The Caribbean and Climate Change: An Ocean Runs Through It?

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/05/24/the-caribbean-and-climate-change-an-ocean-runs-through-it/



The conviction that climate change is a colossal, intellectual deception within the ranks of mainstream North American conservatism is one of the most important discussions of our time. However, if a political dialogue on climate change is to mean anything, then, rising sea levels, population shifts and heightened competition for food and natural resources in the Caribbean should send tremors through the nucleus of all humanity, making it evident that the ravaging effects of climate change cannot readily be discounted as illusory. Thus, it is clear that the damage from climate change in the Caribbean is not an isolated threat but a present day reality.

According to statistics, 70 percent of Caribbean populations living in coastal settlements will in time be devoured by rising sea levels. Hurricane intensity is on the increase and lives, property and livelihood are being interrupted. The destabilization of climate patterns is rapidly weakening dependable agricultural cycles leading to food scarcity, unemployment, mass poverty and increase in the death rate caused by heat waves and tropical diseases.

So deep is the revenge of the tides that scientist determine that ‘marine ecosystems are experiencing the full effects of increased ocean temperature and freshwater run-off, resulting in coral reef devastation and food chain interruption which affect fishing and tourism industries.’

Environmental experts further agree that ‘rising sea levels and the surge from intense storms are dramatically transforming shorelines and bringing massive economic and social costs to Caribbean states.’