Dominica, also known a Nature Island, used to be called Wai’tu kubuli by the indigenous Kalinago people pre-colonisation and chattel slavery. It means “Tall is Her Body”, a sentiment true to her immense mountain ranges. It is the only home to the endangered sisserou parrot, recently stolen without the consent of the people: a majority dispossessed Black people who are all the progeny of enslaved Africans. It is a beautiful land of many waters: rivers, stream, creeks, boiling lakes, and all the wildlife and earthen ecosystems that shape them.

Utilising this immense wealth of freshwater resources, it is no surprise that the World Bank and Bill Clinton are excited to donate to Dominica’s new geothermal company (“Dominica Geothermal Development Company Ltd.” / DGDC), as geothermal plants make immense use of freshwater cooling. It also doesn’t hurt that Dominica has nine active volcanoes, which would produce most if not all of the heat available for geothermal plants’ use.

But it is important us Dominicans and fellow water/land-protector allies understand the dangers this technology brings with its development to our [water, land, air, human, plant, and animal] ecosystems as to avoid becoming even more dependent on first-world countries for assistance — so that we can continue working on our own resilience and independence. What lies in our future is an opportunity for land, water, and people-protectors to join together in preserving what is said to be the last place on Earth that Christopher Columbus would recognise if he could see it again.