Green giant

By Heather-Lynn Evanson | Wed, October 10, 2012 - 12:11 AM

Barbados has the opportunity to become a model for the world on climate change. But the United States has been blasted for dragging its feet on creating technology that could help in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

The views were expressed by executive secretary of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres.

Speaking on the topic Is Anything Being Done On Climate Change? at the Frank Collymore Hall on Monday night, Figueres said that developed and developing countries had agreed to try to limit the rise in future temperatures to two degrees by cutting emissions, but the possibility existed that worldwide temperatures could increase by up to three degrees.

“We are beyond the time when any country can choose between adaptation and mitigation,” she declared.

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Posted by Bim Bum 7 months, 1 week ago: We've already done two admirable things...
* Barbados The Non-Smoking Island (Thank you Dr. Gale!)
* Solar Water Heaters, where we are global leaders*

What's next, I wonder? Solar cars for commuters?

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Posted by J. Payne 7 months, 1 week ago: Non-Smoking is only one part. Burning of trash is another undesireable effect on the environment. And smog from vehicles is another. Will the government look towards and legislation on how clean fuel coming into Barbados should be (de/un-leaded) and will the government look at planting as many new trees as possible which are known to trap large amounts of carbon to Bring Barbados as close to carbon neutral as possible?

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Posted by Carl Harper 7 months, 1 week ago: There is a cost to going green - higher prices and in some cases, jobs - but i believe the long-term benefits to the environment and public health by far outweigh the associated costs.

Those initial costs should decrease as technology and other production inputs improve, demand increases, and more competitors enter the market.

A case in point is the high prices of hybrid vehicles and renewable energy systems. This could be as a result of few competitors, the introductory phase of the products' life cycle where companies spending huge sums on marketing, and the need to recover research & development costs as quickly as possible to at least break-even, before the market becomes saturated with competitors.