Not just another rainy season SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 06/14/2010

Not just another rainy season

SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 06/14/2010 Al Gore’s recent visit to the Philippines put an exclamation point to what Filipinos already know, but perhaps, typically, simply leaves to fate. Climate change is no longer a theoretical discussion. We have experienced its extreme effects ourselves — the latest one being our extra-hot summer season, which dried up agricultural lands in the northern regions, and before that, the heavy rains that caused massive floods in Metro Manila and other provinces last year. And now, with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) saying that El Niño is out and La Nina is in, we cannot help but feel some apprehension for another “Ondoy” occurring no matter how much we prepare for it. La Niña, defined as the “abnormal cooling of sea surface temperatures that cause heavy rainfall,” is dreaded more because of the possibility of floods. Heat we can take, many Pinoys would say, but against floods we are helpless. Although agriculture suffers due to drought, with floods, more, it seems, are destroyed. The last big flood is proof of that. Pagasa warned of heavy rains, but Ondoy still took us by surprise. It took mere minutes that day in September 2009 for the water levels to rise, and within hours, houses were submerged in some cities, thousands were stranded and hundreds were killed from raging waters overflowing from clogged waterways. Gore’s second visit to Manila, in fact, included images from the Filipinos’ “environmental nightmare” that was Ondoy. The anti-global warming campaigner gave his local audience an update of his acclaimed 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, as well as more information on the dangers faced by Asia. On a positive note, he lauded the efforts made by the Philippines to address climate change with such developments as the country’s first wind farm in Ilocos Norte, the use of geothermal power and the promotion of the use of bicycles.... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100614com7.html

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