Ins & Outs of Barbados 2020

INS& 14  BARBADOS BUZZ Chelsea Gold # 20 for Barbados In 2019, the Barbados Horticultural Society won a coveted Gold Medal at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in London. This stellar performance means that Barbados has now won 20 Gold Medals, 11 Silver-Gilt and 1 Silver in 35 years. The stunning exhibit, representing ‘The Charter of Barbados 1652’, portrayed a vast array of tropical blooms and foliage which were flown to London from Barbados. The Judges loved it! Barbados was well supported by our two invited Celebrity Guests, the ever-popular TV Chef Ainsley Harriott and the celebrated author/ journalist Hunter Davies, both of whom are regular visitors to the island. Other UK celebrities who joined in the Barbados opening day party included Baroness Floella Benjamin, singer/ actress Elaine Paige, celebrity chef Marcus Wareing and TV presenter Dani Sinha. If you ever go to the Chelsea Flower Show, make a point of visiting the Barbados exhibit. Carbon Neutral Barbados by 2030 Being just a dot in the ocean with a services economy, Barbados is one of the least culpable countries in the world for polluting the planet with greenhouse emissions, but we are also one of the most vulnerable. Fortunately, we are well accustomed to utilising alternative energy. For three centuries, the sugar industry ran on wind- power generated by hundreds of windmills around the island, while today’s mechanised sugar factories are powered by bagasse, a by-product of crushed sugar cane. Barbados has also been a pioneer in solar water heating since 1970 and an early producer of solar powered electricity for domestic and commercial use. And with more than 500 zero emission fully-electric vehicles on the road, and 50 publicly accessible charge points island-wide, Barbados is the Caribbean leader in carbon free transportation. By launching its revolutionary National Energy Policy 2019 - 2030, the Government has pledged to transform Barbados from a petroleum-based economy to the world’s first 100% renewable energy, carbon neutral island state in the world by 2030. The basic strategy to achieve this challenging target, within an equally challenging timeframe, revolves around establishing a sustainable energy sector that fully utilises renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy conservation, while gradually eliminating the use of fossil fuels. In an interesting twist, some of the finance required to fund this ambitious initiative will be generated through the export of fossil fuels produced on the island and offshore. Barbados Buzz With a solar powered office and zero emission vehicles, Miller Publishing is carbon neutral Top: Ainsley Harriott, Left: Hunter Davies & Claire Ponder, Right: Baroness Floella Benjamin