USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement does not relieve other countries of responsibility to reduce emissions. Nor does it remove their (and everyone else’s) pressing need to adapt to the impacts of climate change. To sit and mope about Trump’s decision virtually ensures this present population is locking into place a most uncomfortable future for those not yet born.
While we expect big countries to eventually step up and do their part, small state climate adaptive action - also critical, need not always be grand (expensive) affairs. It could simply take the form of revisiting infrastructure that’s already here and making it better. That is more functional, less prone to leaving a negative carbon footprint and less expensive to maintain.
The typical Tobago school yard for example is a perfect candidate for retro-adapting. The modern school uses a lot of concrete. The walls, floors and assembly/play areas are now paved - which was once both the efficient and sanitary thing to do. However concrete retains and regenerates heat making today’s school very dependent on air conditioning, which is a huge recurring cost item and a point of failure.
School yards and assembly areas, once a practical fall-back should classroom rooms need to be emptied, are now literall unusable during the school day because of the heat. School children are out in the open at least four times during the day, so out of class exposure is a factor that has to be managed.
Figure 1: National Archive image of a 1910 school assembly