The Philippine Online Chronicles

The climate of the world, especially in the Philippines is changing.

We only need to look at the devastating effects brought about by Typhoon Ondoy and Typhoon Pedring to see that the weather patterns in the country aren’t what they used to be. In recent years, the country has experienced massive flooding, longer rainy seasons and unbelievably hot summer seasons. Last summer, PAGASA recorded Metro Manila hitting temperatures of 36.5 °C. That’s hot enough to fry an egg on the hood of a car! On the other hand, temperatures reached a sizzling 39.2 °C in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija in early May of this year, making it the hottest day and place in the country.

As a tropical country, we expect to have hot summers and a wet rainy season. However, thanks to global warming, it seems that each year, the country is getting hotter and our rainy season doesn’t seem to follow any rhyme or reason anymore. For one thing, we’re still getting tropical depressions so close to the Christmas season, when it should only be cooler this time of year instead of experiencing rain and floods.

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth isn’t just a book or an Oscar winning movie anymore. It’s the reality of our lives today.

In response to the growing crisis of our environment, the Aquino administration has issued Proclamation No. 1776 dated November 18, 2008. This declared the week of November 19 to 25 as the “Global Warming and Climate Change Consciousness Week.”

This is probably the first administration of the country to fully give attention to global warming. Many are probably thinking what’s the need to pay attention to just another issue, when we already have so many problems on our plate? While the country does have many serious economic and political issues, the pressing problem of climate change does deserve equal attention since it affects all people of the country, regardless of age, social background and what province or city you live in.

There’s a growing trend in the world to pay attention to the climate of the world. This is because global warming and its affects on world’s weather can no longer be ignored. It is only fitting that we start educating our countrymen about climate change.

Global warming has serious economic, political, social and environmental consequences. The devastation brought about by massive flooding, unexpected rains and changing weather patterns causes traffic, damage to infrastructure and agriculture reaching millions of pesos and disrupts the way of life of many people. It affects the livelihood of people, which in turn affects the quality of life of others. Rather than spending our resources to build new airports, dams and other structures, government coffers are strained to rebuild damaged roads, import crops and provide relief goods to those affected by adverse weather conditions.

It is only fitting that we do something about this problem now. According to Sec. Cecile Sering of the Climate Change Commission, the country has been ranked at number six in the world to be most vulnerable to climate change. This is because of the high level of exposure of the country as well as the low capacity to adapt to the changes.

The location of our country naturally makes it vulnerable to tropical depressions. At the same time, the growing population is placing a massive strain on our environmental resources. Also, the lack of awareness of the people about their carbon footprint on the country is causing further stress to our environment. Just take a look around at all the smoke belchers, the people who choose to drive their cars instead of walk, the indiscriminate throwing of garbage anywhere plus the rampant use of plastics and other non-biodegradable items. Our forests aren’t being replaced fast enough. The mindset of our culture is as long as their own bakod is malinis, then there’s no problem.

The low capacity to adapt to changes means that the country is right now ill equipped to cope with the massive environmental changes we are facing. For one thing, many still refuse to see the gravity of climate change. Ignorance is prevalent as recycling and energy saving aren’t given much focus on. Also, we don’t have ample resources to deal with the environmental changes. PAGASA is still ill-equipped to properly predict weather patterns to help the country prepare for any upcoming storms.

The projection is that by the year 2020, the country will have drier summer months and it will be wetter during the rainy season.

This may not sound like a big deal, but imagine a Philippines that is uncomfortably hot in the summer, and is constantly inundated by floods come June. Our temperatures will be so extreme. This will affect the planting season, the livestock and marine life of the country, not to mention increase energy costs and at the same time affect energy sources. People’s health will be affected, with heat strokes, death from over exposure and dehydration not being uncommon. During the rainy season, dengue and leptospirosis cases will rise, as well as a number of other tropical diseases.

The Luzon and Visayas regions get the brunt of the storms and tropical depressions, causing massive flooding, wiping out of agricultural supplies, destroying a lot of infrastructure, rendering millions homeless, hungry or dead.

Mindanao will also be greatly affected by climate change. For one thing, Mindanao relies heavily on hydroelectric energy sources. If the country’s dams start to dry up, there won’t be enough energy to go around. The mining sector will also be affected, causing Mindanao to lose on much needed income generated by the mining and energy sectors.

This is why it is important that Filipinos support the Climate Change Commission’s thrust to push for awareness. It’s a step in the right direction and is finally in keeping with the country’s commitment to turn the tide of global warming, which we have been talking about since 1992.

It’s a way of being proactive instead of being reactive, which is how Sec. Sering describes the attitude of the Filipinos when it comes to climate change. This means that we generally don’t care or do anything unless it directly affects us already, such as when a storm hits and there’s a flood outside our door.

Being aware of what climate change is and what can be done about it is the first step in changing how we live so we can adapt to our changing world.

Continued in Part 2 - Opportunities in Climate Change

Photo: “Climate change” by jean schweitzer, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved