My post makes a point that the website used by ourislandsourfuture would rather pay a company based in New York to advertise a local issue to save local livelihoods.

Now I never mentioned the irony in that.

Surely the ideology based on saving the Bahamas for Bahamian people would be to look at things more locally. Keeping things in the Bahamas.

I do not suggest for one moment other people are not using servers in other countries. however, whilst trying to save the islands whoever looks after the site perhaps should have looked and booked a local entrepreneur to design, build and look after a website and social media.

I may be wrong and barking up the wrong tree here thinking the thing was about saving the way of life in the Bahamas and keeping foreigners out of the way.

It is only a website and as I pointed out in my post I was curious as to why not a Bahamas based web design company and server.

I live in a coastal town and I have witnessed first-hand oil landing on the coast. I cleaned sea birds, gulls, cormorants and puffins. I can see how we would look upon a tragedy.

That said, things have become a lot safer, there are protocols in place to minimise any impact such as the devastation that was DeepWater Horizon. I am also old enough to remember the Exxon Valdez spill and the devastation that occurred.

It is a risk - no two ways about it - there is a risk.

There is a risk of a cruise ship sinking like the Titanic, Costa Concordia, Herald of Free Enterprise. Massive loss of life over the years. Plane crashes, train crashes and even motor car crashes.

These are all risks - we continue to drive cars, they are continually made safer as are planes, trains and sailing vessels.

It is the same with oil drilling - lessons have been learned - we all hope that disasters do not happen.

Is it risky to live in a hurricane route? Of course it is - but people take precautions to minimise the risk of damage.

Whilst there MUST be a concern about risk - we must also avoid becoming so paranoid that risk is bad.

Had the earlier explorers not take the risk of falling from the edge of the flat earth - the world would be very different.

I understand this is not in my back yard so perhaps easier for me to say - risk is not always bad. Stay safe ;@)

Our Islands Our Future Website search - Records suggest the following: -

Geolocation data from IP2Location (Product: DB6, updated on 2021-1-1)
Domain Name Country Region City

ourislandsourfuture.org United States New Jersey North Bergen

Now of course this is just the location of the server, owned by Digital Ocean, which is a company based in New York.

I am quite sure the Bahamas based organisations have the facility to host their own websites so I do not know why a New York hosting company is used.

New York is quite a hike from the Bahamas.

Sorry for the off topic content of this post, however the question was raised.

Bahamas Employment Figures Vs Saudia Arabia

Labour force by occupation
agriculture 5%,
industry 5%,
tourism 50%,
other services 40%
(2005 est.)

Main industries
Tourism, banking, cement, ****oil transhipment****, salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe

GDP by sector
agriculture: 2.1%,
industry: 7.1%,
services: 90.8%
(2012 est.)

Saudi Arabia

Labour force by occupation
agriculture: 6.7%
industry: 21.4%
services: 71.9%
(2005 est.)

Main industries
Crude oil production, petroleum, refining petrochemicals, ammonia industrial gases, sodium hydroxide, cement, fertilizer, plastics, metals, ship repair, aircraft repair, construction.

GDP by sector
Agriculture: 2.6%
Industry: 44.2%
Services: 53.2%
(2017 est.)

Voltaire - You are in this for the money. Which is fine. But none of you have come here to save our working class.

Such a sweeping statement - as stated - you do not know the posters who add content to this site. You know nothing of my history nor my background.

Philanthropy perhaps is part of a moral code I live by. Stay safe and I wish you no ill will.

Voltaire - you know nothing about me. I do know, however, that the Bahamas economy is currently showing negative as per https://tradingeconomics.com/bahamas/ra… as is the UK economy.
The whole world in fact is facing funding issues as COVID hits all of our economies.
The Bahamas as you know relies heavily on tourism - 60% has been quoted. Employment, therefore, relies heavily on tourism.

