Burnt to dust, at our own hands.

Article: Global Warming: 4 possible scenarios
Category: Environmental Issues
Source: Straits Times Forum, May 15, 2007

Link to Online Version

Eugene Tay Tse Chuan, a Straits Times reader, believes that there are four possible scenarios to which global warming can impact our world, thus he writes in to the ST forum to express his views. In Mr Tay’s opinion, our world will either face a “Happily ever after” scenario, where there is no global warming and prevention measures weren’t wasted on it, a “Pat on the back” scenario where there is global warming, but early action was taken, a “No regrets” scenario, where there is no global warming but a lot of money was wasted on protection measures or a “Reap and Sow” scenario, where there is global warming, but no preventive action is taken.

The question remains. Which situation will actually happen in years to come?

Since global warming is an evident threat in our world today, we probably will not be able to achieve the “Happily Ever After” scenario any time soon. Yet, are we going to risk ending up in the “Reap and Sow” scenario for fear of wasting money on “useless plans to tackle climate change”? Many skeptics tend to claim that environmentalists are making mountains out of molehills, that the global warming problem issue isn’t really as bad as it seems to be, but is that really true? Yes, maybe people like Al Gore are making the situation seem more fatal than it really is, but at the end of the day, does it really matter? Why do we even need to wait till we are in trouble before we even make an attempt at saving ourselves from the dead? Even if our world was in a perfect condition, with no environmental problems whatsoever, does it hurt to put in that extra effort to take care of Mother Earth?

Alot of money might be wasted if the third scenario is met, but what’s it called “No regrets” for? In my opinion, this is precisely why we have been unable to settle the problem of global warming effectively, even after working at it for a very long time. The sheer audacity of regarding our personal wealth and well-being as more important than the health of our planet is simply shocking. Yet I can’t say I’m not guilty of this. We litter because we are lazy to find a bin, we drive because we are too lazy to take public transport “tiring”, and when warned about the potential harm of our actions, we conveniently say, “I’m just one person, what can I do?”

I know I may sound like some overly passionate environmentalist who is desperately trying to convince each and every one of you to “Save Mother Earth”, but the truth is, our selfish and uncaring behaviour is simply unacceptable.

Mother Earth has provided for us all, bringing each and every single one of us to where we are today. So how can we possibly forsake her and leave her to perish just because of our own selfish needs? Taking care of our environment is something that we should be motivated to do all the time, regardless of the state it is in. So why the big (not to mention unnecessary) debate on whether our planet is really on the path to doom? If we continue arguing over such a trivial matter without taking any action, our planet will probably be burnt to dust before we even decide to do anything about it. I may not be extremely well-read on global warming, and I may not be able to fully understand the situation at hand, but I strongly believe that if there ever comes a day where our planet really perishes due to global warming, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.


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