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Global Warming is A Global Warning
INTRODUCTION
Imagine this: a world wherein vast barren land stretches far and wide to all ends of the Earth. A struggle for survival takes place among humans and other creatures in order to obtain the very limited resources that we have. A world wherein fear reigns in everyone’s heart thinking, “When would this catastrophe end?”. This scenario may be the future that is waiting ahead of us if we don’t change our actions now. There are a lot of people who are starting to see the seriousness of the problems; people who are now alarmed by threats posed by the environment. Due to this, people have started to act in order to reverse the damage that we have started in our own countries, communities and homes. Even Pope Francis addressed the issue on climate change and perfectly captured this in his encyclical entitled Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home. Deemed as a worldwide wake up call -- this encyclical aims to help humanity understand the destruction that man is rendering to the environment and his fellow man. While addressing the environment directly, the document’s scope is broader in many ways as it looks at not only man’s effect on the environment, but also the many philosophical, theological, and cultural causes that threaten the relationships of man to nature and man to each other in various circumstances.
Climate change, also called global warming, refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth. An overwhelming scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. The gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a range of effects on ecosystems, including rising sea levels, severe weather events, and droughts that render landscapes more susceptible to wildfires. Due to this, it affects the whole world, especially the developing 3rd world countries which includes the Philippines, who will bear the brunt of climate change. We can no longer ignore impacts of climate change on the country's poorest people.
The country’s vulnerability to climate change is made worse by poverty, its lack of knowledge and means to protect itself, and its inability to cope and manage its surroundings. Climate change is very evident in the Philippines. That level of vulnerability has serious implications: damage to the economy, food insecurity, loss of livelihood, and deaths. For the Philippines, this entails drastic changes in warming, temperature and rainfall levels. In other words, droughts will be more intense and frequent, certainly not excluding the typhoons and flooding. From intense droughts to merciless typhoons, climate change continues to take and continues to destroy.
EL NINO
Last April 2016, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Sunday reported that it recorded the highest temperature in Metro Manila for 2016 at 37.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday. This drastic increase in temperature poses quite a challenges to numerous industries in our country, especially the Agriculture Industry, the backbone of our country.
For the Philippines, El Niño has meant a prolonged period of unusually dry weather. As of January 31, almost a quarter of the country was experiencing drought, and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration predicts that figure to rise to 85% of the country by April 2016. El Niño has been especially destructive on the southern island of Mindanao, which is the Philippines’ breadbasket, supplying more than 40 percent of the nation’s food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. A lack of rainfall can cause entire crops to fail, even for farmers who irrigate their fields. With this, low crop production leads to losses in other industries that rely on agricultural products in order to stay in business. The drought has led to increased prices for wheat products and even grocery produce. The Department of Agriculture estimates that 181,687 farmers have been affected by the drought. Of this, 54 per cent are rice farmers, 38 per cent are corn farmers, and 8 per cent are high value crop (HVC) farmers. In terms of land area, 224 834 hectares were affected. Pest infestation is affecting 1,704 farmers in Region III, with armyworm damaging 1,060 hectares of HVCs while and rat infestation is affecting Region XII (South Cotabato, Sarangani, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat) and Region XV (Maguindanao).
Aside from crops, fisheries have been negatively affected as well by the extreme heat and prolonged drought. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), reports a 20 per cent decline in fish catch due to warmer waters, citing that at least 100,000 fisherfolk would need to look for alternative sources of income. Another effect of the drought season is the threat of forest fires. Forests on Mt. Apo, Mt. Kanlaon and Bud Bongao have been decimated due to burning caused by both direct and indirect effects of El Niño. Fires on Mt. Kanlaon were reportedly ignited due to heat discharged from superheated rocks. Grass fires were also reported in General Santos and Cotabato City. It is also forecast that the La Niña phenomenon will follow once the El Niño season has ended. La Niña is predicted to bring stronger monsoon and excessive rainfall resulting in flooding. This will obviously help with the drought situation but flooding will cause damage to crops and hinder replanting, hence exacerbating the current situation.
LA NINA
After enduring long and dry conditions brought by the Natural Phenomenon, known as El Nino, comes an intense wet weather in the Philippines brought by another Natural Phenomenon, known as La Nina. Last May 2016, the state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) released a statement saying that it has activated its La Nina watch due to the slow weakening of El Nino, returning the country back to its ENSO-neutral condition.
La Nina, Spanish for ‘Little Girl’, is a weather condition characterized by the unusual cool ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. It is when these temperatures reach below -0.5 C, causing areas to experience above average rainfall.
