We have learned there is no threat of oil from the Gulf of Mexico leak washing ashore in the Cayman Islands.

However, this does not mean there is no threat at all to Cayman; scientists believe the Caribbean marine ecosystem could indeed be affected by the Gulf oil spill.

It is known, for instance, that one of the turtles that lays its eggs on Cayman’s beaches has migrated to an area in the Gulf. More significantly, it is thought that ocean-dwelling fish are part of a marine ecosystem interlinked with the Gulf. How that could affect Cayman is anyone’s guess, but the point is that the world’s environment crosses man-made borders of countries. Everything is ultimately linked.

The phrase ‘think globally, act locally’ has been used to encourage worldwide activism on a number of fronts, including the environment. The idea is that environmental issues are everyone’s problem, so everyone should do their part. It has been argued that Cayman is so small, anything it does to address things like its carbon footprint are negligible on a global scale. But just like one vote doesn’t usually win an election anywhere, politicians are ultimately elected by individual voters nonetheless. Every little bit does help, or hurt, depending on the action.

Wednesday marked a landmark day for the Cayman Islands when it comes to having individuals act in protecting the local environment. Making people pay for plastic bags at the grocery store might seem like an insignificant action, and possibly even a nuisance, but the move helps support the notion that measures must be taken to protect and preserve our local environment. Judging by the large number of people who went to the grocery store with their own bags Wednesday, Cayman residents are more than willing to do their part.

There are many other things we can do to address the local and global environmental issue. We can only hope that the Cayman BECOME campaign leads to other positive steps we can all take to think globally and act locally.