Note: This opinion essay is part of our requirements for Creative Writing. Since I promised someone before to show the essays I write in school, consider this as a sample... For a change, it's time the blogger takes a break from his normal, routine PLU life.
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We could all agree that the weather these days is unusually chilly for a late January. Those who complain of the humidity may find themselves in a very pleasant situation, strolling across the city on high noon without feeling the heat of the sun burning their skin. On the other hand, those who wake up very early in the morning will surely complain about the freezing temperature. “I am having a hard time taking a shower these days,” says a colleague who works morning shift in a call center. “I can’t stand the freezing water, which I find very strange considering that everyone I know is bracing for the hot summer months ahead.”
If you look back at the weather trend last year, strong typhoons hit the country during late November. December was warm and rainy, while news of water shortages was reported last October. There were no significant weather disturbances that happened last June to August and the summer months of April prevented some people to go out during the day since the unbearable heat simply made them feel very uncomfortable.
Around the world, people wonder about the freak weather pattern this year. A friend who lives in New York told me last December that they usually expect heavy blizzards to come during Christmas, but there were none. The storms arrived later during mid-January dumping heavy snow not only in Canada but also in the state of Texas. Germany and the rest of northern Europe suffered from one of the most severe wind storm to hit the region in centuries while parts of France, particularly in towns north of the Pyrenees reported water shortages as early as February.
The trends, though quite amusing at first reveals a very dark and gloomy future ahead. This possible future has been forecasted, studied and was given significant attention by the scientific community but governments, particularly those who rely on heavy polluting industries and carbon-based energy sources never listened. The signs pointing to Global Warming and Climate Change had been subtle at first, but as ignorance and greed continues to dominate human politics, the planet has its way of shoving the problem right on our very faces.
We could go scientific on the nature and effects of the recent weather pattern. We could even devote several pages of information about Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion just to make some sense as to why it seems, the weather gets more extreme every year. But we don’t really need the scientists to explain things right now, for everything we need to know is right before our very eyes – pollution, carbon monoxide emissions, signal number four storms, long dry spells during summer, monsoon season without any rain, the list goes on.
This year alone, reports of massive Glacier retreat in the North Pole and the Himalayas prompted some scientist to raise the alarm and turn the hands of the Doomsday Clock five minutes before midnight due to the threats of Climate Change to mankind. This has never been done before since the Clock is only reserved to nuclear threats posed by nuclear-capable nations around the world.
Almost every month, reports about Climate Change or events attributed to Global Warming are being shown in the news in hopes that it could further awaken the consciousness of everyone about the huge problem we are facing. But such revelations are useless if individuals like us would simply ignore the signs and not do our part.
Everyday, tons of cubic meters of Carbon Dioxide goes up in our atmosphere from the coal supplied to our power plants. Same thing goes to the hectares of forests being cleared up to give way to farmlands just to satisfy our excessive food appetite. Lastly, the garbage we mindlessly dispose in the thrash sometimes end up being burned in our dumpsites.
If we could only cut back in our consumption and be responsible enough for our excesses: If we would, in our deepest consciousness adopt a green way of living – by sorting trash before dumping them; conserving electricity by turning off lights and appliances that are not being used; and be wary of the unusual weather patterns instead of simply passing them off as mere “climate adjustments.”
Perhaps there is still chance to prevent the most horrible things from happening..
Mankind is slowly awakening to the harsh and bitter reality of how Climate Change and Global Warming may affect our daily lives. The voices calling out for a collective action grows louder and louder every day. We could always lend our voices to support government pressure, or we could simply go back to sleep blaming the “very cold weather” for inaction.
We just hope that when the time we wake up, a quarter of the world is not yet drowned in sea water, while the rest are either bracing for super storms or enduring months of dry spell simply because we responded too late to reverse the damage we have done to our planet.
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We could all agree that the weather these days is unusually chilly for a late January. Those who complain of the humidity may find themselves in a very pleasant situation, strolling across the city on high noon without feeling the heat of the sun burning their skin. On the other hand, those who wake up very early in the morning will surely complain about the freezing temperature. “I am having a hard time taking a shower these days,” says a colleague who works morning shift in a call center. “I can’t stand the freezing water, which I find very strange considering that everyone I know is bracing for the hot summer months ahead.”
If you look back at the weather trend last year, strong typhoons hit the country during late November. December was warm and rainy, while news of water shortages was reported last October. There were no significant weather disturbances that happened last June to August and the summer months of April prevented some people to go out during the day since the unbearable heat simply made them feel very uncomfortable.
Around the world, people wonder about the freak weather pattern this year. A friend who lives in New York told me last December that they usually expect heavy blizzards to come during Christmas, but there were none. The storms arrived later during mid-January dumping heavy snow not only in Canada but also in the state of Texas. Germany and the rest of northern Europe suffered from one of the most severe wind storm to hit the region in centuries while parts of France, particularly in towns north of the Pyrenees reported water shortages as early as February.
The trends, though quite amusing at first reveals a very dark and gloomy future ahead. This possible future has been forecasted, studied and was given significant attention by the scientific community but governments, particularly those who rely on heavy polluting industries and carbon-based energy sources never listened. The signs pointing to Global Warming and Climate Change had been subtle at first, but as ignorance and greed continues to dominate human politics, the planet has its way of shoving the problem right on our very faces.
We could go scientific on the nature and effects of the recent weather pattern. We could even devote several pages of information about Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion just to make some sense as to why it seems, the weather gets more extreme every year. But we don’t really need the scientists to explain things right now, for everything we need to know is right before our very eyes – pollution, carbon monoxide emissions, signal number four storms, long dry spells during summer, monsoon season without any rain, the list goes on.
This year alone, reports of massive Glacier retreat in the North Pole and the Himalayas prompted some scientist to raise the alarm and turn the hands of the Doomsday Clock five minutes before midnight due to the threats of Climate Change to mankind. This has never been done before since the Clock is only reserved to nuclear threats posed by nuclear-capable nations around the world.
Almost every month, reports about Climate Change or events attributed to Global Warming are being shown in the news in hopes that it could further awaken the consciousness of everyone about the huge problem we are facing. But such revelations are useless if individuals like us would simply ignore the signs and not do our part.
Everyday, tons of cubic meters of Carbon Dioxide goes up in our atmosphere from the coal supplied to our power plants. Same thing goes to the hectares of forests being cleared up to give way to farmlands just to satisfy our excessive food appetite. Lastly, the garbage we mindlessly dispose in the thrash sometimes end up being burned in our dumpsites.
If we could only cut back in our consumption and be responsible enough for our excesses: If we would, in our deepest consciousness adopt a green way of living – by sorting trash before dumping them; conserving electricity by turning off lights and appliances that are not being used; and be wary of the unusual weather patterns instead of simply passing them off as mere “climate adjustments.”
Perhaps there is still chance to prevent the most horrible things from happening..
Mankind is slowly awakening to the harsh and bitter reality of how Climate Change and Global Warming may affect our daily lives. The voices calling out for a collective action grows louder and louder every day. We could always lend our voices to support government pressure, or we could simply go back to sleep blaming the “very cold weather” for inaction.
We just hope that when the time we wake up, a quarter of the world is not yet drowned in sea water, while the rest are either bracing for super storms or enduring months of dry spell simply because we responded too late to reverse the damage we have done to our planet.
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