After the shocking devastation left by typhoon Sendong, in terms of humans lives and properties, one has to wonder, what is happening to the weather. Imagine, a strong typhoon with that amount of rainfall, in mid-December, in Mindanao? The main reason for the high casualty was the surprise causing the unpreparedness as much as the surprisingly high volume of rainfall. I believe it was the first time the Mindanaoans experienced such freakish weather event. Everyone was caught flat-footed, so to speak. The fact is, Mother Nature, for a long time now and recently,had been displaying its whimsical nature, with destructive results. Of course, Mother Nature had always been whimsical but it's like all of a sudden, she decided to get a little naughtier. Or was it US who caused her to act like that. Was it our love for things mechanical and electrical? Our love affair with SUV's? Our penchant for beef, pork and chicken, coming from animals whose collective fart can single-handedly melt the ice in North Pole? Just a few weeks ago, Bangkok was inundated for a long period. October this year, New Jersey was covered in snow. And who could forget Ondoy? Katrina?
I strongly believe that climate change is a reality. A reality that we have to face, try to mitigate, and prepare for. The polar ice caps are melting away, experts predict a 2-degree Centigrade rise in temperature in the near future, 9 degrees by mid-century, hotter and more frequent heat waves are expected and the list of Nostradamus-esque events goes on.
Which begs the question: What do we do?
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