This week is not for good news. Aside from the rising number of COVID cases, with more being affected by the Delta variant, the world was jolted last Monday when the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN-IPCC) released a wake up call via a report called "Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis."
To put it in simple terms, touching only the tip of a melting iceberg, the report is an apocalyptic warning that "climate change will worsen in all places over the course of the coming years."
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land... and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.” The world is now experiencing the "side effects," starting with the wild fires in California and Australia last year, to the wild fires in Greece and Turkey this month. Though some were reportedly caused by arson, scientists have categorically said that "a warmer climate due to human-caused climate change increased the risk of more extreme fire weather, driving larger fires in more areas that are historically not at risk."
The report, which was collaborated on by a hundred scientists worldwide and included among them our very own Dr. Faye Abigail Cruz of the Manila Observatory, revealed that at the rate that we're going now, global warming may pass the 1.5 degree Celsius by the year 2040. This has disastrous implications not only on our way of life, but to agriculture, food production, and even animal reproduction.
In the Philippines, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) is sounding the alarm, more louder than ever with the release of the report. It said: "The report presents updated estimates of the likelihood of exceeding the 1.5 degree Celsius global warming level in the next decades, concluding that limiting warming to close to 1.5 degree Celsius, or even 2 degree Celsius, will be impossible unless greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are reduced immediately, rapidly, and on a massive scale."
Our country, with our islands and coastal communities, is at greater risk. There would be more extreme floods, storms, heatwaves, or drought -- devastating more lives and destroying more communities. God forbid that we would soon describe these natural disasters in catastrophic terms.
The CCC along with other environment groups, said the report must serve as a "wakeup call not only for the Philippines, but also for all countries and world leaders to take decisive actions on increasing warming temperatures to protect the planet and future generations from previously unimaginable scenarios."
If there is a silver lining, all hope is not lost. The report recommends that countries must substantially and consistently reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, and start promoting clean energy and protect whatever is left of their forests. These would require cooperation, dialogues, and even a strong political will to set in stone policies that would benefit the environment.
Immediate actions are needed because whether there is a pandemic or not, the earth continues to fall deep in a precarious state. If our actions would be too late, all efforts would be futile and regret is final.