More on climate change

I have written four articles in this column on the subject of climate change, hence the above title. During the past few weeks national newspapers and television stations have devoted much space and time discussing the subject. What caused this is probably the wide publicity of the observations of scientists in the polar areas of the world showing that indeed ice is breaking up and melting at a rate faster than that observed before. There have also been reports on the melting of the permafrost and the release into the atmosphere of methane gas trapped in the frozen environment.

This will have the effect of dissolving the ozone layer and increasing the earth's temperature. Taking all these reports, journalists have begun to conjure up scenarios of extinction of polar bears and other animals living on the ice. Some people interviewed by television hosts may have overstated the destructive effects of climate change. This is understandable when a people are carried away by passion. In fact we are already seeing some effects of climate change such as very high tides that erode our coastal areas especially on some small islands.

But it is remarkable that this year it seems that more and more people are now aware of climate change, a phenomenon that experts on the world's climate now admit is unstoppable.

The increase in awareness of climate change may also be traced to former USA Vice President Gore's effort to inform the public of this global phenomenon. He has produced a convincing VCD entitled, "Inconvenient Truth," on why the world's climate is changing. This VCD is well worth viewing.

Quite a change in attitude! Not too long ago (two years), I watched an American climate expert speak on television vehemently denying with a straight face that there is such a thing as climate change brought about by temperature increase, which in turn is due to increase of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. The USA, China and India are the big three that have not ratified the Kyoto agreement to scale down carbon dioxide emissions. And the reason is the fear that their economic growth will be curtailed.

The USA argues that the same effect would be achieved by promoting technologies that do not pollute the air, such as harnessing solar energy, wave energy and other non-conventional sources of energy.

If indeed it is true that climate change is unstoppable, what can our country do? And what can you and I do? Shall we just sit, pray, and wait for the inevitable? One thing is sure. A small country like the Philippines cannot make much of a difference in this issue. We use a miniscule amount of fossil fuel (the source of most carbon dioxide emissions) compared to industrialized nations that it will not matter much whether we reduce our fossil fuel consumption or not.

But the issue is also a moral one. We have to live with our conscience. And we are part of the community of nations. So let's think of ways by which we can help delay the inevitable---the flooding of the earth and the seawater intrusion into our land.*

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