We’ve probably never seen weather like what’s being predicted for a vast region stretching from the North Atlantic to the North Pole and on into the broader Arctic this coming week. But it’s all in the forecast — an Icelandic low that’s stronger than most hurricanes featuring a wind field stretching over hundreds and hundreds of miles. One that taps warm tropical air and hurls it all the way to the North Pole and beyond during Winter time. And it all just reeks of a human-forced warming of the Earth’s climate…

Freak North Atlantic Storm Featuring Extremely Low Pressures

Today, a powerful, hurricane force low pressure system is in the process of rounding the southern tip of Greenland. This burly 960 mb beast roared out of an increasingly unstable Baffin Bay on Christmas. As it rounded Greenland and entered the North Atlantic, it pulled behind it a thousand-mile-wide gale force…

1.5 to stay alive

LE BOURGET, France — The Paris climate-change conference was supposed to be about the needs of big countries and what they are willing to do to slow the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. But in the end, the two weeks of sometimes round-the-clock negotiations have focused at least as much on some of the smallest, most defenseless nations whose very existence could hinge on the outcome of the talks.

The result could be a tougher set of policy goals than anyone originally thought could emerge from the conference. While the ultimate agreement is expected to embrace a goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius, it also is likely to recognize a far more challenging and aspirational goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

That tougher language might not be legally binding for countries such as the United States, but the fact that it is in…

Europe has joined forces with some of the poorest countries in the world to call for an ambitious global climate deal as the clock ticks on crucial UN talks.

More than 100 countries across the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states have agreed they want to see a legally binding, ambitious and fair deal that sets out a long-term goal to tackle climate change which matches the science.

The statement was released as countries draw dividing lines ahead the final days of negotiations on getting a new climate deal, and sees some of the poorest nations and those most vulnerable to climate change align themselves with the EU to get the ambitious agreement they need.

It comes amid fears that some countries are using the negotiations process to slow down progress so an unambitious deal…

PRESS RELEASE – The Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), a youth advocacy group representing more than 800 young people in the Caribbean and Latin America, has placed on the table its expectations from the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference (COP21), now in its second week in Paris.

Nickson Barry, the President of the Grenada chapter and the Deputy Chair for the region, outlined the CYEN’s position during an OECS-organised side event held at the Caribbean Pavilion, the region’s base at the Paris climate summit.

“We are calling on our Governments to create an enabling structure of governance that will allow young people and youth organisations to be involved and engaged in climate dialogues and action at the national level through government agencies; the regional level through our regional mechanisms, such as, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs); and the international level through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate…

Guyana signed a readiness grant agreement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris on Tuesday, December 08, 2015. The funding will provide USD 300,000 to Guyana to help the country build capacity to access GCF funding for its priority projects in the future.

This project, which was negotiated between the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC or 5C) and the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea of Italy, aims to address several issues affecting CARICOM States under the rubric of Climate Change, inclusive of mitigation, adaptation and vulnerability.  The 5Cs is an Accredited Entity (AE) to the Fund, meaning that it can partner with GCF in delivering mitigation and adaptation projects on the ground in the Caribbean.

Executive Director of the 5Cs, Dr. Kenrick Leslie attended the ceremony along with  H.E. Raphael Trotman, Minister of Governance of the Department of…

Flickr: ClaxtonBayMangrove Pool

Do you remember that groovy 90’s tune by Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton that goes, ““they paved paradise and put up a parking lot…took all the trees and put them in a tree museum and charged the people a dollar and a half to see ‘em.” These words ring very true in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

Propulsion toward the world’s generalized version of ‘development’ has seen greater emphasis on the destruction of green spaces and inclination toward skyscrapers and paved roads. This does nothing to help fight climate change. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in particular have at least four natural defences against sea level rise, storm surges, and coastal erosion – coral reefs, seagrass beds, beaches, and our mangrove forests.

We do not need concrete to survive. What we do need is clean oxygen, which is provided by green spaces. Mangroves provide a host of…