It is interesting to note that after raising awareness to this issue on this forum with specific reference to the steelband, relative to the first known initiative by Dr Aziz back in the 1970s, and a followup study documented as having been done in 1992, work that the evidence suggests may have been archived, and forgotten to collect dust, there seems to be a national debate raging on the wider issue at present.
The challenges associated with unilaterally mobilizing resources possessing the capacity to promote and accelerate the usefulness of such a project seems insurmountable at times, as although scientific evidence, and research findings are available to all, it may be, that in the absence of personal recognition and/or financial gain, the will, and willingness to undertake and implement an initiative of this nature may be absent among sections or types of categories of stakeholders in our "capitalist" society.
It is my sincerest hope that something tangible would be achieved out of the ongoing debate, as the interest it has generated among those with the resources and capacity to take it forward is encouraging.
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It is ironic that we've been focusing on steelband noise , and not seeing the big picture.
We have allowed the electronic media to substantially raise the noise level especially at carnival , without giving a thought to the possibility of noise pollution , especially in our small communities.
Do you guys remember how loud a steelband was , before the advent of the djs?
I remember you could hear the "steelband coming down " from miles away.( Well , maybe not miles , but quite a distance )
I remember at night hearing Southern Marines coming home to Marabella , Carnival Tuesday night from my home , miles away from the main road.
And those bands were nowhere near the size of today's panorama bands.
Yet today , one of the main charges against steelbands at Carnival is that they are not loud enough !
I know what you all will say ; I'm old , times have changed etc. etc..
My point is , things doesn't happen "jus so".
Either we create positive change , or be buried by inertia and inaction.
Woodbrook residents: Lower music for Carnival...
Residents of Woodbrook and environs are calling on bandleaders, fete promoters and music truck marshals to lower the volume levels when they are at a standstill en route to their destinations.
Speaking with Newsday, several residents said they have been asking stakeholders from the Carnival committee to deal with the issue.
One resident, Gregory Lindsay, said there are mostly elderly people living on Taylor Street, and fete promoters have no remorse. “I am in full agreement with EMA’s enforcement of the decibel levels in Woodbrook and environs,“ he said.
“Those fete promoters are totally not in compliance with the guidelines. If they cannot follow the guidelines, they can have their parties down Chaguaramas. The NCC chairman and the mayor don’t live in Woodbrook, so they have no idea what Woodbrook residents go through year after year.”
http://newsday.co.tt/2018/01/16/woodbrook-residents-lower-music-for...
Is this OUR GREGORY LINDSAY? Don't tell me the man done quit THE CIP and gone and join the EMA. All dem murders across the land and police liming in fete measuring noise levels. What a country.
As it relates to noise in carnival, the EMA has again displayed it's uselessness and bias in applying it's "heavy hand" selectively. Not that I hold any brief for fete promoters who terrorize neighborhoods for personal financial gain, but it is obvious that the EMA has undoubtedly displayed no moral standards in the execution of its mandate, when one considers the destruction of the environmentally sensitive Aripo Savanna where a certificate of environmental clearance has been granted for the construction of a useless "Package 1" of the churchill roosevelt highway that literally ends in the bush, while authorizing the destruction of the largest remaining natural savanna ecosystem in Trinidad and Tobago, expressly contrary to sections of the Environmental Act of 2000 which governs its mandate. On the surface this comment may appear digressive, but in the absence of consistency relative to application of its remit across the board, and in neighborhoods nationwide I see no redress.
“The challenges associated with unilaterally mobilizing resources possessing the capacity to promote and accelerate the usefulness of such a project seems insurmountable at times, as although scientific evidence, and research findings are available to all, it may be, that in the absence of personal recognition and/or financial gain, the will, and willingness to undertake and implement an initiative of this nature may be absent among sections or types of categories of stakeholders in our "capitalist" society.”
All one has to do is go back and look at HOW the previous administration promoted the HPV vaccine. The campaign was sold on getting parents and students including the Archbishop to endorse the imitative. Not sure if it changed behaviors with sexually active teenagers.
HPV Vaccination Begins…http://www.health.gov.tt/news/newsitem.aspx?id=403
The Honorable Minister commended the students and their parents for taking responsibility for the girls’ health by getting the HPV vaccine. “If we miss the 11 to 12 age group prior to our girls becoming sexually active, then we increase these girls’ chances of contracting cervical cancer later in their lives. What this vaccine is doing is giving our young girls a chance to prevent cervical cancer later in their lives. The benefits of taking the HPV vaccine now more than outweigh the problems that they may face with cervical cancer later on.”
Why NOTHING is being done for students and adults exposed to noise pollution in the Panyards, Pan in Schools?
Why no awareness programs, testing or providing protective gear for preventing hearing loss?
Why preventing cervical cancer is considered a greater health risk than preventing hearing loss?
Maybe the Big Pharmacy/Drug companies can yield bigger profits from its vaccination campaign than preventing hearing loss???
Glad to see some action taken towards shows/fetes, I hope DJs on the road are checked also.
Cecil: What yuh have against DEE JAYS? If you really want to appreciate a CALYPSO, there is no better stage than a Carnival day on the road (or in a park) with that CALYPSO BLASTING from that DEE JAY on that truck. Man, you can hear every instrument in the recording like the tinkle of crystal. CALYPSO I barely liked, suddenly became hits in my head once I heard them coming from that DEE JAY on that truck. And the ones I liked, sounded sweeter than ever.
CARNIVAL DAY is THE DAY FOR NOISE -- however you could make it. Police cannot stop that!!!
I actually just posted something on this them saw this post. I have no issues with djs etc but you could hardly hear the music playing on a truck because of the size of the band so imagine if they have to turn down volume levels,
For those who missed the article yesterday!!!
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20180115/news/they-will-kill-carniva...
And MR. RUSSELL!!! Make sure you read this article and KEEP IT somewhere because it all ties into the BIG PICTURE.
http://entornointeligente.com/articulo/3765085/&;;
This may be the reason WHY some expats don't want to go back, is it the work culture???
Farrell resigns economic advisory board: I didn’t have the patience
When Dr Terrence Farrell accepted his mandate from the Government in October 2015 to chair a specially convened Cabinet appointed economic development advisory board, he held no illusions that all its recommendations would be translated into policy.
But by his own admission, Farrell did not have the patience to deal with the slow pace of public sector implementation.
“Working within the public service environment requires an acceptance of a certain pace of work and a degree of patience with which I am clearly not blessed. Others, better endowed with these qualities, may succeed where I, by my own standards, have not,” Farrell said in a statement yesterday. Earlier, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister announced Farrell had tendered his resignation and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had accepted.
Farrell said he resigned because he was not satisfied with the progress that the board had made under his stewardship since its inception.
“That assessment is personal. I try to set high standards for my own performance and I do not think I have been able, as chairman, to attain those standards,” he said. And one of those high standards was that a reasonably high percentage of the board’s suggestions should have been adopted.
http://newsday.co.tt/2018/01/10/i-didnt-have-the-patience/
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