MEDIUM RARE
Climate change, climate change. The bad news is there’s nothing we can do to stop it or reverse its irreversible course.
How many centuries to create another glacier to replace one that’s melting away?
How many magicians to build a mountain and cover it with trees, populate it with flora and fauna?
How much H2O to produce from rainfall to construct a dam that will serve millions every second of every day?
Change climate is an easier option. Change your wardrobe, for a start, beginning with government officials who are so lucky to spend eight hours in an airconditioned office. By the way, are they sticking to the policy to keep the temperature within a certain range, like 23-25C at low cool, unlike the rest of us sweating and sweltering in our thinnest cotton garments in 36C heat in the jeepney, bus, or while waiting for a ride?
As far as I can observe, Sen. Francis Tolentino appears to be the only newsmaker who knows how to keep cool. While others are stylishly official in their long-sleeved shirts and jackets, dark pants, and silk neckties, the senator looks comfortable and fashionable in casual, short-sleeved shirts in light colors. Fashion demands that the fashionable dress up or down according to the occasion, time of day, and prevailing weather. Remember the flowery/leafy prints that once spelled “Hawaiian” as exemplified by Lito Atienza’s wardrobe? Tropically appropriate.
In Israel, a desert country, members of their Knesset report for work in short sleeves. Their stylishness or lack of it is not a reflection on the quality of their work.
At home, change climate means switching on the air-conditioner. To cheat Meralco, gather the kids into the biggest room in the house and let them share the cold air. Sixty to 100 minutes before they wake up, turn off the a/c: there’s enough residual cold to keep them from complaining. (This tip might not work in summer.) Change climate? Tell that to motorcycle riders, whose unofficial, universal uniform is anything black, top to toe, day to night, never mind how bleak, black, and crooked the road.
Change climate? Plant a tree or adopt one. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and stars. — Desiderata