The Global Climate Risk Index of 2015 indicated that the Philippines is the country that’s most affected by climate change. The Philippines is situated in naturally warm waters at the western part of the Pacific Ocean, which spells doom for its inhabitants since the hotter the ocean and air gets, the more frequent and violent the typhoons are. Coupled with the effects of global warming the situation gets worse for the millions living here. The fact that in the last decade, five of the ten deadliest typhoons made landfall here is alarming. It brought with it billions worth of damage and countless lives ruined and lost.
We can’t do anything about our geographical situation, but as individuals, we can contribute to minimizing the effects of climate change.
What is climate change?
As its name suggests, climate change is a change in the pattern of weather and related changes in oceans, land surfaces, and ice sheets, occurring over time, that can span decades or longer.
Energy from the sun is the ultimate driver of climate on Earth. Heat that is received from the sun is dispersed in several ways, but due to human activities, particularly activities that trigger release of huge amounts of CO2 and greenhouse gases, heat gets trapped in our atmosphere that alters our normal weather patterns.
Electric vehicles as a counter measure
Conventional vehicles contribute a lot to climate change because of the strong carbon footprint we leave behind as we consume fuel. More developed countries in the west have been using vehicles that run on electricity as a sustainable alternative to fuel. The beauty of electric vehicles is that they don’t require gas and that they produce zero smoke, which bring you economic benefits while helping save Mother Earth. The Philippine landscape is yet to adapt charging stations that can be used by the public, but once we eventually catch up to our western counterparts, it would be a wonder to see green urban areas without the usual smoke from our vehicles.
