Article: First El Nino, Now La Nina (The Straits Times: World)
Publisher: Singapore Press Holdings
Date: March 3, 2007
This article sounds an alarm about the continually deteriorating environment, which has led Mother Nature to start to unleash her unbound fury onto Earth and its habitants. Natural disasters are starting to occur extremely frequently, due to humans’ unforgivable disregard of her health and allowing too much destruction, which has brought about massive dire consequences.
It was reported that currently, the El Nino, a term coined to describe the presence of abnormally warm sea temperatures, had left earlier on Tuesday. El Nino causes droughts and floods to become more serious than normal, and with its departure, it should actually spell good news for many. El Nino coupled with global warming, had caused an unprecedented amount of droughts in Australia and fearsome floods in SE Asia, and furthermore the US disasters Hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005(to date of which a record number of 28 hurricanes arose that year), which claimed many innocent lives of the civilians.
Unfortunately, El Nino’s departure is followed by a similarly terrible occurrence. La Nina. It is extremely incredible that the environment is currently so wasted that two major disasters can happen one after another. The apparent and unmistakable shift was detected by space satellites and ocean measurements, reported by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) head, Mr. Conrad Laurentenbacher.
He predicted that those that resided near the coast would be hit badly, and the news would definitely not be well received.
La Nina, dubbed as “the evil twin of El Nina” and much less known to the general public, is also a term to explain the sudden and unusual drop of sea temperature below normal, affecting worldwide airflow and weather. 6 yrs ago, a brief La Nina spell caused torrential rainfall to hit Singapore and SE Asia nations. It was also the culprit behind the Philippines, Vietnam, Thai and Korean floods in. In 1998, the monsoon rains, which were also caused by La Nina, compelled 10,000 Malaysians to abandon their homes and seek a safe haven from the flash floods occurring throughout the two cities, Penang and Kedah.
The last long period of La Nina spanning from 1998 to 2001, greatly impacted Western countries, recalled drought specialist Douglas Lecomte. It is yet unknown how strong the US will be affected this year, but it was confirmed that there would be more hurricanes in the Atlantic, fewer in the Pacific, but generally a warmer and more humid weather throughout 2007.
This alarming piece of news has become a central point of debate in political circles, with the newly elected UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon warning everyone not to underestimate its powers of destruction that it could inflict. He also hoped that “the US would take the lead in the climate change fight after the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.”Although I believe Singapore is not likely to be hit, it still is an shocking reminder of how the Earth has begun its long decay since Man first appeared.
Reading this article made me wonder how the main destroyer of Earth, US, could be so unfeeling towards its own home. By refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which is an agreement by nations to limit their carbon emissions to a certain international amount, just because it would affect its economy, is really unbelievable. By emitting so much greenhouse gases, it would obviously be detrimental in the long run. With the rise of global warming, this would bring about more floods, more droughts and much more unhappiness for everyone. By disagreeing to participate in this beneficial and noble cause, US has shown itself for who she is and how she is willing to stand by and watch others suffer as a consequence of his actions. Although they have repeatedly reiterated its intentions to help conserve Earth, their actions simply do not convey their sincerity.
With the rise of global disasters like the aforementioned El Nino and La Nina, it causes many to think when this madness will all conclude one day. What should be done to make everyone be convinced and realize the harsh reality of Earths’ vulnerability? I previously read an article describing a group of scientists trying to predict how to defend Earth from asteroids in the future. It is ironic that they are trying to solve the problem of how to protect themselves from outer invasions when Earth’s defence is so poor. Shouldn't the emphasis be placed on how the Earth should be conserved, not least for us but also for the following generations? Do we want to leave behind a legacy that will bring destruction to mankind?
The Slow but Steady Destruction Of Our Own Earth
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