Temperatures rising:

I chuckled a bit when I came across an advertisement from the state-owned Water and Sewerage Authority in the daily papers, warning Trinbagonians about wasting water, particularly as the twin-island state is experiencing one of the driest dry season in recent years.
What bought on the giggles was the advisory, cautioning people about less flushing of their toilets to help the depleting reservoirs that were not being sustained by the intermittent rainfalls we normally would have in the dry season.
In fact, the Meteorological Office said April was the driest April in the last ten years and May has already chalked up one of the most brittle-dry days ever experienced in the last decade.
But even though I chuckled – which was really a reflection of my thought “well, look where we’ve reached” – it was yet another reality check about the fragile state of our earth, our universe and the global environment in which we live.
I’m sure many of you have seen Al Gore’s ‘ An Inconvenient Truth’ documentary and some of the very startling statistics and projections on global warming and climate change made by renowned scientists.
I guess like many people, when I began hearing the term global warming and climate change, I paid no real attention to it until some years ago I began to experience the heat waves, not only during the day but also in the middle of the night and throughout the early morning when temperatures were expected to drop.
Another thing I noticed – although it may not have anything to do directly with global warming – is the absence of butterflies, save for one or two that made their rare appearance around my home which in a predominantly agricultural/ industrial area with a busy multi-lane highway nearby.
As a young tom-boy-girl, I practically lived outside my parents house and I remember the flower garden being filled with multi-coloured butterflies.
My brothers and I would try to catch the butterflies – not to hurt them but to gently stroke their wings which would leave some of the satiny powder-like residue on our fingertips and gaze curiously at them.
The closest thing that comes into my own garden now are the white puffy moths – and my young children scream in delight, mistaking them for the butterflies. Poor things – the children, that is.
Since my depravation of seeing butterflies, a couple months ago, while in Aruba, I was tempted to visit a butterfly farm ( look where we’ve reached!) but couldn’t because I would have ended up missing my return flight home.
One of the workers from the tourist board explained that the farm which was enclosed in mesh kept some of the most colorful butterflies but to see them I had to go early.  If I visited after a certain hour, the butterflies would be asleep.
Okay….but why don’t they fly around all day long – was my question. And this was the explanation. The butterflies suck the nectar of the flowers, then they have sex and they go to the sleep!!
The point of telling all this including the side story is that, who knows, maybe in a few years time, we’d end up with butterfly farms in our zoos.
And maybe the disappearance of the butterflies does not have anything directly to do with global warming but I bet they are not hovering around because of the chemicals and the pollution in the atmosphere, which, according to the scientists all contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer that is supposed to protect the earth from the sun’s fiery rays.
In case you’re thinking that butterflies have migrated from Trinidad, I should mention that a friend from one of the less polluted areas in eastern Trinidad assures me that his garden is buzzing with hovering butterflies and I was more than welcome to bring the family to enjoy their beauty.
Having said all this, I was delighted to learn that scientists in the Caribbean have been monitoring global warming and climate change and its impact on our countries.
And they have warned that action needs to be taken immediately to ensure our survival.
The  Caribbean aspect of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter-governmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) noted that small islands in the Caribbean were already experiencing negative effects of  global warming, sea-level rise and increased sea surface temperature.
Small islands in the Caribbean are most vulnerable to climate change, its impact will be severe and that we also have a low capacity to adapt to the negative impacts as costs are high.
The report also noted that some traditional strategies and technologies for coping with past climate variability and extreme climate events were being lost to modernization.
I spoke to Scientist Dr. John Agard, one of the authors who contributed to the Caribbean aspect of the global report and he said that sadly, the Caribbean was not yet taking the issue of climate change seriously to mitigate its effects.
Based on model projections, the Caribbean will experience consistent increase in surface air temperature over the next several decades, annual total rainfall is already decreasing in many parts of the region while sea level will increase at a rate of between 1-7 millimeters per year.
Although the rate of rise may appear to be small, the effect is disproportionately great when combined with tidal and storm surge component. Also, expect an increase in maximum hurricane wind which is likely to intensify by at least 5-10 percent by the 2050s. 
A modeling of the current and future water resource availability on several islands found that many of them would be exposed to severe water stress during low rainfall periods.
Agriculture and Food Security will also be threatened as projected impacts of climate change include extended periods of drought and reduced soil quality through increasing soil salinization especially near coastal areas.
Extreme events, such as hurricanes, floods and droughts can also cause severe damage to food and commercial crops.
Climate change is also likely to result in an increase in the incidence of vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.
So, based on the prognosis, the news is not good but at the same time, the Caribbean does have an opportunity to begin putting measures in place to mitigate the severe impact of the changes that will come – which is only a matter of time.
The Caribbean is already lagging far behind in making the environment a priority issue – and I’m not here talking about highway and street beautification or keeping the beaches clean for tourists.
Now that the scientists have presented their startling findings, I hope their research does not go in vain but that leaders at their up-coming June Summit would put it at the top of their agenda for action.
One lesson that we in Trinidad and Tobago have already learnt because of this very hot dry season with no rain relief in sight is the need to conserve water for the long term when the weather patterns get more erratic.
And yes, I’m doing my bit – less flushing – to help preserve the delicate water situation in the country.