Global Warming, a Big Deal

6 meters, that’s the estimated rise in the sea level by the year 2100. So here in the Philippines, when that happens many places here will become more like that of a Malabon City, wherein people will have to row their way to other places or simply have to adapt to the permanent flood that they’re in to.

This is just one of cost of the HOTTEST environmental issue of the century, surpassing the Ozone depletion issues, it is the Global Warming, as explained in the film “Signos: Banta ng Nagbabagong Klima”.

Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate. And that the Earth’s average temperature has risen by 0.4 and 0.8 °C over the past 100 years. But with Global Warming, it is predicted that the average temperature could still increase by 1.4 and 5.8 °C by the year 2100. The magnitude of the increase can be very deceiving, because even though it’s small and looks so trivial, the consequences of this increase are tremendous.

Apparently, here in the Philippines, the effects are already in. Some say (honestly I used to be one of them) that the awkward changes in the weather lately are just mere coincidences and the Milenyo and Reming typhoons are no different from the other typhoons that hit us in the past. For once I used to believe that all of these are tolerable and that these things are just part of living, but after viewing the film “Signos”, I was just alarmed (really). I just can’t imagine the possibility that typhoons like Milenyo and Reming would be the future “ordinary” typhoons that will hit our country. Furthermore, the predicted rise in the sea level and the average temperature of Earth only means more outbreaks of diseases like malaria and dengue.

I just realized that having a 5-6 meter rise in the sea level is a big deal, having frequent super typhoons is a big deal too, more life-threatening diseases, coral bleaching and many others, definitely, a big deal.

Therefore, it appears that Global Warming REALLY IS A BIG DEAL. However, even though some of the effects are already here, we can still prevent more havoc to be caused by Global Warming in the future. And we can start it with recycling. (That's Right!) This old and very much used or proposed solution by each individual in every paper about saving the environment (hehe) can be the most effective, that is, if we know how to be committed to such action.

At first, I personally don’t believe that such small things like recycling my old stuffs can help save the world, but after I’ve done some brain storming in my brain, I’ve just realized that Global Warming itself, started off with small things, like people burning garbage in the streets, using refrigerators with CFCs, wasting electricity and many other. All these small things that were naturalized to human’s daily lives resulted to what is now big and very much world-wide, the Global Warming.

Certainly, Global Warming is really here and the only thing that we can do is to prevent other worse effects of global warming from happening, such as the further increase in the sea level. The mere FACT that we humans are the ones who brought this to Earth, we humans should also be the ones to take it ALL away, or maybe not all, but most of it.

06-27232

Benjamin S. Suarez