Lack off Progressive Developments in Jamaica

A Facebook group I belong to posted a picture of the Half Way Tree Transport Centre and declared how progressive and modern it was. Many posters commented about how First World a building it is and it shows modern progress. It got me thinking about the concept of progressive development and how that concept has changed over time. I am not a person who thinks a big pretty building with curves is automatically modern and progress because I am not that shallow. Progressive Development is so much more than just bulldozing our green space and replacing it with some concrete and glass, in my mind that is anti-progress.

There was a time in human history during the Industrial Revolution when buildings with massive chimneys emitting millions of tons Carbon dioxide was also considered as progressive even though it blanketed the sky, turn cities grey and was killing the inhabitants of the city. That tells me the concept of progressive development involves so much more than concrete and glass. This is what happens when we allow corporations and greed, coupled with a shallow population, to define what the concept of progressive development means.

The Half Way Tree Transport Centre is an impressive building as it presents itself when one enters the area but it is not a progressive building because progress development involves using our knowledge of what we know is affecting us, killing us and design and develop counteract these things. The Half Way Tree area was always a congested area but back in the days it was a much greener space, we had more trees in the area to absorb the carbon emissions and heat but today most of that greenspace is gone and all we have now are fumes, heat and humidity from the increase congested traffic.

High Line New York Greenway

Our development does not involve Nature and sustainability because as a society we see nature and greenspace as backwards, as we are trying so hard to recreate New York City thinking that it is the perfect example of progressive development. Meanwhile New York City is trying very hard to rollback its aggressive environmentally destructive in order to let nature and greenspace back in.

4500 solar panels spread across the entire rooftop surface. This system on the car park rooftop is expected to offset 100% of the car park’s electricity consumption with excess power generated to be consumed within the main airport terminal. It will reduce the airport’s overall energy consumption and carbon emissions by close to 10 per cent.

How is the Half Way Tree Transport Centre progressive, what percentage of its energy consumption comes from green energy, how much solar panels does it have, how much kilowatt of solar energy does it generates and are there any wind turbines? How much of these buses are all-electric, zero-emission electric or clean energy buses? Was the Half Way Tree Transport Centre designed with sustainability in mind or the health of the people in it? That nice pretty roof that covers the transport centre could have served a much higher purpose other than to protect the people from the sun and the rain, it is reflecting a huge amount of the sun’s energy back into the atmosphere.

Hybrid Wind/Solar Power Generators

The Half Way Tree Transport Centre is an impressive building but it by no means represents progress, just like all our other developments. Take for example the massive Mcmansion of the Prime Minister Andre Holness surrounded by that massive wall making it into Holness Fortress and other developments like this. It was developed to impress with no concept of sustainability in mind. No desire to set an example of how modern progressive development should be done, adopting itself with nature and the natural world. These are colonial structures and represents the same concept of the old colonial great houses on the slave plantations.

Solar Power Transforms Parking Lots into Green Job Generators

Modern Humans are very much aware that climate change is real and an issue affecting humanity. We understand the science behind it and the importance of Nature and the Environment to our survival. We have the technology to limit our use of fossil fuels, to preserve the Environment and consume more sustainable energy, so why is that not reflected in our development? 

 Development is only modern and progressive if it takes into consideration the factors that are threatening our lives on this planet and uses our scientific knowledge to protect humanity. WE MUST PLAN AND DESIGN WITH THE ENVIRONMENT IN MIND. 

A MERE 20 OF THE ROLES TREES CAN PLAY IN PERMACULTURE DESIGN:
Permaculture, as the “perma” name suggests, is a movement towards permanent agricultural arrangements, ones which culturally value nutrition, systemic health, and sustainability over monetary wealth and materialism. Permaculture designs can be quite complex cycles for avoiding waste creation and maximizing productive efficiency.

The World’s 10 Greenest Cities of 2020

Vienna, Austria

Munich, Germany

Berlin, Germany

Madrid, Spain

São Paulo, Brazil

Manchester, United Kingdom

Lisbon, Portugal

Singapore

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Washington, D.C.

London. One might night think of foggy Londontown as a green city but the town has actively worked to leave its bleak, early Industrial Revolution image behind it, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating more green spaces.

Singapore. After industrialization brought heavy pollution, Asia's greenest city tackled the problem head on, creating its first Singapore Green Plan in 1992 to tackle clean water, clean air and clean land. It aims to have zero waste in landfills by the mid 21st century.