Global Warming: A Great Responsibility for Every Human Being

“Mr. Chairman, it is not enough that we avert global warming and climate change. We must address its early destructive consequences that can leave 40% of humanity wasted and impoverished. We must moderate the destructive impacts of escalating typhoons with deep, early and significant emission cuts. In this, developed countries must take the lead.”

“Even if the developed countries continue to successfully manage their material productive systems, a further regression of the quality of life and capacity for production among the storm-ravaged underdeveloped countries will only diminish the total capacity of the whole human civilization to grow and flourish.”

The Challenge

According to Philippine Senator Heherson T. Alvarez, Environmentalist and Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform during President Corazon C. Aquino’s administration, “the international community has been forced to undertake unprecedented levels of cooperation, acting as a common society like never before.” Senator Alvarez also said that, since climate change is a global species that are causing the decay and ruin of our planet, it is only as a global species, i.e., pooling our knowledge and coordinating our actions, sharing and conserving what this planet has to offer, that we could have any prospect of managing the planet’s transformation back to its beauty and bounty.

The fact that changes to the earth’s atmosphere is global and constantly irreparable not only in our lifetime but in the next generations if God will still allow, there is a great necessity to act now. The succeeding paragraph may be helpful in reducing if not eradicating atmospheric degradation.

Tips for Every Household to Help Solve/Lessen Climate Change

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change (OPACC) and the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC) under the Office of the President of the Philippines, gave the following list of things for every household to do:

1. Change your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamp. The cumulative effect is enormous. Turn off unneeded lights. Bring natural sunlight into your home when it is feasible.
2. Tune up your car if a gas guzzler. Better walk, bike or use public transportation. (The government however, should consider immediate construction of bike lanes in order to protect people from untoward accidents.)
3. Your house should not be too hot, or too cold. Clean vents, close unused vents, and change filters in the vents. Ceiling fan reduces cooling costs by more than half.
4. Tame the refrigerator energy appetite. Don’t send the thermostat too high. Even one degree makes a difference.
5. Big users of energy are hot water heater, washer and dryer, and dishwasher.
6. Plant trees. Water lawn sparingly or use recycled water to conserve energy.
7. Buy green energy, and invest in green stocks. Encourage use of electricity from renewable sources. Buy “green power”. Invest in renewable energy companies.
8. Use green charcoal, a substitute to charcoal from burnt wood.
9. Buy recycled; help create a market. Before you buy, check to see if the product or it packaging are recyclable.
10. Buy less, use less. Re-use in creative ways. Join the Earthsavers Movement “Fast for Mother Earth”.

References:

1. Statement of Senator Heherson T. Alvarez, the Head of the Philippine Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference, 07 April 2009 at Bonn, Germany;

2. www.carboncuttincoalition.tk;

3. Summit on Protection of the World’s Climate, 05 September 1996, Washington D.C., U.S.A.;

4. http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/rising-seas.html;

5. http://www.fotosearch.com/ULZ153/u30447124/;

6. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/10/content_8548142_3.htm

7. http://www.geocities.com/worldkigo/typhoon.html