Dodson, leave the sea-turtles alone
A photo by Fabian Vas Experience on Facebook made me think of an article on the HuffingtonPost news website, published a while ago, about a project of the American design studio Slow Factory. I noticed the article because two of my favorite naturalistas, Cipriana Quann and TK Wonder, were the models chosen to promote the project titled ‘Petit Atlas’.
Slow Factory ambassadors, editor and co-founder of the lifestyle website Urban Bush Babes, Cipriana Quann, and singer / songwriter TK Wonder
Slow Factory is known for fashion activism focused on human rights and environmental awareness, designing fashion and accessories using high-resolution digital photos from NASA. The images are printed on the highest quality natural Italian silk. This combination of old world luxury with new technology and space exploration delivers a message of meaning and activism as each collection tells a story about the value of the earth we live on. The proceeds of the collections are used to support the work of partner NGOs. For the project Petit Atlas the the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was chosen. Ultimately four locations were selected to print on the scarves. The first location chosen was our very own Coppenamepunt, mentioned in the article as Coppename Point. The other three sites were Costa Rica’s Turrialba Volcano, Ellesmere Island in Canada; and phytoplankton bloom, a population of living microorganisms in water which is visible from space. The chosen Coppenamepunt photo could have easily been Braamspunt, because there are quite some similarities, which can be seen when putting the NASA satellite photograph and the drone photo by Fabian Vas next to each other.
For people who are not aware of what’s going on in this country, Suriname, just a few facts:
The sea turtles are an endangered species worldwide. Our seacoast has a few nesting beaches for sea turtles. One of these nesting beaches is Braamspunt.
Contrary to what our highly esteemed Minister of Natural Resources, Regilio Dodson proclaims, there has been undeniable evidence that the turtles are still coming to the beach at Braamspunt, which is obvious because they are still alive: turtles always return to the same beach where they come from, unless something happened to them.
Secondly an argument was made that the navigation channel would silt at the river mouth of the Suriname River, while the WWF report clearly states that there is a very low supply of sand in this area.
Another argument that was made is that sand mining at Braamspunt is of the utmost importance for the Surinamese Construction industry, but we’re completely leaving out the fact that this sand is not of the best quality because of the salty seawater.
What it comes down to is that Mr. Dodson is not interested in our sad stories about turtles dying or that the entire coastline will disappear if we keep up this destruction of nature. The only thing he ever talks about is: “Economisch belang van het gebied.” (The Economic importance of sand mining in said area). Well then, let’s talk money.
A Coppenamepunt Point Scarf sold by Slow Factory costs between $ 200 and $ 55. The $ 200 scarf is big enough to wear as a sarong or pangi and the $ 55 scarf is actually a handkerchief that you can tie around your wrist. So the pieces are not that exquisite, but they do cost $ 200 each. At the current exchange rate this would be 200x 8 = SRD1600 for a scarf. Just because there’s a Coppename point picture on it…
Dodson, leave the turtles alone. Is it their fault that we’re out of money in this country? Just stop it with your statements about the Surinamese activist exaggerating, because you do know this is serious. If you and your staff are incapable of coming up with innovative ideas, I would advise you to put together a team of creatives who can present options for sustainable revenue models for our natural resources. Stop telling the Surinamese community that we have no choice but to destroy our Sranan Gron (Surinamese Ground)… Just stop it. How were they able to monetize a PICTURE of our territory in America? It may sound very cliche, but all we need to do is THINK OUT OF THE BOX. Leave the turtles alone, park your ego, and stop the destruction of their beaches. Make it right.
Lakeli
