Rumination upon reading IPCC report

 The past week has been incredibly hot and humid over here in Singapore. Even without going out and doing almost nothing, pearls of sweat roll down your face and body. You tell yourself 'this place is unlivable".

Then the IPCC report is out. 'Cities like Singapore could face punishing heatwaves, floods" the headlines screamed in our ST. As it is Singapore is experiencing warming higher than the global average because of the urban island effect. Experts opined that temperatures above 35C would be very uncomfortable because of the high humidity. According to one expert by the year 2045, there will be days in Singapore when the thermometer will hit  45C which will increase the days when it is not possible to work in the open. Who will lay our roads and construct our buildings then? Of more concern also is the rising water level and flooding. It really sounds like doomsday is inevitable doesn't it? 

Of course the 2 full page report on climate change is followed by depressing news of Covid impacting lives around the world. Hence it is unsurprising that a reader will feel resigned and start ruminating philosophically, like what I am thinking now.  

Every great civilisation/empire/dynasty in history faced its downfall. Such is the impermanence of things. Yet you think of the effort, pain, achievement and pride of the pioneers in each of these institutions and their endeavour to sustain or prolong their greatness. Inevitably all collapsed because conditions changed, some of which could have been controlled but much were uncontrollable. So too this great city state that tops the list in terms of safety, security, good governance and more. Yet because it lacks a hinterland it faces threats of being wiped out by nature in time to come. So the long term plan is probably to elevate as much as feasible or to relocate to purchased land on higher grounds.

In another irony, Singapore together with Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong once called the 4 rising Asian tigers are all facing a 'demographic time bomb' being ranked among the world's last 5 in terms of fertility rate. How then can a country be termed great or successful if its people do not even think it worthwhile to bring a newborn into it. Alas, this is the unanticipated consequence of economic success, unforeseen by the great pioneer leaders; or perhaps it is all part of the destiny cycle.