The elections and the climate

ALL ISSUES imaginable have been tackled by presidential and vice presidential candidates. From peace and order, to job generation, even up to hidden and stolen wealth. No one among them, however, gave more focus on the looming climate change issue that hovers above us like a menacing storm.

A small country like ours would not impact the earth much in terms of carbon emission. However, our country is first to suffer the initial effects of global warming. With over 3,000 islands, the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable to climate change impact. The experience of super typhoon Haiyan should serve as an example of what our future would be if global warming is not arrested and reversed.

The decision of the current dispensation to approve the construction of 25 new coal-fired power plant is certainly a step in the wrong direction. And taken upon the context of global initiative to limit the global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius—of which the Philippines was the most aggressive during negotiations—the decision is not only ironic; it is moronic.

What more distressing is none of the national candidates for the two highest posts said anything about this. Nobody even dared to even attempt to say they would stop these projects. In turn, it became clear that they prioritized the country’s power needs over the destructive impact this project would have on the environment.

It is kind of silly, really when our officials laud themselves for building solar and wind farms; but at the same breath allow coal-fired power plants to co-exist with these renewable sources of energy.

The whole world is trying to wean themselves away from using coal and oil to produce energy. Yet here we are stubbornly sticking to it. In the end, we may be accused of hypocrisy. After all, the Philippine delegation fought very hard in negotiating the Paris climate change agreement. Sleepless and quite haggard and tired, the Filipino delegation insisted on keeping the temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. And they succeeded.

When former US Vice President Albert Arnold “Al” Gore Jr. visited the country earlier this year, he pointed out the “paradox” in the Philippine position on the issue. He could have called our officials hypocrites and two-faced, and it still would not suffice.

Yet on top of these, the biggest difficulty in this issue is the fact that most Filipinos are not really aware of the climate change issue and the impacts that may affect them.

The coming elections should have been the best forum for the candidates to teach the Filipino people on what it means and what it could do to them. But as in any previous elections, the campaign settled on personal issues; noisy but absurd soundbites; mudslinging; and motherhood statements that really amount to nothing.

That in the end, when the next Haiyan comes along, we would again suffer deadly devastation; and we would again blame each other for not being prepared and for being totally ignorant of the issue.