The Day After Tomorrow

I was browsing through the PDI website when I found this article:

(http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=63180)

Here is the part that got my attention:

"Rean Tirol, WWF-Philippines’ climate change manager, said at a news conference on Thursday that a rise in local sea levels could inundate half of Metro Manila’s coastal town of Navotas and submerge entire islands in the archipelago."

Can the future just get any grimmer? Corrupted politics, widespread poverty, immorality and my hometown becoming the Atlantis of the Philippines. I'm a young 17-year old working and studying really hard to earn for myself a brighter future and all I will be getting is this.

I recently watched "An Inconvinient Truth" and it made me realize that the things we are doing to our planet is not going to haunt my great grandchilren or my 10th generation descendants - it's going to haunt me and my children. Al Gore claims the effects of global warming will be felt in less than 50 years and I believe him. The effects he's talking about is Manhattan under the sea and millions of people becoming refugees because their homes will be submerged. We are actually starting to feel the effects - subtle climate changes, stronger and more frequent typhoons. The list goes on.

It also made me realize that well, from how nature works, we're going to be the only species who'll feel the pain and suffering because we're the only ones how know what's about the come and we're the ones who made it happen. Humanity will take the highest toll simply because although we're great at adapting (we've inhabited virtually every corner of the planet possible), we've gone to great lengths to transform the world to our liking and we've succeeded. I guess global warming is nature's way of saying that no, that shouldn't be so. God made us stewards not masters of this world. Our habitats are supposed to be part of the environment, much like an ant can live in a tree that termites and birds can also inhabit, not separate from it. We've turned the tables around - making the environment a part of our habitat. And in the process, we are gradually shattering the fragile conditions that allows the Earth to sustain life.

And the last thing I've realized is how powerless individuals, families or even nations are to avert this threat. Unless we get a superhero to suck two degrees celsius worth of heat out of the planet and most of the carbon dioxide we've emitted, we're bound to have cities becoming marine parks in the future. Even if we implement drastic changes, the damage has already been done and the worst part is apparently we - Filipinos living in a low-lying archipelagic country - will be the first to feel it.

Whenever I watch those apocalyptic-type movies which involves water rushing in to submerge whole nations, I wonder how we Filipinos will cope up. For instance, in "Deep Impact", the government builds this huge facility to safeguard the prominent people who will lead the survivors of the disaster. What will our government do? We can't even modernize our weather prediction equipment.

The painful thing about this predicament is that we are made to suffer for the mistakes we did very little to commit. The major polluters are the ones most likely to survive the coming catastrophes. A big chunk of the third-world is simply going to be wiped away from existence. My generation will be forced to carry a burden getting heavier by the day.

Minsan lang ako magrant pero this is something worth ranting about. Bakit kelangang kami ang magdusa?

The fact is we can't solve this problem fast enough to save our future from being ruined. But we can hope that this burden will no longer be carried by the next generation if we act on it now. In the movie, the success of the world to protect the ozone layer was mentioned. I believe humans are the most adept at surviving and I guess the problem lies in that humanity is not taking the problem too seriously. So that's what needs to be done. Heed the warning and starting doing our part.

It was revealed that very few of the countries that signed the Kyoto protocol are going to succeed in reaching the goals set regarding the reduction of carbon emmissions and I doubt the Philippines is going to be one of them. We can all do our part, yes, in our own little way - walking instead of driving, conserving energy etc. But the drastic measures that need to be done to prevent the disasters coming our way like half of Navotas becoming part of Manila Bay are just too expensive and well, inconvinient for any one individual to commit to. This battle is a hard one because it will be a costly one. And that is the most frustrating part about this whole global warming issue.

But at least the wheels of change are starting to move to this direction. Green technologies are gaining popularity and much needed financial support. Political will is being exercised to support them. And people are one by one waking to the idea of a different world if the path we are traversing is not changed. I still hope it will move fast enough to keep Navotas on the map.

Sometimes I envision Pisay to be the hope in this struggle - that one day a group of Pisay graduates would find a revolutionary solution to end global warming. My hopes are never higher with so much more at stake.

Soon enough, the mantle of leadership will fall on our shoulders. It will be soon up to us to face this crisis. In LOTR:FOTR, Frodo tells Gandalf he wishes the ring had not come to him, that none of the things they had experienced had happened. The wise wizard replies: "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." Shall we also ignore this problem just as they have or shall we decide to carry this ring to its end?