Covid has devastated tourism worldwide though the majority of countries do not need to rely on tourism as much as the Bahamas and other such delightful places.

BPC is drilling an exploratory well off the coast of Cuba, though in Bahamian waters.

Millions of barrels of oil have been transported safely for decades in Bahamian waters. Lots are stored there too. Is any of that oil bringing benefits to the local Bahamians? Perhaps a handful who are already rich.

Should BPC discover oil in the quantities believed - Middle Eastern sized amounts!!

Would it not be good for the Bahamas to have an option to exploit it as the Arab nations have for many decades? Whilst it made the rich richer, that money also filters down to the local economy. If it doesn't then that is something to take up with your people and government.

I may well be a shareholder with BPC - I may not be - you do not know me well enough to deem me sanctimonious.

I am no better than you and I have never professed myself to be better than anyone else. It is what is in my heart that counts.

What I do know is that I was brought up by a good mother who taught me to have empathy for my fellow human beings. None of us is different - we all arrive in this world naked and unable to speak!!! - it is what we do with our lives that sets us apart in the eyes of the big fella.

Happy New Year to all.

There is more than a hint of hypocrisy in your post Voltaire - suggesting that BPC interlopers have hijacked a locally based protest by the Bahamian people.

The sip sip is that folks want the GoB to help them financially. They are struggling, work is none, well for the real people of the Bahamas. It is all fine for the middle classes but for the real Bahamians, those that work the soil and keep you wealthy okay. You still drive around in cars when the real people are on foot or on a bike. Your cars need gas. Electric is too expensive at the moment but the middle classes do not care cos they pay the same as the poorer folk.

The hypocrisy mentioned at the beginning? Claim foreign interlopers are adding to the positive vote.
So 'Our Islands' decide to go Worldwide with their campaign.

The reality is the Bahamas needs to stop and speak to the people who need the money - hotel jobs, gone, tour guides are gone, taxi drivers for the tourists all but gone. Look inside your hearts - look to your neighbours - look in the sea - you will see many oil tankers safely transporting the oil with which they make the gas for your car. Every day lots of tankers will be seen.

You will not though, see the drill for BPC as it is too far away.

I am curious as to the rationale of the objection to the drilling that is currently ongoing off the coast of Cuba - it appears there are a number of producing wells not too far away from the exploratory well that is subject of this debate.

The Bahamas relies upon, it seems, tourism for a large amount of its revenue around 60%. As most countries are in a state of lockdown, flights and cruise ships will not be taking the tourist dollar to the Bahamas in the numbers expected.

As that revenue is not forthcoming, I imagine employment opportunities are limited as will be the revenue to complete the remedial work post-Huriccaine Dorian.

What are the thoughts of the masses in relation to drilling?

Why are so many news articles written, read BUT not commented upon?

Is it apathy or is the eco message not hitting the right notes presently?

With drilling already underway not too far away from BPC's exploratory well and revenue being fed back to the nations allowing drilling, why would a government not wish to investigate the possibility of revenue stream and potential employment opportunities for local people?

Many millions of gallons of oil are transported safely through the seas off the coast of the Bahamas Archipeligo without incident. Many millions of gallons have been processed safely at Bahamian facilities. Huriccaine Dorian obviously highlighted an issue when the storage tanks were damaged, though it appears there was no major catastrophe reported.

The fishing issues reported seem more to relate to political issues than damaged stock.

So getting back to the whys and wherefores - surely the Facebook pages would be filled with comments from many individuals rather than the same faces giving their own personal views.

Surely a poll would be better if it were limited solely to local people rather than run the risk of being hijacked. Opening it up to the Change with various polls at this late moment in the islands history is a blatant last ditch attempt for worldwide comment - YET the comments I see on this board suggest BPC supporters are commenting upon something that does not concern them.

Now if that is not blatant hypocrisy I do not know what is.

If we could fill our cars with hot air to run them to and from our protesting then I think we would. Until then we will have to rely on gas.