Cayman Institute To Draft Energy Policy For The Cayman Islands The Cayman Institute has been tasked with creating a draft Energy Policy for the Cayman Islands Government. Oxford University’s Climate Systems and Policy cluster examines the physical and human dimensions and consequences of climate change and variability. It has particular strengths in the analysis of global climate data sets; climate modelling and forecasting; climate impacts on ecosystems; and the critical assessment of climate policy and governance. The Cayman Institute will also be producing a report in the impacts of rising sea levels for the islands. These projects have been in the planning stages for a number of months and have finally come to fruition with funding provided by the UK Government‘s Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The Climate for Change: OP-ED by Al Gore
November 9, 2008 THE inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for The electrifying redemption of America’s revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet. The world authority on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after 20 years of detailed study and four unanimous reports, now says that the evidence is “unequivocal.” To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late. More >>>
The Cayman Institute establishes working relationship with Many Strong Voices The Cayman Institute has established a working relationship with, and will be discussing collaboration with the Many Strong Voices (MSV) initiative http://www.manystrongvoices.org/, following discussions between the Chairman of the Cayman Institute and Mr John Crump of Many Strong Voices. Nick Robson will be attending the MSV conference in January (?) 2009 Cayman Institute establishes working relationship with Many Strong Voices More >>>
Presentation by Dr Rolph Payet, Presented at the UN General Assembly at the invitation of the Secretary General, Mr Ban ki Moon. High Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals
George Town, Cayman Islands 7 August 2007
Judy Van Liere and supervisor at the construction site of a home designed to use 100 percent renewable energy. While many people were shocked to find their electric bill had doubled and tripled from the previous month, one family quietly broke ground on the construction of its new home, designed to use 100 per cent renewable energy and stay off CUC’s bill. And if all goes well, the homeowners intend to sell excess power it generates back to CUC, taking advantage of recent agreement by CUC and government. Using energy sources including wind, solar, hydrogen and geothermal, this ‘totally green’ home could become the gold standard for new construction in Cayman as economists predict the price of oil could reach $200 per barrel by year’s end, driving energy costs even higher. After a year of struggling to get Planning approval for their green home, Jim Knapp and his wife Judy Van Liere broke ground earlier this month on their new home in Grand Harbour. It is estimated that it will take 10 months to complete construction. At the time Knapp and Van Liere started planning their new three bedroom two-and-a-half bath home a year ago, their average utility bill was seven times higher than the US.
Changing Jet Streams May Alter Paths of Storms and Hurricanes Stanford, CA— Thursday, April 17, 2008 - The Earth’s jet streams, the high- Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming Water Supplies In West Affected, The study, published online yesterday by the journal Science, looked at possible causes of the changes -- including natural variability in temperatures and precipitation, volcanic activity around the globe and climate change driven by the release of greenhouse gases. The researchers' computer models showed that climate change is clearly the explanation that best fits the data. Antarctic ice sheet shrinking at faster rate One of the biggest worries about global warming has been its potential to affect the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet, a vast storehouse of frozen water that would inundate the world's coastal regions if it were to melt because of a warming The huge implications posed by the health of the ice sheet have prompted major scientific interest into whether it is growing, shrinking, or stable, with no clear consensus among researchers about its overall trend.
Willis Report Tackles Global Warming Impact on Risk Management "Climate change is one of the foremost concerns of our time," states a bulletin from Willis. "In a relatively short time, the focus has shifted from debate over the reality of global warming to a general consensus that it not only exists, but needs to be urgently addressed." While the reinsurance industry has been in the forefront of climate change research for many years, global broker and risk management consultants like Willis have also become concerned about the threats posed by changing climate conditions. A series of reports and decisions has given the issue an even larger profile. Willis notes that "recent U.S. federal court rulings on global warming have strengthened the growing demand from scientists and business leaders for action from the federal government. Further, the latest UN report on climate change emphasizes that global warming is "unequivocal", that humans are the main cause, and concludes that the greatest financial responsibility lies with the U.S. and other countries which are most responsible for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions" [See http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2007/04/06/78556.htm 
The Institute will be working in collaboration with Dr. Murray Simpson of Oxford University‘s School of Geography and the Environment.
another fateful choice that he — and we — must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.
Chairman of the Sea Level Rise Foundation 
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Cayman Institute Makes Presentation to Cabinet
Press Release
The Cayman Institute today made a presentation to the Cabinet of the Cayman Islands Government on energy security.
The Cayman Institute is an apolitical, privately funded, non profit organization established to consider the long term effects and implications of diverse technological, sociological, economical and cultural issues to the Cayman Islands.
A modern, carefully crafted energy policy, creating the legislative and policy frameworks is imperative for all states today. For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) without the resources of a developed nation an energy security is even more important.
“The use of alternative forms of energy, solar, wind, ocean thermal conversion, hydrogen and geothermal are vitally necessary to mitigate the threat global warming as well as that of a diminishing and ever more costly petroleum based fuels“, said Nick Robson Chairman and founder of the institute.
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altitude bands of fast winds that strongly influence the paths of storms and other weather systems, are shifting—possibly in response to global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit the predictions of global warming models and have implications for the frequency and intensity of future storms, including hurricanes. More >>>
“Turtles are a really good way to study climate change because they depend on healthy beaches as well as mangroves, sea grass beds, coral reefs and deep ocean ecosystems to live”, said Dr. Lucy Hawkes, coordinator of an initiative to develop adaptation strategies for climate change impacts to turtles.
February 1, 2008;
The persistent and dramatic decline in the snowpack of many mountains in the West is caused primarily by human-induced global warming and is not the result of natural variability in weather patterns, researchers reported yesterday.
Using data collected over the past 50 years, the scientists confirmed that the mountains are getting more rain and less snow, that the snowpack is breaking up faster and that more rivers are running dry by summer.
January 13, 2008 at 1:00 PM EST
climate. The southern continent contains enough ice to raise ocean levels by about 60 metres, a deluge that would put every major coastal city in the world deep under water and uproot hundreds of millions of people.
But a new study released today, based on some of the most extensive measurements to date of the continent's ice mass, presents a worrisome development: Antarctica's ice sheet is shrinking, at a rate that increased dramatically from 1996 to 2006.
December 27, 2007