Trinis have never been particularly keen on environmental issues. Save for a few voices in the wilderness, and reflexive agitation over specific environmental causes, our attitudes are characterised by endemic apathy.
I've never forgotten a Facebook conversation with a perceptibly educated young man. He stoutly challenged the importance of preserving wildlife species in the Nariva Swamp, questioning the whole 'preserving wildlife for future generations' bit.
Admittedly, there are inherent inadequacies of that tagline. It fails miserably to illustrate the important link between the well-being of eco-systems and the welfare of human beings. His argument went a little something like this, "If my children have never been to the Nariva Swamp, never seen a monkey, it won't really matter if monkeys are wiped out by hunting. It would never have been part of their life experience."
Breath-taking as this may seem, this was the fundamental motivation behind my production of a nature television series; people can only be motivated to protect something they know and love.
Now I concede that this was little more than saccharine sentiment. Convincing our people of the importance of environmental conservation will always be a steep climb.
We should not feel too bad about this (although it isn't something to feel good about) because it's precisely why climate change, as a global rallying cry, isn't getting enough traction to alter the trajectory of this planet's future.
Many scientists are now steering the conversation from climate change reversal, to mitigation. On the not-so-extreme end of the debate, talk now centres on preparations for a warmer world.
Climate change, as terminologies go, can be misleading. Climate should not be confused with weather. It is comprised of the air we breathe, the planet's water, the cryosphere (ice sheets and glaciers) and the biosphere (plants and animals).
Man's activities have profoundly changed these components in many ways. The birth of the green revolution in the 1960's began the industrial scale use of chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers. It also triggered massive expansion of land use and the industrialisation of food production, and livestock production. This in turn, allowed for the continued expansion of global populations and therefore, more hungry mouths to feed, perpetuating the cycle of growth, expansion and destruction of our natural resources.
Worse still, the green revolution made food cheaper, which meant more money was available for the 'stuff' of life; televisions, cars, clothes, walkmans and other must-haves.
All consumer products ravenously consume energy, both in their manufacture and their usage.
Fast forward to today and it is clear that we are locked on a collision course with global destruction, a course we have plotted ourselves.
Economic prosperity, an obvious aspiration of any nation, is predicated on continued growth, expansion and conspicuous consumption of the consumer goods and services with which we gild our lives.
The climate change discussion has hinged on pressuring world governments to rein in carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Co2 emissions are also 'banked' in the earth's oceans and warmer waters have implications for marine life and worse still, global weather patterns.
Let's think about all the land that has been cleared for agriculture. Research suggests that 40 per cent of all land on this planet is under cultivation or livestock production. The consequent deforestation has reduced the planet's ability to absorb the increasing levels of Co2 we continue to belch into the atmosphere. This is already leading to extreme weather conditions which will dramatically affect global food production.
This is neither an if nor when debate, it's already happening. Some of you may remember the searing temperatures of 2010. In the same year, a heatwave in Russia led to a halt in grain exports. This is believed to have had ripple effects, manifest in food riots across Asia and Africa.
Major food producers of the world will naturally turn inwards when faced with falling production, brought on by increasingly common, extreme weather events.
For a country that imports the majority of its food, this has grave implications for our survival as a nation.
Unless we physically evolve to derive all of our nutrients from bhaigan, sweet peppers and ponkin, we'll be in a tight spot.
As a small island state we will also have to cope with sea level rise, which doesn't simply mean loss of coastal lands. Salt water intrusion can render much of the land we do have under cultivation barren.
So what's the solution? There is none. You will scarcely find a country on this planet willing to turn back the clock by dramatically cutting consumption of cars, iPhones, designer clothes and more food than we need.
In Trinidad and Tobago alone, there will probably be 800 thousand cars on the road by 2025 and we will continue to plunder and pillage the environment until there is nothing left.
I recycle my plastics faithfully, but even I know that I am doing it more for peace of mind than purpose.
Altering our trajectory of self-destruction will demand dramatic reductions in consumption. This is never going to happen.