Act on root cause of climate change now
CLIMATE change is already here and raining down on our faces with the massive floods in Penang and Kedah ( pic) and extreme rainfall in other parts of the country. The august body, The Institute of Engineers Malaysia, has urged all the relevant parties and stakeholders to start focusing on climate change and factor this in their development plans and infrastructure work.
Government agencies too are identifying climate change as a critical factor behind our current flood woes. Suggestions and proposals are now being floated on how to mitigate the flooding and drainage issues.
These suggestions and proposals appear to be quick-fix and shortterm in nature, however. They are only adapting to the problems brought about by climate change, which can only worsen in the future. The cause of climate change is not looked into. Instead, it is being side-stepped somewhat conveniently in favour of instant gratification. The longer term and more arduous tasks of mitigating or eliminating the root cause of climate change, which is global warming, will be foisted on our future generations if it is not sorted out now.
Global warming has been brought about by prolific greenhouse gas emissions and unchecked development. Government agencies and engi- neers are at the forefront of and party to the decision-making process on development projects. Now is the time for decisions and policy setting on reverse engineering, leading to a strong and determined advocacy on mitigating or reversing global warming.
Shifting power generation from coal and fossil fuel to cleaner or renewable energy, regreening of waste, barren or idle land, creating anti-pollution laws and enforcing these strictly would help to mitigate global warming tremendously.
Planning and designing our towns and cities to be less car-centric and more bicycle- and pedestri- an-friendly and with efficient public transport can cut down carbon emission and make for a healthier population.
Getting people to be more proactive in reducing, recycling and reusing materials and reducing power and water consumption are equally important to combat global warming.
Conserving our green environment and keeping our rivers and seas free from pollution will not only reduce global warming but can mitigate floods as well.
There are endless possibilities in mitigating climate change and these are known to government agencies and engineers, NGOs and even to laypeople. The fact is climate change is not something that was just set upon us only yesterday. It has taken this flooding disaster for some to acknowledge what we already know. Climate change is already here but they have the remedies and solutions to mitigate or reverse this phenomenon.
The time is now to have a strong will and focus to solve the root cause of climate change, which is global warming, and not leave this to future generations.