I have never recalled being so uncomfortable for so long a period in such unbearable heat. Asia is suffering from an intense heat wave and the forecast of El Nino in the coming months offer no relief. In fact we are expecting worse, dry season and haze from forest fire.
An article in the Times titled "Where we'll end up living as the planet burns" quotes a research:
'....depending on scenarios of population growth and warming, 1 to 3 billion people are projected to be left outside the climate conditions that have served humanity well over the past 6,000 years. ....In the absence of migration, one third of the global population is projected to experience mean average temperature (that are currently found mostly) in the Sahara.'
A tropical island like Singapore will be included in the list of uninhabitable place on earth.
So I was aware of the severity of climate change but just nonchalantly did what I can to minimise my carbon footprint sans travel. I wasn't too worried because things won't go so drastically wrong during my lifetime or even that of my adult kids. On unbearably hot days the sight of little kids running around made me think (in an unaffected way) these 'poor' children will have to find ways to adapt to climate change. In fact I was more affected when I discovered my plants in the garden being scorched. I felt more for the farmers whose crops were wiped out.
However now that I am a newly minted grandmother, news and reports about climate change draw grave concerns many times over. It now hits me hard that my grandchild's future is jeopardized and she will face loads of challenges including weather related calamities, food shortages, migration and even war over livable land. I feel angry and sad. Angry that we have been so uncaring about our planet, sad that our grandchildren will never have it better, as each generation in the past assumes the next should be.
What explains the change in attitude? Was it selfishness in the past? Is the biological instinct to protect one's offspring kicking in now? Whatever you call it is now a pressing anxious feeling every time I come across a doomsday climate change report.
"We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it."- Barack Obama
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