It’s already almost the end of April and the coming of the summer heat is expected to be just around the corner.
Fortunately for us, who live and work most of the year here in our mountain city, we won’t have to bear with the extreme heat that many others have to endure in the lowlands because we have a bit of a cooler summer season.
Many might be thinking that this extreme heat being experienced in the lowlands could only be due to natural causes, but not for me, because I believe that the worsening weather change conditions there can only be attributed to climate change.
Do you remember that at around these weeks last year, temperatures across the country continued to soar as the days went by because the actual heat index observed by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration bureau reached dangerous levels.
According to the PAGASA, the heat index in Cabanatuan City reached 52.3 degrees Celsius at about this time of the year, surpassing an earlier record set only the day before at 51 degrees.
The heat index, or human discomfort index, gives the apparent temperature or what humans perceive or feel as the temperature affecting their body.
High air temperatures and high relative humidity will give high apparent temperatures or indices. Full exposure to sunshine can increase the heat index by nine degrees, added a PAGASA spokesman then.
A heat index between 41 to 54 degrees is considered dangerous and likely to cause cramps, exhaustion and even heat stroke after continuous activity.
Aside from Cabanatuan, the heat index in other parts of the country also reached dangerous levels this week last year.
In Science Garden in Quezon City, PAGASA observed that the heat index reached 45.4 degrees that same week. The heat index at Sangley Point in Cavite and Clark Airport in Pampanga reached 50.2 and 51.9 degrees, respectively.
Despite soaring temperatures, the weather bureau said localized thunderstorms may still occur in some parts of the country.
The weather bureau said the hottest temperature recorded so far last year was in General Santos City on March 1 at 38.6 degrees Celsius.
The historical record is 42.2 degrees Celsius, observed twice in Tuguegarao City on April 22, 1912 and on May 11, 1969.
PAGASA earlier cautioned the public against too much outdoor exposure that could lead to heat stroke.
This made me think… Would it be possible for the government and us – in a joint public and private project – to climate change-proof our cities and municipalities in the very near future?
“The elements of climate change-proofing cities, includes the proper definition of land use, the change from reactive to proactive public participation, and the development of “brains rather than buildings,” WWF-Philippines Vice chair and Chief Executive Officer Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said.
While Tan said the government should provide the impetus for cities to adapt to climate change, it also needs the populace to help out since government, alone, cannot climate-proof cities.
“Governance is not government. Democracy is not freedom but participation,” he said.
We want a progressive, peaceful and healthy environment for Baguio – A center for education, trade and family-oriented tourism – managed by God-loving and strong-willed leaders in partnership with self-reliant and disciplined citizenry.
With our beloved city being located approximately 1,500 meters above sea level, having a mean normal temperature of 18 to 27 degrees Celcius; and being known as the favorite tourist, educational, and economic growth center of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in the northern island of Luzon in the Philippines, we are home to about 300,000 residents.
Shouldn’t we be starting to think already of what our city could become as the effects of climate change worsens and affects us more?
But more important, what measures could we and should we take, even little by little, to minimize those effects on in our city and on our growing population?
