By Heather Breaux
Megan Routbort and Thomas (Polo) Poloniato are on The Green Journey, often aboard The Green Journey. This 20-something French-American couple are traveling the world, but only on forms of transportation that have a climate positive effect. Airplanes and private cars are out; trains, bikes, hiking, hitchhiking, and sail-hitchhiking are in.
Their mission to create a codex of places where innovative and impactful solutions to the climate crisis are being developed has brought them to the Caribbean for some classic Caribbean island hopping with a green twist.
Barbados is the Best Place to Shower
Barbados is “the best country for taking a hot shower” as Megan and Polo put it, the number one country for solar water heaters per capita in the Caribbean, as stated by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) 2021 report on leveraging local capacity for solar water heaters.
Megan and Polo met George Connolly, CEO of Solar Dynamics in the capital city of Bridgetown, who showed them around the company’s manufacturing headquarters. In 2003, it was estimated that the domestic solar thermal industry saved Barbados 180,000 barrels of oil a year. and by 2009, there was one solar water heater system for every six people. “At Solar Dynamics, we learned that older, proven technologies are sometimes just as effective as futuristic ones to cut emissions,” Polo said. Connolly credits the company’s success in part to the government support, but noted that today, Solar Dynamics operates profitably across Barbados and other Caribbean nations without tax credits.
Next, the Green Journey connected with Elize Rostant, managing director of the Walkers Institute for Regenerative Research and Design (WIRRD). For more than 50 years, the Walkers Sand Quarry has mined high-silica sand in Barbados. But as the construction industry exhausts the sand supply, a new story is emerging — one of biodiversity, ecological health, and regeneration. “What really struck us about the ongoing project at Walkers Reserve is the immediacy of the action,” Megan and Polo write. “We’ve visited several regenerative sites on our world tour, but this was the first where we saw the property’s original owners taking initiative and responsibility for restoring the land.”
A Thing of Beauty in St. Lucia
Megan and Polo hitch-sailed from Speightstown, Barbados, to Soufrière, St. Lucia, with Danielle and James, two full-time cruisers, aboard their Beneteau Oceanis 361, Nayru. Wasting no time, they hopped on the local minibus network to explore the island and discover climate changemakers — and discovered the public transport system itself, which almost functions like a carpool system, with low-cost, high frequency minibuses at $0.50USD per ride.
They interviewed Skeeta Carasco, the first in-country advisor for the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Climate Finance Access Network. Skeeta’s job is to help St. Lucia access grants and loans that can build the country’s climate resilience, whether through solar installations to promote energy independence or funding to rebuild hurricane-damaged infrastructure to be more resilient.
“Skeeta grew up for the first 16 years of her life without electricity, and often saw her hometown be struck by hurricanes and landslides,” Megan said. “It was moving to speak to someone who had experienced the direct impacts of climate change and was motivated to work in the sector.”
Martinique and Research Vessel Energy Observer
Another sail-hitch brought them to Martinique on a breeze, where they interviewed captain Jean Baptiste of The Energy Observer, and learned that although sailing is a low-carbon way to cross oceans, many modern sailboats still rely on fossil fuel products for things like cooking and driving dinghies to and fro.
But The Energy Observer, a research catamaran, has spent the last six years sailing around the world truly carbon-free: It runs entirely on renewable energy, including solar, wind, hydropower, and perhaps most importantly, self-produced green hydrogen, now under development by the likes of Toyota and AirLiquide. “Being on-board The Energy Observer feels like being on a ship from the future,” according to Polo. “The whole boat is futuristically and luxuriously designed, proving you don’t have to make a trade-off for comfort or functionality when choosing sustainable energies at sea.”
Last stop: British Virgin Islands
What’s the first thing these travelers noted upon arrival to the British Virgin Islands? Fees! They paid a $10 Environmental and Tourism Levy to the immigration officer. This tax took effect in 2017 and is set up for tourists entering the BVI to make a contribution to the protection of national park areas and help build island-wide resilience to climate change. Sounds all right, and it’s only $10 bucks.
Except, nothing is perfect. Cruise ship passengers are exempt from paying this tax. The Green Journey rates this “a good start, but insufficient” to protect the BVI’s natural, sunny beauty for the future generations.
They’ve said a farewell to the Caribbean — for now. “The Caribbean is one of the most beautiful regions in the world, but it’s also one of the most vulnerable to climate risk,” Megan said. “We’re hopeful that by sharing our adventures in the region, we can inspire more people to take action to protect this amazing archipelago.”
If you’re curious to learn more, follow along with The Green Journey travels on Instagram @thegreen.journey or subscribe to The Green Journey blog on Substack to read up on the other fascinating climate hotspots they discover around the world!
