so-called facelift. This comes right on the heels of a national tourism conference I had hoped to attend but could not because over 300 people had already grabbed their seats. The conference ended with 12 resolutions, chosen from 24, all focused on sustainability. But not even a week later, here we are pouring concrete on our beaches. How can this possibly align with a vision of sustainability? It is disheartening, to say the least.
The truth is, we seem to have lost our sense of nature and aesthet-ics. We genuinely believe we are doing this for the tourists, with no real understanding of why they still view Curaçao as a paradise. And those overseeing these beach facelifts? I cannot recall seeing any of them spending time on the beach. I will give credit where it is due—there is one director from the Ministry of VVRP I have seen regularly at the beach. But overall, my impression is that the people making these decisions have no connection to the beach life they claim to be improving.
You do not need to be a visionary to see how self-destructive this approach is. It is as if we are tampering with the very soul of our is-land for the sake of short-term gains. I’d love to be proven wrong and stand corrected, but right now, the outlook is not promising.
The irony is, we celebrate culture one moment and then seem to disregard the natural beauty that is also an intrinsic part of it. We act as if nature itself needs a facelift, without realizing that what truly needs fixing is our perspective.
Miguel Goede
Kommentarer