Climate change is a natural phenomenon in our planet. It has been constantly happening for hundreds of thousands of years.

Earth has been continuously changing global temperatures, from warm to cold to warm and so forth, a phenomenon which can best be exemplified by the coming and going of the Ice Ages of the earth. On a large astronomical scale, Earths energy is predominantly derived from the Sun in the form of heat, and is considered as the only external force which is strong enough to affect global weather. In the modern setting, climate change, as a natural process of the planet has become synonymous with global warming, an event which is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases which trap heat from the Sun, and therefore creating a semi-permeable layer of atmosphere which allows heat energy from the Sun into the planet, but does not allow the same amount of heat to return to space thereby causing the gradual but certain increase of temperature in a global scale. Although the Earth has a wonderful ability to correct whatever anomaly is brewing, the problem of global warming is aggravated by the exponential greenhouse contributions brought about by human intervention through advancements in technology and industry. This causes the drastic and extreme changes in weather that we are experiencing today and this may be the reason why we are all smack in the middle of what scientists call as the longest global warming period in the history of the planet. Typhoon Sendong is a manifestation of extreme global warming. Let me elaborate. Global warming is not brought about by a single event. It is the accumulation of the effects of climate change over a period of time and our inability to control our emissions of greenhouse gases. Aside from the Sun, the weather of the earth is dependent on the currents of the ocean. Ocean current on the other hand depends on a delicate balance of salinity. When the creatures of the sea die, the decaying bodies fall to the ocean floor where pressure is high and temperature is low. In that desolate

environment, the decaying bodies turn into some form of crystallized methane which is stable under certain conditions but is fragile in a sense that slight changes in pressure and temperature will cause the methane formations to break and subsequently emit the methane gas up into the atmosphere thereby acting as a catalyst and further worsening the planets global warming problem. But because of the eventual increase in the global temperature, not everybody has taken into consideration that these changes have caused the melting of the polar ice caps. When the ice caps melt, tons of freshwater are being dumped into the ocean thereby compromising the salinity of the ocean and will cause sea levels to rise around the world. With the melting of the ice caps, water temperatures and pressure will change which will cause the crystallized form of methane on the ocean floor to break and emit the methane gas up into the atmosphere and speed up the process of global warming. The cycle goes on and on. The increase in global temperature will cause the waters to evaporate quickly, and when water evaporates, precipitation is inevitable. Precipitation coupled with the abnormalities of the atmosphere and we have typhoons. That is why the rains and the typhoons we are experiencing such as that of Sendong is a reflection of how worse global warming already is. Are we ready? Apparently not. Buzz about climate change and global warming have been in existence for almost a century. In the last decade alone, countless information campaigns were held, we started, but we never finished. We have foreseen, but we took no action. Some warned of the impending disaster but we did not pay attention. It is ironic because it would seem that those chosen by the people to hold the reigns of the government would not act and listen on the agencies and instrumentalities it created to assess the conditions and warn us of the possible dangers that global warming would bring, while blindly they flock, listen and pretend to be willing to do something about it when addressed by a former head of state of a foreign nation. The hypocrisy of politics giving the cold shoulder to the doomsayers who base their claims on undeniable scientific facts

and calling it all too dramatic, only to heed the warning later on when the all too dramatic scenario has claimed the lives of more than a thousand of our countrymen. The time for talking and arguing is over. We cannot let ourselves be consumed by the little quarrels about our petty differences. It is time for hard action. We must be the change we want to be, we must act, as one. Global warming will not only endure, it will get worse to the point of endangering all of human existence. But for the first time in the history of the planet, a species has the technology to prevent such disaster. We, as a nation, are not alone in this fight. Others have tried and have proven to be quite successful. All we have to do is imitate, modify and develop with our sincerest efforts and determination. Excellent planning is the key. Climate change is inevitable. It is a natural phenomenon of the planet. What we can do is to mitigate the effects of global warming by adapting to the eventualities it might bring to life and property and by helping the planet to heal itself. We have a long way to go, but we can do it.