BUCCOO IN THE TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE
How will climate change impact Trinidad and Tobago? What will sea level rise mean for settlements on coastal fringes, including Trinidad’s Port of Spain and Tobago’s bayside communities? Dr Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, spells out predictions of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Special Report 1.5, and makes an urgent call to action. Since the beginning of the industrial era (1880-1900), just over a hundred years ago, humans have put enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise the global temperature by nearly one degree Celsius. This is rapid accelerated warming; before that, historical changes in the planet’s temperature occurred over several hundred-thousands of years. Even then it was associated with mass extinction events. Today, the global community is treading a dangerous path, almost past the point of no return. Our future will be hotter and more extreme; temperatures will continue to rise because of what we’ve already pumped into the atm...