Climate Change
Hottest January on record exceeds 1.5°C benchmark
(CNS): The average global temperature last month was 1.66°C above pre-industrial levels, the warmest January on record, and rounded off a 12-month period over which the planet topped the 1.5°C benchmark, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has confirmed. In its monthly climate update on the changes in global air and sea temperatures, C3S reported […]
Methane deal made but tensions surround COP28
(CNS): Major fossil fuel countries and companies reached a deal on Monday at the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai to significantly reduce methane leaks. The deal is significant and if implemented could prevent up 0.5°C of future climate heating. But despite this agreement, the phasing out of fossil fuel remains the main source of […]
Cayman boiled in record September heat
(CNS): The Cayman Islands did not escape the impact of a warming world last month when, like much of the northern hemisphere, heat records here were broken yet again. The CI National Weather Service recorded the highest temperature for a single day in September on the first of the month, which reached 94.5°F (34.7°C). The […]
FFR could block spending on climate resilience
(CNS): Premier Wayne Panton has said the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility could prove too conservative for Cayman to invest in the necessary projects and initiatives to future-proof the country and develop resilience to survive the changing climate unless the cap on the debt can be lifted. PACT’s policy goal of a sustainable future and preparing […]
POF students plan climate action demo
(CNS): Several local environmental activist groups are inviting everyone to join them next month in a climate demonstration spearheaded by Protect Our Future. The organisers are also urging young people especially to take part in a global letter-writing campaign to government leaders here and around the world, sharing their concerns about climate change and the […]
Sea temperatures put local coral at more risk
(CNS): The record-breaking local sea temperatures this summer have already gone beyond the threshold that coral reefs can comfortably tolerate, more than a month ahead of the expected seasonal peak. Department of Environment (DoE) Deputy Director Tim Austin, a marine scientist, has said this is causing real concerns. The DoE has been monitoring the marine […]
UN chief warns of new ‘era of global boiling’
(CNS): Scientists are already certain that July will be the hottest month on record and might be the hottest month for more than 120,000 years. “We don’t have to wait for the end of the month to know this. Short of a mini-ice age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the […]
Cayman’s last chance saloon
Theresa Green writes: As we all melt into Cayman’s ever-advancing concrete this summer, gasp at the soaring mercury around the world, watch opened-mouthed at the wildfires burning out of control and the floods wreaking havoc, only the most stupid or stubborn among us doubt that humans are in a whole lot of trouble. But it […]
Mangrove conservation more critical than ever
(CNS): Month after month, wetlands are being lost across Grand Cayman paving the way for more and more development, despite the obvious and pressing need to stop removing them and, where possible, to start to replenish what has been lost. Though they were often seen in the past simply as a mosquito-breeding swamp, there is […]
Climate Clock ticks down on ‘Keeping 1.5°C Alive’
(CNS): On 22 July, the Climate Clock will tick down below the six-year mark for humanity to drastically reduce fossil fuel emissions to keep global warming below 1.5ºC, despite a pledge made by governments at COP26 in 2021 to ‘Keep 1.5°C Alive‘. This weekend, people across the world will mark this moment with synchronized action […]
WMO: July opens with hottest week on record
(CNS): Preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization shows that the first week of July was the hottest week since records began in 1850, as the global warming that scientists have warned about for decades pushed up temperatures all over the world, even in Antarctica, which, despite being in the middle of winter, is seeing […]
