WELL, that was summer.
Rain has been unforgiving (but very much welcome) these past few days. It’s been coming down in buckets (luckily, not flood-worthy—yet). After days of going without a drop of rain in the sweltering heat, it looks like summer is slowly drawing to a close.
Hands up for those lucky souls who got some semblance of a summer vacation. Also read as “was able to go to the beach and momentarily forget about responsibilities.” Congratulations if you’ve been part of the lucky ones. For many, the beach was not an option due to the jellies (jellyfish) that decided to take up shop in our waters. And from memory, you do not want anything to do with jellyfish —despite being adorable, they’re nasty (and oftentimes deadly) little buggers.
Summer has been, for the lack of a better adjective, insanely hot (40 degrees, y’all!). It’s been so hot to the point where you’re sweating bullets by just stepping out of your house. On the last few days of summer, my dog, Kiki, has been complaining about the heat. She’s been whimpering and hogging our fan just to get some kind of relief.
This summer felt as if it was one of the hottest summers of my lifetime (and Kiki’s, too). In (heated) conversations with friends, as sweat would dribble down our foreheads and painfully drip into our eyes, the words “climate change na gyud ni (this is really climate change),” would float around.
It’s been odd hearing the words “this is really” and “mao na gyud ni” when it comes to describing climate change. The past years leading towards whatever adverse climate effects we are feeling has already been climate change. We’re just at the receiving end of everything that’s happening and propelling our climate into a downward spiral.
Recent reports tell us that this is not just climate change but we’re facing a climate crisis. We should stop calling this climate change. If our sweaty armpits for just stepping out of our house are any indicators, it’s a climate crisis we’re facing.
Sweaty armpits and wet foreheads shouldn’t just be reasons behind our panic over the rising climate crisis. We’re losing water, we’re losing food, we’re losing our jobs, and, to some, we are losing ourselves to the climate crisis.
We need to do more about the climate crisis we are facing. I think largely it also helps by finally admitting to the fact that it is a crisis and the change is just going to get worse. And judging by the heat, it’s just going to get hotter over the years.
We got to pick up some slack and finally get a little bit more serious about our carbon footprint.
If we want dryer armpits, let’s face the climate crisis head on and do something.