Earth Today | Jamaican scientist contributes to ‘The Climate Book’
Published:Thursday | November 10, 2022 | 3:28 AM
JAMAICA AND the Caribbean’s Professor Michael Taylor has contributed to a new book, in a move reflecting his latest efforts to collaborate and help put the brakes on climate change risks and impacts.
Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book, to which the scientist has contributed, is reportedly to provide insight into ‘how the many planet crises connect’ and is said to draw on “the wisdom of over 100 experts – geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists; engineers, economists and mathematicians; historians, philosophers and indigenous leaders – to equip us all with the knowledge we need to combat climate disaster”.
Thunberg is a young climate activist who in 2018 rose to international public attention with her ‘Fridays for Future’ effort that saw her skipping school on Fridays to protest outside the Swedish Parliament for climate action. Then 15 years old, her actions have been credited with inspiring other youths worldwide to themselves engage in advocacy for a secure climate future.
For Taylor, work on The Climate Book represents an important opportunity to further highlight the climate challenge to Caribbean and other small island developing states (SIDS).
“It was an honour to have been asked to participate and even more of an honour to represent Caribbean science and the Caribbean science community, which has been sounding the alarm about climate change’s impact on the most vulnerable,” Taylor told The Gleaner.
“In a real way then my inclusion suggests that the regional voice is being heard globally and our plight being recognised,” he added.
Taylor, a physicist and dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at The University of the West Indies (UWI), has a track record of contribution to the climate cause in the Caribbean and globally.
He has headed the Climate Studies Group Mona and been the head of the Physics Department at The UWI. Taylor was also a lead authors for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
That report has painted a dismal picture of a planet facing a human-induced climate crisis and which is in desperate need of scaled up and sustained actions – from adaptation to mitigation – to keep the planet safe with a cap on temperature increases at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The 1.5 target is one that has long been championed by Caribbean and other SIDS, who are especially vulnerable to climate risks and threats, including extreme weather events.
Meanwhile, Taylor said the book is as timely as it is necessary as “time for meaningful change to prevent the most catastrophic future is running out”.
“The book calls upon global expertise to make the case for urgent action, doing so in a simple, easily readable manner without compromising the seriousness of the topic or the necessary scientific detail,” the scientist said.
“Ironically, the book symbolises the kind of global collaborative effort that is needed to confront the issue and engender change. Importantly, the book also provides hope by suggesting that listening to the science now, that is, at the crucial decision point at which the word finds itself presently, can lead to a liveable future,” Taylor added.
He noted that “almost every aspect of the climate crisis is covered in the book”.
“The essays, stories and other contributions cover topics including but not limited to climate impacts; how climate change is playing out in different sectors and parts of the world; actions needed; pathways to a liveable future; new technologies; emissions; justice and equity issues; climate education; and voices from the most vulnerable.”
An excerpt from the book reads: ‘With few exceptions, small islands have contributed least to climate change. But they bear the brunt of its consequences. This [sea level rise] is not just a question of disappearing islands in the future, it is about threatened livelihoods, delayed development and a generational inheritance being denied today’.