BY RITA LINDA V. JIMENO

The unusually cold temperatures in the recent days, punctuated by occasional showers, have been both a gift and a bane. For those in concrete and strongly built houses, the cold weather is a pleasant and welcome development. This dispenses of the craving of some for a little winter chill as there is no longer a need to leave the comforts of home. The balmy cold weather of Tagaytay, or Baguio in summertime, is right in their homes now, without the bone-cold and deathly freeze of the East Coast of America and Canada. Even California, which did not use to see white Christmases, is now experiencing an extraordinary freeze brought about by snow and hail.

But the downside is that the cold weather has ushered in respiratory illnesses. Almost every member of my family, including myself, has either had colds, cough or asthma in the past days. When we went for a break in our little rest place by the mountains and the sea after Christmas, the cold which was much lower than Metro Manila temperatures exacerbated our maladies. We thus had to cut our holiday break short.

But think about the less-privileged and the informal settlers who sleep in makeshift huts made of cardboard, galvanized iron and pieces of plywood nailed together. Worse off are the street habitues who sleep under bridges and on pavements. How are they coping? Our population is not accustomed to severe drops in temperature and the government is not prepared to provide relief either.

The shivers should warn us, though, that the worst in weather changes is yet to come. Climate change without doubt is now upon us. Globally, climate change means extreme weather changes such as devastating floods, droughts, harsh tropical storms and freezing temperatures. Reports from the United Nations Environment Program and other Climate Change institutions say that radical climate changes will even become more frequent and dangerous. In the coming summer months, we should expect radically hot and sweltering temperatures, alongside sudden storms.

The effects of changes in temperature ?beyond the average and normal?are more than what meet the eye. While we feel comfortably cool now, we do not see that the changing climate has effects that threaten our lifestyle and existence on this planet. The worst effect is on the crops and vegetation. Already, in California for instance, the orange and fruit farms are suffering untold destruction because of the unexpected snow, ice and heavy rainfall since November. In Baguio and the mountain provinces, strawberries and other crops are just as devastated because of the ice that rained on the farms. In my own limited knowledge of farming, the weather changes have recently brought on a rare disease that kills atis or sugar plum trees. In the town of Lobo, Batangas, where my husband has a small farm of at least 4,000 atis trees, the disease is threatening to exterminate the Philippine species of atis. Sad, because Lobo produces the biggest and the sweetest variety of atis in the entire country. I learned that even the plant scientists in UP Los Ba?os are baffled at this new disease.

The other potentially serious casualties of climate change in the country are our coral reefs. Corals are sensitive to changes in temperature, especially heat. They dry up, get bleached and die under hot temperatures. Yet, the corals are the breeding grounds of our fish. They are also among our top tourist attractions. And let us not forget that the scientists studying climate change have warned that if we go on with our use of fuels and pollutants in a business-as-usual manner, the seas could rise, up to 80 feet, in the next 10 years. This, as a result of the melting of the ice in the Arctic and Greenland.

Is climate change reversible? Yes, if we all act in concert to stop further pollution; to minimize the use of oil, gasoline and coal. Yes, if we all learn to segregate our wastes and not dump garbage indiscriminately. The use of too much oil, gasoline and coal produces carbon dioxide and other gasses which create a layer in the atmosphere that traps the heat of the sun in the earth. This, in turn, causes the melting of the glaciers and the ice caps, the rise of sea water and the disruption of normal weather patterns. When we throw garbage and mix the biodegradable wastes with the plastics and non-biodegradable garbage, the deadly methane gas is produced and gets emitted in the atmosphere.

Something bothers me, however. It is a feeling of pessimism that we will ever shake off that business-as-usual attitude about the environment. And here is why. Many establishments in Manila have introduced the use of recyclable cloth or canvass bags in lieu of plastic bags. Plastic bags and other plastic items will not decompose or break down for a thousand years. Hence, they are poison to the environment. In the meat section of S&R membership supermarket, for instance, Montana Meats give away for free, huge cloth bags for re-use with a purchase of only nine hundred pesos worth of meat products. Yet, I would notice that it has always been just me bringing back the cloth bags I had collected to put in the grocery items I would buy. People still demand plastic bags and never bother to bring back any of the reusable bags they get from the store.

Before the Christmas break, the Ayala malls gave away free cloth bags upon showing of receipts for purchases. The idea, of course, was to minimize the use of plastic bags. Yet, I did not see shoppers using them. In Shopwise, the management gives an incentive for the use of reusable canvass bags. All items bought that would fit into the bag would be given double points by way of rebates. In this store many people bring the cloth bags to load their grocery items in. Quite frustratingly, however, some still demand that their stuff be first put in plastic bags before they are loaded into the cloth bags.

The trouble with most people is that they do not care about the environment. Perhaps, they do not see how protecting and preserving it would benefit them. The reality is that most people are not motivated by a love for the environment but rather by selfishness and greed.

Yet, the environment and nature have a way of lashing back at man?s abuse and excesses. I can only wish that men will learn this?before it is too late for all of mankind.

E-mail: ritalinda@jimenolaw.com.ph Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph