I remember I was excited when I first knew and installed an add-on of the ForecastFox in my FireFox browser. It provides an instant weather information of the city I am living. It even has a meterological map, which is very amazing for me. Today morning when I glanced at the status bar to check the weather, I was shocked by the high temperature - 24-25C. I signed into my Google personalized home thereupon; it told me it was 21-26C today.
I live in Hong Kong, a city located at the sub-tropical region in Northern Hemisphere. It is early February, which is supposed to be deep winter. During the day, the sun was shining recklessly. I was wearing a tank top and pants - I brought my jacket but it was too hot to put it on. Indoor area was much colder than outside. At the moment, my dearest ForecastFox tells me it will be 27C on Saturday; I cannot recall any winter in my life was as warm as this year.
Seriously, I cannot think of any causes other than global warming and greenhouse effect.
I suddenly got an idea during a class in the afternoon. Global warming; or global warning? A coincidence, which is not funny at all, comes into my head that when globalization becomes a very popular phenomenon, warming is a global term as well.
A recent UN report estimated human contributes to 90% of global warming. We are unable to control our gas emission. We are unable to stop ourself from polluting the planet. Anything we can think about the nature is polluted by us. We produce garbage; we burn the forest; we exploit the power resources; we light up the sky; we emit toxic gases; we defile the water. We talk about environmental protection, whereas news reports bring bad news daily. We talk much; we do little.
The International Herald Tribune published on 7 February about "Resistance builds to fight on greenhouse gases". It gave three examples of the resisting force, which were from three of the top 10 countries emiting the most greenhouse gases. Knowing there must be some constraints for these countries to cut down their emission, it is short-sighted to put less focus on the issue than the local economic problems.
Mankind rely on the environment. We need it to survive. This is an obvious fact, which people still tend to neglect it and live on their own will. If we do not deal with the greenhouse gases, our habitat will be destroyed completely on one day that we can no longer live. The way we hurt the environment is not sustainable at all. When the day comes, what is the point for those states to say they have the more important economic or social difficulties?
Obviously talking about all this is a standing dish. Nevertheless, it is still being critized only because we have yet to do anything. I cannot count how many times I can read per week about the urge by scientists, environmental protectionists and scholars to cope with the problem. It is already late, and people are still standing aside. It is easier said than done apparently, but this is not a reason we do nothing. I was sort of frustrated and annoyed when I was on campus. Every room was colder than outside. I was wondering who needed the coldness in rooms. Unreasonably I had to put on my jacket when I was in any indoor area, when the weather was "nice" outside. If the air-conditioning was not turned on, definitely a lot of money and power could be saved and it would help improve the situation. Very few people do this, despite the job done by the government.
People choose to be ignorant when they have to sacrifice their comfort, but I am also doubtful about how comfortable they are when it is so cold inside and so warm outside.
