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- Sematan Beach, Kuching

I am bored shitless tonight. In an attempt to prevent my neurons from disintegrating into nothingness, I decided to go through some old National Geographic magazines scattered around the corners in my house to offer my brain some interesting insights and visual excitement in hopes of keeping the boredom at bay for a little bit.

The few magazines I went through dated from 2006 to as recent as last month. They did a pretty decent job at keeping me entertained. So much so, this one particular issue got my thoughts all stirred up - The Big Thaw: Ice on the Run, Seas on The Rise (June 2007). Omg, the vivid portrayal of how climate change is happening at such a rapid pace is rather disturbing. Oh, the poor polar bears and seals. What would be of them when the Artic is gone? :(

It has left me with mixed-feelings, tangling up my thoughts and belief system. What should I believe in now? For quite a while now, my belief stands at this point: Eventually, we'll all have to go. Any effort or changes imposed will only serve as an eventual futile attempt to continue our existence. You'll have to understand this in a geological view point (Refer to the geological time scale - It will make you realise how small we humans really are). The earth and sun is estimated to die in 5 billion years time provided nothing astronomical destroys either one first. From its birth till death, the earth has and will experience numerous changes through its 10-billion year lifespan. The planet itself is not fragile, but the life it motherly nutures is. The earth will still continue revolving without our existence (or any other life form for that matter) and still be kept alive by its own activities like plate tectonic movements and volcanic eruptions. But there is also a thing called evolution and adaptation which allows life to quaintly work its way around changes to allow life to continue thriving on this planet even if it means in a foreign form.

Right now, as ice and glaciers continues to disappear, the earth is just heading into another interglacial period, just as how it has had thousands of years ago. Why should we be so alarmed by climate change then? It's just another natural cycle. But we are because it concerns and threatens us humans in so many ways. Our economy, daily livelihood, health/well being, food security and lands will all be transformed to ways unfamiliar to us. Poverty stricken and arid/semi-arid and coastal regions would be the ones affected most. Wars could be waged, blood could be spilled, economies could collapse, such are the dire possibilities if climate change persists and exacerbates. So eventually, we will all die. It's an inevitable fate, one that is quite a bitter pill to swallow.

But after flipping through the pages of that particular NatGeo mag, I feel that there is a stronger need for compassion. Something has to be done to slow climate change, at least for the benefit of ourselves and the generations to come as well as the other little creatures we cohabit this planet with. Even if a new life will reign over, any sort of loss is a tragic loss and I do not wish to live to see mass losses and sufferings. At this point, I do not think much can be salvaged though but not all is lost yet.