It’s too hot

By Joshua Corcuera

The month of May has ended, but the heat goes on. Here in Manila, temperatures soar beyond 30 degrees celsius while heat index, the temperature felt by the human body, can reach more or less 40 degrees celsius. This is also true in various parts of the country such as far north in Tuguegarao.

At first glance, an explanation for this scorching heat we currently experience would be the geographic location of our country; the fact that we are so near to the equator and, as a result, possess a tropical climate. Such climate results in two seasons: the dry and rainy season, where the former is what we are currently experiencing. However, it seems that the dry season gets hotter and hotter as the years pass by. The fact that Metro Manila is filled with buildings, concrete, and asphalt aside from the lack of trees, parks, and green spaces can be blamed as to why residents here in the National Capital Region suffer from the scorching heat which can result in heat stroke to vulnerable populations.

From a broader perspective, the world we are living in is getting warmer largely due to several human activities. A basic and common example is the emission of greenhouse gases from cars and factories into the atmosphere. As a consequence, heat from the sun is trapped within the atmosphere causing temperatures to rise slightly. Even though such a rise in temperature may seem slight, its impact to humanity and biodiversity is ever so significant. As we can see, polar ice caps are melting and icebergs are breaking free into the ocean. Ultimately, a rise in sea level in the coming decades is likely affecting coastal communities as a result thereof. Moreover, droughts are becoming more common threatening food security in certain parts of the world, especially in developing nations such as the Philippines. And just to add for the rainy season, typhoons become more severe and more frequent due to human-caused climate change. We obviously know how typhoons devastate us Filipinos.

So what’s the point of what I just wrote? What I would just like to say is that our planet, our only home, is getting harsher and less hospitable, at least here in the Philippines in general, and in Manila in particular. And a major factor as to why such a thing is happening is largely due to human activities. Henceforth, it follows that we can do something about it so that we can mitigate or alleviate the negative impact presented by a warming world to society. For instance, we can prevent using cars as a mode of transport and rely more on mass transportation as what people in some Asian cultures, such as Singapore and Japan, do. Another alternative is to commute through environmentally-friendly ways such as cycling as what some European societies, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, do.

Though these initiatives may seem small and simple, they would play a huge impact once we do it together as one people. With these actions, we can hope that the world would not become much harsher in the years to come. We can hope to pass a hospitable world to generations who are yet to be born into this world.