My name is Wesley Goorachan and I'm currently a nineteen year old student enrolled in the Bsc. in Environmental Science and Sustainable Technology programme at the University of the West Indies. I hail from Trinidad, part of the twin island nation of
Trinidad and Tobago, the southernmost islands in the Caribbean.
Growing up, I was exposed to both the urban and rural ways of life as I am from Mount Lambert, a suburban town and I spent a bit of time in Fyzabad, a rural town situated in the south of Trinidad. It was in the metropolis of Port of Spain, the capital city, where my fascination for the natural world began, as I often visited the Queens Park Savannah, Emperor Valley Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
Visiting the zoo for the first time was a surreal experience for me since my five year old self could have only dreamed of actually seeing tigers, lions, monkeys and snakes. The Botanical Gardens and the Queens Park Savannah was no different, as I had never seen such a diverse array of plants, everything from vibrant flowers to towering poui trees.
At the age of eight, I received my first digital camera as a gift from my parents on Christmas Day and from that point on I took pictures of everything that appealed to me. This gift changed my perspective of the way I saw things forever as I developed an ever-growing fascination with photography, especially since I was able to see the beauty of things that most people disregarded.
The first photo I took at the zoo.
Naturally, due to my interests I often watched television programmes on BBC and Animal Planet, which along with my curiosity fueled my interest in science. Through the educational programming I usually watched and my learnings at school, I learned of a phenomenon called Global Warming, which frightened me as it was often seen as a threat to the future of the Earth, and all of its organisms.
As years passed, I was more and more aware of the damage that was being inflicted upon the planet by mankind, especially due to the fact that Climate Change was being exacerbated by common daily activities and products such as the combustion of fossil fuels and the release of chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) into the atmosphere. Every year I noticed the number of birds and other species dwindling, which greatly concerned me.
Shortly after the introduction of the lockdown period, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I started noticing different species of birds were now nesting in our fruit trees, some of which I have never even heard of. It was through observing these birds everyday that I developed my newfound hobby of birdwatching and once again rekindled my desire to aid in the conservation of our biodiversity in any way I possibly can.
The bananaquit, once relatively abundant in Mount Lambert is now seldom seen.
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