Climate change affects us all...says Ministry official
By Melissa Bryant
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN keeping with the acknowledgement of yesterday (Oct. 16) as World Food Day, Paul Benjamin, an agronomist in the Ministry of Agriculture, has warned residents of St. Kitts and Nevis to take steps to combat the effects of climate change.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, climate change is “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”.
Benjamin explained that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases occur naturally, heating the atmosphere and making the earth habitable. However, human activities including the burning of fossil fuels and intensive agriculture have caused the greenhouse gas concentrations to rise above the natural levels, heating the earth even more.
He also pointed out that as the concentration of these gases grows, global temperatures rise, causing weather conditions to change. The earth’s average temperature has risen over the past two centuries and will continue to rise if the greenhouse effect persists unabatedly.
He added that scientists, the world over, agree that the major way to combat its effects is to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, as atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are at an all-time high. This can be done by decreasing the use of motor vehicles.
“People can walk to most places; St. Kitts is small and there is no need to drive everywhere. Also, people can use public transportation more and cut back on how often they themselves drive. I see families with more than one car; there is no need for that. One family should have one car,” Benjamin said. ~~Adz:Right~~
The agronomist noted that persons could also practice energy conservation, such as switching off lights and electrical appliances when they are not in use, turning off the faucet when brushing teeth and not wasting water when they are showering.
“The more electricity you use the more petrol you burn and therefore the more carbon that is spread into the atmosphere,” Benjamin explained.
He warned the residents of the Federation to avoid complacency, stating that “no one is immune to climate change” and “it affects the entire world”.
“We live on earth and if it is changing in a way that will negatively impact us, then we must take steps to fix it. Climate change will affect our food production and therefore our ability to feed ourselves, and that’s why this year’s theme [“World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio energy”] is so important, because people need to be aware of these issues.”
He noted that even in St. Kitts the effects of this global phenomenon could already be seen, as the drought season lasts for a longer period of time and rain occurs at a much heavier intensity.
