I have lived in the tropics almost all my life, in a place where the warm weather draws visitors from colder regions across the world.
So it has always seemed obvious to use part of my annual vacation to head home and bask in the sun.
Well, not any more.
I have spent the better part of the past week in Singapore trying to acclimatize myself to the sweltering temperature, without using air conditioners all the time and blowing up a small fortune on electricity bills for my family.
From taking unheated showers at least five times a day to gulping down iced beverages every time I open the refrigerator for a brief blast of cold air on my shirtless upper torso, I have been coming face to face with climate change at the most intimate level.
As the world continues to reel from global warming, figures from environmental agencies show that Singapore itself has been experiencing record high temperatures - the island city state was hotter last year than the average for the last five decades, with temperatures averaging 27.5 C -- 0.6 C higher.
Everywhere I go, family and friends tell me the weather is significantly more unbearable.
While it was difficult to show how much of the rise in temperature could be attributed directly to global warming and how much could be due to the country's urbanization, the hotter weather was said to be consistent with increasing temperatures worldwide.
In China, the heat had already manifested itself in droughts that spread to more than 10 provinces and threatened crucial winter crops. Average temperatures in a number of regions have also hit 50-year highs.
These are grim reminders that global warming is a clear and present danger that requires full commitment from the highest levels of government and the common citizen to tackle.
At the top, latest efforts to fight the crisis have been encouraging. Worldwide investment in renewable energy was higher than that in carbon-based fuels last year, an unprecedented trend that drew a record US$155 billion, United Nations figures showed.
Of that amount, US$36 billion was reportedly pumped into clean energy in emerging economies such as China, while Us$105 billion was directed at power generation from wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal sources.
Still, individual efforts will matter as much if climate change is to be successfully fought.
I distinctly remember how local households faced the heat of summer when I stayed in the Japanese countryside about a decade ago.
Families would replace their drapes with rolled reed screens and hang up wind chimes to catch whatever breeze that blew in to soothe homes from the oppressive heat, while cold noodles and cooling tea would make up the main meals to salve the rising temperatures "the traditional way". Similarly, local festivals dating back centuries would help mark and stave off the sultry summers.
In short, taking on the heat meant having a mindset and way of life deeply embedded at the cultural and personal level.
With all the signs pointing to more record highs in the mercury and the promise of more people personally straining under the warmer weather, enjoying the coming summer holidays will require nothing less.
(China Daily June 8, 2009)
