ven under the best circumstances, hardly anyone is still paying any attention to climate issues in Baguio City. The campaign fever in the runup to the May 2022 election seems to NOT have changed that situation.
To me, it shows two things: (1) elections have remained personality contests rather than a battle for the soundest policy agenda, and (2) government at all levels is still failing to communicate the relevance of climate science and the urgency of what it is compelling us to do.
The Philippines is a signatory to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. We signed it on April 22, 2016, ratified by our Senate a year later on March 23, 2017. It binds us to reduce our greenhouse gas emission levels by a humble 0.34%--that’s less than one percent—as our contribution to keep global temperature increase to below 2-degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level by the end of THIS century, with a further objective to reduce it to 1.5 degrees.
Talk to anyone on the street today and NOBODY knows about this—and nobody should. How could they? Nobody is telling them anything.
Despite numerous studies showing the direct causal relationship between global warming and severe weather events, reinforced by our actually experiencing those weather events, many people in Baguio still demonstrate a pitiful lack of, if not outright hostility, towards climate science.
Someone has to spell out in explicit terms how global warming is affecting the lives of Baguio people—and it’s very difficult to do that on cold mornings of 10 or 11 degrees Celsius.
So let me say it: the effect of global warming is NOT something you can feel on your skin. It’s something you can feel on your wallet.
An increase in global temperature by just ONE-HALF degree Celsius melts about 2.5% of all the world’s sea ice. That’s about six trillion gallons of water added back to the ocean, raising sea levels by as much as EIGHTEEN INCHES—a foot and a half—above the high water mark at LOW TIDE.
Multiply that five times during high tide and you’ll understand why the government is bracing for the need to permanently evacuate around eight coastal barangays in Cavite alone, six in Bulacan, four in Zambales and Bataan and three in Pangasinan.
Where will people living in these places go? Remember, in coastal communities if you lose your house you lose your livelihood too. You can’t fish from too far inland. So where will these suddenly-jobless people go?
Why, to the CITIES, of course, where else. There you can find jobs that are not affected by sea level rises, mostly in the manpower sector, some in trading or maybe the support industries around tourism. When the sea turns menacing and the temperature gets unbearable, guess where tourists run to: BAGUIO.
Ergo you have traffic jams, a housing boom, accelerated urbanization (read, massive tree-cutting and land-clearing), congestion, pollution, solid waste glut, faltering water supply, strained availability and coverage of utility services (Baguio has one of the slowest internet speeds in the country)—all of which translates to higher costs in order to compensate or counter these effects.
But that’s not all. Complaints of “Why is it raining jn December?!” are not as innocent as they sound. Changing climates is radically altering seasonal patterns, something EVERYBODY have begun to notice in recent years: there is no clearly delineated “rainy season” or “summers” anymore.
Have you ever tried sleeping regularly in the daytime? Your circadian cycle fights it. The disruption of seasons is nothing to ignore. PLANTS are fighting it. The unpredictable rain pattern has eliminated the bio-agricultural difference between planting, growing and harvesting seasons. That's why crops have been consistently failing, resulting in plummeting farm yields. Don’t look know, but were importing RICE again, something the Philippines has never done since 1980 “just” 40 years ago. Not only rice, but now were beginning to import garlic, onions, potatoes, tomatoes--all upland crops growing in Cordilleran farms increasingly affected by severe weather on both ends: dessicating droughts and leaf-bursting frosts.
But what is Baguio’s response—to traffic, for example? We widened our roads, increasing our capacity to accomodate higher vehicular loads, inviting more cars into the city—and generally contributing to increased car-buying sentiment among consumers.
In short, instead of raising our sights and gunning for net-zero emission levels within our lifetime, we are violating our commitment under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement! We are working hard to INCREASE greenhouse emission levels in Baguio. I have not seen a single electric car in Baguio—not counting golf carts—not even one. Why would there be, there’s not a single charging station, nor any plan or even a mere forward-looking study to prepare for an electric future.
It’s the OPPOSITE, in fact.
There’s an active effort to grab BENECO, Baguio and Benguet’s one and only electric utility—the one that will play the most crucial role in securing Baguio’s clean energy future.
But besides passing a non-binding resolution declaring the purveyors of the failed invasion persona non grata, the political leadership has NOT regarded the issue enough as nothing short of what it is: an EXISTENTIAL THREAT to the very existence and welfare of future generations of Baguio City residents.
They have not directly and officially castigated NEA. They have not summoned leaders of the banking sector to demand for valid answers why they are enabling the active sabotage effort against BENECO. These banks are all doing business under the tolerance, regulation and permission of the local government. If they act as enablers to an effort that is subversive of the public interest, shouldn't they be held accountable? Some of these banks PREVENT your electric cooperative from accessing the money YOU paid and you do NOTHING?
Climate affects the environment, affecting economic activity, motivating greed, breeding corruption--the dots are NOT that hard to connect, really.
The problem is all on the mentality Climate issue? Sigh. It’s too complicated to understand, let alone translate into an action plan.
“So let’s just sweep it under the rug for now, shall we?”
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