Global Warming: A Global Warning

Global Warming and Climate Change: A Global Warning

“God helps those who help themselves.”
This popular adage might sound cliché for many of us. During these trying times, many of us call on God to help us in situations we face, while there are some who call on God yet blame Him for what is happening in their lives. I commenced my paper with this saying because it really strikes me that many people who suffers from disasters and calamities are putting the blame on God, or if not, relying or waiting only in God to save them from their condition.
But before we go deep in a spiritual analysis, or even debate, preaching and all that, let me recall the issue that we are confronting during these times. Global Warming and Climate Change may not be new for many of us, especially for those who have really been struck by the disasters brought about by this current condition. As it was presented in Signos, there are many adverse effects of the Climate Change; many of which has already caused devastation to a lot of properties, resources and lives of people.
The Philippines is situated in the Pacific, a tropical and archipelagic country. We have vast resources, and we even regard our climate as very good for our being mainly an agricultural country. Our farmers know when to plant, when to harvest, because they can easily gauge the appropriate activities for our climate. We are also regarded as the center of marine shore fish biodiversity among all other countries. But all these are not the same way as it was before. Due to climate change, the seasons became very much altered that we experience heavy rains even if it is not yet in season, and we likewise experience intense temperature outside even when it is a rainy season. As I have observed, even the PAGASA sometimes fails now in predicting the weather due to big alterations in the patterns observed in weather. How many times we came to school and went home in the middle of the day due to class suspensions. It was also presented in the video that there were immense coral bleaching due to climate change; and when the coral die, it also has negative effects to the fishes for which they serve as habitats. We have also seen the super typhoons Reming and Millenio. We cannot deny the massive destruction they left us with. Up until now, many families still have not finished recovering from that sudden and unexpected loss which the disasters brought about. We also cannot ignore the threats posed on the health of many our fellowmen, such as the cases in Quezon and other province where Malaria and other epidemic occurred and took away the lives of many. The Artex village in Malabon is in a flood all year round; and the residents have just gotten used to this situation. However, there is a big threat and its large possibility that it will happen not only to Malabon, but to many places as well, not only locally but globally. Due to the global warming, many ice caps and glaciers have melt, and this in turn causes a rise in the sea level. As it was mentioned in the film, just 1 meter of sea-level rise will be enough to submerge most of the lands of our country in water. We would not want that to happen – that our country will be erased from the face of the earth, together with all of us who inhabits this country.
But why do such things happen? Do these happenings really mark the end of the world? Based from what we viewed, the temperature of the earth started rising upon the Industrial Revolution. Many coal-powered power plants have arose which heightened the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. CO2, together with all other greenhouse gases, elevates the heat in the surface of the earth because they trap the heat coming from the sun. It was radiated back to the atmosphere but since the greenhouse gases are becoming more and more concentrated, the heat remains. I remembered one song by Joey Ayala which goes, “Ang lahat ng bagay ay magkaugnay.” As we can see, the more industrialized we become, the more we expend energy generated by these coal-powered power plants. The more we use the television, laptop, air conditioners, refrigerators, and many other appliances, the more coal are being burned up and so the higher release of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Not only that, we also depend on our cars or vehicles, such as the light rail transit, to take us where we should go; and all these also adds up to the carbon footprint or carbon emission. Let me clarify, I am not against development – we are all not against it. But the mere fact that our development is not being responsible or wary of our environment, I think we need to reflect and act upon it. For even if we become highly industrialized or developed but our environment suffers, we will also harvest the negative effects of it sooner or later. Development is not only defined by becoming modernized at a specific point in time, it should be sustainable. We can achieve development without having to sacrifice our environment and the welfare of our future generations. I must admit that we in our home, we fail to notice this responsibility most of the time. There were times my mom and dad were watching the television, the aircon turned on, the refrigerator of course, while my two brothers play computer games and I do my assignment in my mother’s laptop. The lights are turned on and some cellphones are charging. And I also wonder how many other households are doing just the same or even more.
I cannot help but pity our fellowmen in Bicol, Quezon, Malabon and all other places who suffered so much from the effects of climate change and global warming. As I have commenced this paper with, they turned to God and even blame Him for the situation. But later I have come to this realization that many of us are not being responsible for the advancement or development that we have. Especially the highly industrialized countries such as US and Japan. They are the major contributors of the global warming due to their carbon emissions yet they have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol which aims to reduce the carbon footprints of most countries. Whether on a larger or smaller scale, we are ALL held accountable for the changes in climate that we now suffer from. And during these hard times, the effects mostly strike the poor and marginalized because they are the most vulnerable on this. We pity them, feel bad about their situation, but we are forgetting that we are somehow responsible for the misfortunes that have befall on them. And too often, when we make solutions, we target the effects such as destruction of lives and properties, but we fail to target the causes such as our irresponsible use of our resources. God helps those who help themselves. We may pray and call on God to help us get through this, but we also need to take concrete actions. We should not act only to change our lifestyles when we know that the end is about to come. No one really knows when the end would be, so why should we wait until tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week, month, year, before we take a stand and fight for what we know is for the benefit of all including our very own selves and families? This kind of problem is a global problem, yes, but we also need to act locally. It doesn’t mean that we are “just merely” developing problem, so it is not our concern, it is a concern of the US and other rich countries only. The adverse effects have already toiled on our country; let us not wait until something worse happens. I believe that it is still not yet too late for us to take active participation in this battle. Through collective action, we can somehow negate the worsening effects of global warming and climate change. We are the ones who will be suffering or benefiting from our actions, so let us not take for granted whatever we can do to protect our environment, our world. True as it may seem, climate change is frightening; but it will only become more frightening if we will not do something against it.

From now on, I will try my best to be of help to our degrading environment. If we cannot do “big things”, we can probably help even in our own simple ways. Turn off the lights when it is not necessary to use them, unplug the electrical appliances after using them, avoid sleeping while the tv or radio is on, walk if the place you are going to is just near, always throw garbage in proper disposal areas, minimize the use of microwave oven, air conditioning unit and other gadgets. It might sound idealistic but we really can do this if we have discipline. We must also advocate for fighting climate change and global warming, spreading awareness to the people. Some of them may not believe that there is global warming because of lack of awareness. But if they could fully understand the situation we are facing now, they can also employ ways to fight it and its effects. There should be no debate whether we call on God to help us through this or not, but we should also take some steps to combat it.
Being one of the students who are taking environmental engineering subject, I know that this issue calls us to study very hard and learn the principles on how we can better manage our environment. But it doesn’t stop at that, because we don’t study just for the sake of finishing this course and getting high grades. We need to apply to our everyday lives what we have learned such that it can benefit the society we are called to serve.


Leobrera, Christian A.
200511410