A love song to our planet

The scorching afternoon sun is still out as I write this. There’s no sign of Rolly just yet, but I’m racing against time to finish this piece because, as what usually happens when there is a strong typhoon, electricity and internet signals disappear, too.

By the time this column comes out, either Typhoon Rolly has already ripped through the country, or by some miracle has vanished with the wind, blown away to distant shores.

But as weather warnings go, typhoons often come as forecasters say. It’s scary and one can’t help but be even more anxious.

It’s as if we need another disaster this year.

The eyes of the typhoon

The good news is that with technology, social media, and all these mobile messaging apps, Filipinos are now more updated and more aware of forthcoming typhoons such as Rolly.

We’ve been able to share warnings of our weather forecasters to friends and family.

As of Saturday afternoon, the center of the eye of the typhoon is forecast to pass very close to Catanduanes, the Calaguas Islands, and very close to mainland Camarines provinces, according to PAG-ASA.

However, due to the proximity of the forecast track to the Bicol Region, a landfall scenario over Catanduanes and Camarines provinces is not ruled out.

There will be violent winds and intense rainfall.  Rolly is forecast to have speeds of 185 to 205 kilometers per hour – that’s strong and likely to come with howling winds.

Haiyan

While the Philippines is no stranger to typhoons, we have in recent years noticed the changing face of these weather disturbances. They have become more frequent and more intense because of climate change.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, for instance, has taught all of us hard lessons on what these extraordinary calamities can do to us – our homes, our lives, our provinces and cities.

Climate change

The most important lesson from these typhoons that we should all take to heart these days is climate change.

Climate change, as the United Nations aptly said, is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment.

It has affected the way we live, has threatened food production and has put countries like ours at risk of catastrophic flooding.

Indeed, the impact of climate change on our environment and our individual lives is far reaching and unprecedented in scale.

This means that we should take this phenomenon seriously and exert drastic actions to help reduce  greenhouse gas emissions, as individuals and as organizations.

While climate change used to sound like a motherhood issue you would hear only in beauty pageants, it is time we take this problem more seriously.

There is, after all, strong scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change and that this is contributing to stronger typhoons.

After more than a century and a half of large scale developments such as industrialization, deforestation, and agriculture, quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen to record levels not seen in three million years, the UN said.

As populations, economies, and standards of living grow, so does the cumulative level of greenhouse gas emissions and it is alarming.

We all have a role to play and I welcome the decisions of many of our local conglomerates to change the way they do business by adapting more sustainable manufacturing procedures that lessen gas emissions.

All other businesses, big or small, should look into similar initiatives toward this goal.

Other proposals

Oxfam, in a recent report, said the world’s wealthiest one percent were responsible for the emissions of more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorer half of the world from 1990 to 2015.

It proposed to tax high carbon luxuries such as a frequent flyer levy to help fund low carbon alternatives.

The UN has warned that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities.

“Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air,” the UN said.

Survival

We should all do our part in helping save our planet and be genuinely concerned about climate change. It is a major threat to humanity’s survival and it shouldn’t be dismissed as an issue only in first world countries.

Our very own cities, provinces, shorelines, slum areas are the first to be affected when climate change-related natural disasters hit.

David Attenborough’s latest documentary, A Life on Our Planet, is a good starting point to know more about the pressing issue of climate change. It is a reflective piece described by many as a love song to our planet.

As we ponder on our own love songs to our planet, let us keep in mind that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com