Yesterday I was
reading about how la Nina conditions are posing problems for the Visayas where
I live. Reducing rainfall and drying up the rice fields. I can certify that we
have had about a week of nice weather. Nice from the standpoint of no rain so
it is possible to go out and play badminton or go for a walk or other outdoorsy
things. Our mountain range is small. Get three or more weeks of
"nice" weather and our water goes dry.
It is a tad
unsettling.
Two more unsettling
scientific articles popped up on my news roll the other day. Same day. The
headlines were a little different but they said, effectively:
- "Antarctic Ice Melts at Record Levels"
- "Arctic Ice at Record Lows"
So the earth is
losing her polar ice both north and south. The culprits are the normal
characters, warm winds and higher water temperatures and holes in the ozone
layer.
You know, of course,
there is a tipping point. Once the sensitive equilibrium of the earth's heating
and cooling gets tipped too far toward warming, there is no way to get it back.
Chaos is sure to follow, massive destruction and shocks to the eco-system,
violent changes in weather patterns, starvation and anger, riots and war.
Revelations, perhaps
in our time.
I've never quite
understood the way the skeptics of global warming play their cards. They seem
not to understand risk, and how to protect against it. Or it is in their SHORT TERM advantage to
profit and to hell with the kids. They have no conscience.
- What do you lose if you are right about global warming, it is not an aberration but a natural earth warming cycle, but take steps to prevent it?
- What do you lose if you are wrong about global warming, and it is an aberration? But you do nothing to stop it?
More and more
studies are pointing to the reality of global warming. The Philippines is in a
precarious position. It is at the divide of earth's northern and southern
weather systems. The inter-tropical conversion zone bounces across the
Philippines like a floppy elastic band that has lost its discipline. This
typhoon season it is pushing all the storms north to blast Luzon, or move past
and blast Okinawa. The Visayas are dry. If it bounces back south, then Luzon is
a desert and we soak.
This is another
reason why the nation's population growth, 50% higher than it ought to be, is
dangerous. This is why there should be a sense of urgency to balancing out the
nation's population growth and its ability to employ, feed, shelter, educate
and care for that population.
It takes time to
slow a huge boat, and we may not have much time left.
With climate
volatility comes a greater risk to food and water supplies. I'm sorry. This is
not an opinion. It is a statistical certainty. Volatility means unpredictable.
And potentially extreme weather. And potentially destructive consequences. It
does not mean stable and certain and predictable and benign.
The Philippines
needs to get control of its resources. It needs to stop drifting down the risky
slope of fate like an oarless, rudderless rubber raft ripping out-of-control
down the Cagayan de Oro River, at the mercy of the rocks and currents and
illegally cut logs.
Like, get a rudder,
baby! Grab a paddle and work it.
Fire up the engines
of competency to manage the affairs of the Philippines as if LIVES DEPENDED ON
IT.
Enough of this
talking and posturing as if God actually listens to prayers. I was upset that
the first words out of Chief Justice Sereno's mouth was that the Constitution
asks us to plead to God.
Give me a break,
your honor. This humanization of God is a little much for me, as if the
Constitution will soon DEMAND we plead to the Big Your Honor in the Sky or get
thrown in jail.
God doesn't answer
prayers like Santa Clause in a sled. He set the scene a bazillion years ago,
gave us free will, and said "take your best shot." That's all.
You can't pray and
make the ice stop melting.
You CAN stop
birthing the nation into oblivion and eating the fields bare like locusts with
brains filled with some kind of gray green glop.
How about applying
some intelligence for a change, in stead of faith? How about exercising some
WILL for a change, instead of just lollygagging along as if someone else will
do it? As if God will do it.
Like, enough of that
faith-bound mentality, that needy "God please help us" beggar
mentality. I don't care if you are Chief Justice or a fisherman or a
legislator. Get up and go to work.
God takes care of
those who take care of themselves responsibly.
