Jamaican Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holmes has announced the installation of solar panels on the Office of the Prime Minister at Jamaica House. This is part of Jamaica's promise to generate 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Holmes says "This project is symbolic of the renewable future we see for Jamaica and the Caribbean. Islands like Jamaica are becoming leaders for demonstrating the deployment of solar technology, and I aim to lead by example, by installing solar PV on the Office of the Prime Minister, Jamaica House."
The installation costs Jamaica nothing. Funding is sourced through the not-for-profit Solar Heads of State organisation.
It would be good to see Dr Rowley do the same. Small Island Developing States are vulnerable to climate change. For the PM to install solar panels on his residence or office is an important symbol and T&T is in need of positive symbols. Symbols are reminders of who we are and who we want to be. The Prime Minister can reduce his personal carbon footprint and save taxpayers money. Sunlight is free.
Flipping the switch on solar-powered prime ministerial light bulbs will be a daily reminder that renewable energy is the future. T&T has a big task ahead if the PM intends to keep his promise of 10 per cent renewable energy by 2021.
Solar heads of state aim to offer every country a solar system for their executive residence. This will allow each country's leader to experience renewable energy first-hand.
Hopefully this will result in renewable energy leadership that will inspire other leaders to follow suit by installing solar energy on their own executive residences and by adopting favourable renewable energy policies.
Jamaica follows in the footsteps of St Lucia, which agreed to have its Government House outfitted with solar panels last month. St Lucia has an ambitious plan to generate 35 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. The island is only responsible for 0.0015 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but like other Caribbean islands its future is threatened by climate change and related sea level rise. By embracing renewable energy it can take a strong moral stance and show examples for other nations, like T&T, the world's second highest per capita emitter, to follow.
The Caribbean needs strong climate action. Global warming is already at 1.2C above baseline, perilously close to the "1.5C to stay alive" that scientists tell us we should not breach.
Scary things are already happening to the climate. The North Pole receives no sunlight at this time of year. This should be its coldest season but temperatures there were a balmy 1.2C last week. Together with seawater too warm to freeze, the result is that the Arctic is missing a chunk of ice the size of Texas and Alaska combined. To put this in island terms, that is more than 1,100 times the size of T&T. At the same time, parts of Siberia experienced temperatures of -40C, too cold for life, forcing people to stay indoors.
The Governor of the State of Florida, who has no solar panels on his residence, is a climate change denier. This does not stop Miami Beach from flooding, caused by rising sea levels. A bizarre sighting was an octopus that took up residence in a flooded garage.
University of Miami associate biology professor Kathleen Sullivan Sealy says that Miami Beach residents should get used to seeing marine creatures making appearances as rising sea levels push ocean waters deeper onto land.
It can get a lot worse, much faster. Conservative predictions mention sea level rise up to three feet by the end of the century. The thing with climate science is that there are so many unknowns. Scientists are only now starting to study an enormous glacier, named Thwaites, in West Antarctica.
Thwaites is huge, the size of Pennsylvania. When it melts, it will raise sea levels by two feet. Thwaites acts as a lynchpin to keep the remainder of the West Antarctic ice sheet in place. This ice sheet is more than 2,400 meters thick. If Thwaites melts the entire West Antarctic ice sheet could slide in to the ocean and raise sea levels by up to 10 feet.
Until we learn more about Thwaites, which has already retreated more than eight miles, we cannot know what people will have to face within their lifetimes.
T&T prides itself on being the energy leader of the Caribbean. We now need our Prime Minister to be a climate leader and a leader of the new energy revolution.
Dear Dr Rowley, please place solar panels on your roof and lead from in front.