Nuh dutty up Jamaica

One of the worst attitudes citizens can have in relation to their country is one that posits that taking care of it is the responsibility of somebody else. The notion that keeping Jamaica clean is the responsibility of the government or the NSWMA and not the responsibly of every single Jamaican is an attitude which has made campaigns such as “Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica” noble, but not as effective as they have the potential to be.

I remember walking around the campus of UWI Mona and reflecting on how much had been done to improve the green areas of the campus. I was a few steps behind a little boy who was walking and eating a zinger. To my shock, he removed the last morsel of his sandwich from the wrapper and just dropped it on the lawn without so much as a second thought. I stood there shell-shocked that he would see the beautiful lawn with the recently planted trees and blooming flowers and just nonchalantly litter. After I recovered about a minute later, I picked up after him and properly disposed of the wrapper; an exercise which cost me no money, sweat or limbs and lasted a grand total of 3 seconds.

Incidents such as these are not isolated and most definitely do not constitute rare occasions. One only has to spare a minute to look at the nooks and crannies of our roadways and observe the KFC boxes, bag juices bags, straws and plastic bottles to get an inkling of just how rampant this situation is.

After a few moments of reflection , one realizes that this practice of indifferently littering Jamaica is not as uncommon as we would like to believe. In fact, if I were to really reflect, I can think of all the times I’ve seen people push their hands through car windows and consciously litter.

This issue far transcends the daily phenomenon of littering our streets and has now spread to our communities. Penfield River, a nice tropical oasis in the hills of St. Andrew sits at 15 minutes from Papine Square and is nestled in a small community. This river provides an easily accessible and almost untouched natural site. However, the trail of garbage that decorates the path leading to the river leaves much to be desired. This senseless littering, in addition to the obvious implications on our ecosystem and our health, continues to take its toll on our communities, rendering them unfit for public viewing and in dire need of spring cleaning.

How do we remedy this problem? We might start by pointing out that most of the garbage containers that populate our streets are placed far apart and are mostly without bags so citizens have no way to dispose of their garbage. Nevertheless, placing bins and flashing green arrows that point toward said bins is also not a practical solution. “Jamaica -land of wood, water and garbage bins” would appeal to no one, least of all a tourist who expects to visit an island paradise. As for what we can do as individual citizens, naturally, we cannot all walk behind our fellow Jamaicans as sanitary engineers cleaning up the messes that shadow their footsteps.

Most compulsive litterers if asked if they would casually drop a KFC box beside their sofa and leave it there for days or leave an empty Pepsi bottle beside their pillow would respond with a resounding “no” or quite possibly take offense that such a question was even asked. The idea of littering one’s personal space is unheard of. Why not our public spaces?

Our next step in the nuh dutty up Jamaica campaign might just be helping Jamaicans, from as early as the early childhood level, understand that Jamaica is home, it is ours and the charge to keep our country clean for Jamaicans first and by extension our visitors is collectively our daily responsibility. This task is not one that should be strategically funded at the impending arrival of a high ranking foreign official or a highly televised event, but should instead be our daily resolution. Maybe then, the catchy song for the Nuh Dutty up Jamaica campaign might be something we can genuinely sing along to when it airs on radio and television.

Vanessa Roseway
UWI Mona Tourism Society