On Monday, Oct. 3, during a Hurricane Matthew forecast, Weather Channel meteorologist Jen Delgado claims Haitian children eat trees and implies that it led to the rampant deforestation in Haiti.
She also compares the rich green space of the Dominican Republic to Haiti’s while trying to make her point.
“… This whole area has been essentially deforested,” she explains. “They take all the trees down. They burn the trees. Even the kids there, they’re so hungry, they actually eat the trees.”
However, Twitter users did not like Delgado’s statements. Many of them thought she was uninformed and offensive for making such claims.
It is disgusting that in 2016 #theweatherchannel can have uneducated people like @JenDelgadoTWC… https://t.co/TTUMUU4V9Z
— Mia Lopez (@MiaLopezHTC) October 4, 2016
User The DRoweshow says the meteorologist should stop spreading misinformation.
did you really say that kids in Haiti eat trees? Stop spreading lies and false information.
— . (@theDRoweshow) October 4, 2016
But user ChangingHaiti took the moment to add some snarky commentary.
According to @JenDelgadoTWC #Haiti's deforestation is a result of children eating the trees. 😳U hear me. #Ignorance in its fullness #Matthew
— Haiti in the World (@ChangingHaiti) October 4, 2016
how it is possible for someone to think that !! But worse SAY THAT !!!!!!
— veronica cespedes (@VeronikaC77) October 5, 2016
ChangingHaiti ponders how Delgado was hired in the first place.
She won't. She'd first have 2 acknowledge she's dumb. I wonder how on #earth @weatherchannel ended up w/ that 👉🏼@JenDelgadoTWC
— Haiti in the World (@ChangingHaiti) October 4, 2016
While Twitter users tried to educate Delgado, a Stanford University case study by Nathan McClintock can certainly finish the job. According to McClintock, Haiti has suffered from centuries of “agricultural exploitation under the colonial plantation system.” This exploitation has caused the current soil erosion and deforestation epidemic. In addition, consistent monocropping of cotton, indigo, tobacco, sugarcane and coffee have depleted the land to its current state. McClintock does not attribute hunger to Haiti’s deforestation.
Since the backlash, Weather Channel CEO David Clark apologized to those offended.
“We are terribly sorry for an on air error and are taking measures to correct it,” Clark wrote. “It should not have happened period.”
