Climate change is a divisive topic. Its proponents say that the Earth’s rising surface temperatures, also known as global warming, is due primarily to human activity, namely, the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other – now commonly known as “greenhouse gases” – into the air. Climate change activists and those lobbying for our reduced “carbon footprints” range from the United Nations to the WWF (the panda organisation, not wrestling) to the David Suzuki Foundation to secondary school children in Southeast Asia.
Yet, there is a camp that scoffs at this stand. The International Climate Science Coalition, for example, states quite categorically that “science is rapidly evolving away from the view that humanity’s emissions of carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse gases’ are a cause of dangerous climate change.” Mad men with an economic agenda? It all depends on where you’re standing.
Mackerel stands on the point where “climate change” represents a larger value that is important to us: Respect for our planet. And it starts with us at home.
Climate change and Singapore
These are some key statistics as provided by Singapore’s National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) in a document entitled, “Climate Change and Singapore” (20 January 2015):
“According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2014 was likely to be the warmest year on record. It was marked by extreme weather events in different parts of the world, e.g. severe droughts in large areas of the western U.S. and northern China, and severe floods in northern Pakistan and India. In recent years, Singapore has experienced bouts of high temperatures as well as very intense thunderstorms, some of which have led to flash floods. Our mean temperature rose from 26.8°C in 1948 to 27.7°C in 2013, and we saw the hottest day in January (35.2°C) followed by the wettest February (395.2mm) in the last 25 years in 2013. In early 2014, Singapore also experienced the longest dry spell since rainfall records started in 1869. The first National Climate Change Study (2007 – 2013) found that mean sea level around Singapore could rise by up to 0.65m in 2100. Rising temperatures and reduced rainfall could affect the severity of haze events. An increase in temperature could affect our biodiversity and greenery, increase the energy demand for cooling, and pose implications for public health. For example, the occurrence of vector-borne diseases such as dengue could increase in a warmer environment.”
Yes, it is extremely hot in Singapore. And it rains when it shouldn’t, and doesn’t when it should.
We choose to concern ourselves with climate change because we only need to look into our own backyard to see that many Singaporeans don’t give a flying shit.