According to Anthony Lucero, officer-in-charge of PAGASA’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section, most parts of the country have a below-average level of rainfall except for the provinces of Compostela Valley, Agusan del Sur, North Cotabato, Pangasinan, Cavite, Rizal and Metro Manila, where above-normal level of rainfall were observed. It is evident how inconsistent the climate is and how dangerous it would be for the people to cope with these changes, especially those who have limited sources of information, resulting to them being unprepared and prone to risks.
The Philippines has been a target for numerous La Nina cases. Aside from the general effects this phenomenon has on the country such as increased rainfall, catastrophic floods, drier-than-normal conditions, inconsistent climate patterns and weather cycles, etc... it has a much more disastrous effect on developing countries where water drainage systems are unable to cope with the amount of water being released, which cost the lives of the Filipinos due to flooding, landslides, and other catastrophes.
However, La Nina also has its benefits, especially for drought-hit areas. Because the Philippines is an agricultural country and the Filipino nation chiefly rely on the water-reliant cereals for staple, such a situation is advantageous to the country’s food situation. It would be much easier to raise crops in areas that cannot be reached by irrigation.
It can be said that there is somehow a balance between the advantages and disadvantages brought by La Nina. Either-or, it is important is for the public to always be cautious and alert to whatever may happen because Natural Phenomena can never truly be predicted; therefore, one must always take precautionary measures by planning ahead and by thinking of ways on how to avoid risks that may still happen.
CONCLUSION
“The implications of the worsening climate to the lives of Filipinos and to the Philippine economy is undeniable." During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25, President Rodrigo Duterte confirms that addressing climate change is a top priority for the Philippines. Although President Duterte first said that he would not honor the Paris Climate agreement, he reiterated in his SONA that “Addressing climate change shall be a tops priority but upon a fair and equitable equation. It should not stymie our industrialization.” As he stated, he shall have the military directed to intensify its support on the role against illegal logging and illegal mining. Evidently, President Duterte has seen that the worsening climate has negative implication on the lives of the Filipino people. Compared to other countries, the Philippines only contributes to 1% of the global total of greenhouse gas emissions, but even so, the Philippines is also determined in giving the Earth a chance.
It can be surely stated that students from St. Theresa’s College, Quezon City, has educated students in valuing the environment. As seen in Graph 1. Changes in the Climate are Impacting Me, the Environmental Education Elective students have mostly agreed that climate change has become a big factor in their lives, which is a key point because this serves as an awareness to the students of the growing change in the climate.
In important ideas such as climate change, it is also but fitting to not only think of yourself, but also to think about the people around you. So according to a survey, inputted in Graph 2. Changes in the Climate are Impacting my Community, conducted among the Environmental Education Elective Students, the larger portion of the group strongly agreed that the change in climate has an impact on their community. This is said to be health-wise and wealth-wise because a lot of sicknesses and diseases rise and a lot of people, especially the farmers, lose income. Just as the in the previous table, this has shown that the students from the Environmental Education Elective Class are highly aware of the impacts of climate change, not only on them, but also on their communities.
Theresians have not only been made aware of the different impacts that climate change has on the environment, but the school also highlights on the different and concrete actions that Theresians can do in order to lessen CO2 emissions and stop climate change. The students in St. Theresa’s College, Quezon City was taught to always be simply so that others may simply live. By these words, Theresians are able to lessen their consumption on many items that contribute to climate change. In addition, Theresians are encouraged to speak their mind about the changes seen in the environment, especially in global warming. As seen in Graph 3. My Actions have Significant Effects, Theresians believe that even the smallest of their actions help in contributing to the awareness and lessening of climate change.
Although most of the student in St. Theresa’s College, Quezon City are aware of the growing need to take action in preventing anymore climate change, it is seen in Graph 4. My Community Cares for the Environment, that the people in their respective communities show little responsibility for the welfare of the environment. Because of this, we can infer that maybe the reason why there are many garbage and destroyed structures all around the Philippines is because people either do not know or do not care for the environment. Even as our country is experiencing different weather phenomenas, the communities do not seem to see the drastic effects that are happening. We experienced El Nino and may even experience La Nina.
We think that one of the most important factors needed in caring for the environment is by first being aware of what is happening around us. Not only as a part of the Theresian community, but also a part of the youth, we think that it is important to take action, even the smallest ones, in order to start the change because who will inspire the youth to change if we do not initiate the change ourselves. The cry of our Earth must be heard by all. So, the challenge is to make everyone see that there truly is climate change and we must do something about it. We must be aware. We must take action.
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