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Fai
The new school year is once again upon us. I am reminded of a Chinese doggerel (a light-hearted poem, 打油詩) known to all students in my younger days, which can be roughly translated as below:
Spring is not the time for studying,
The scorching summer is only fit for taking snoozes.
By the time autumn is here, winter is not far behind,
Let's pack away our books and wait for another year to begin.
春天不是讀書天，
夏日炎炎正好眠，
等到秋來冬又至，
收拾書包好過年。
Hong Kong experienced the hottest summer
Now, I am not suggesting you should take the advice of the poem, but hot weather can indeed dull one's mind. With the hot sun beating on our head, it is amazing that we can even think straight. No wonder people seem to become forgetful in the summer. We experienced record-breaking (破紀錄) heat in August, with the temperature averaging in the low 30s Celsius, sometimes even surpassing (超過) the mid-thirties. The Hong Kong Observatory reminded us helpfully that it was the hottest August since 1962. Looking ahead, it is unlikely that September, supposedly the beginning of autumn, will bring any relief.
It has not always been this way. When I grew up in the New Territories in the 1960s, summer and autumn were clearly distinguishable. The end of the summer saw an unmistakable drop in the temperature. When the Mid-Autumn Festival came along, people would get ready their winter clothing. It was of course still too early to put on the padded jacket, but a light wool vest would help ward off the evening chill. Not long after the Double Nine Festival, we would begin to notice steam in our breath in the early morning. Instinctively(本能地、自然地), we would bring our hands to the mouth with the hope of warming them up with our breath.
Nowadays, we can go out in short sleeves as late as December. There may be one or two frigid weeks in January or February, when we may even turn on the heater, but it feels as if a giant hand had lifted up Hong Kong and deposited it in the tropical zone. Or is it more accurate to say that the tropical zone has expanded, engulfing places that used to be in the temperate zone?
Global warming is threatening us
Global warming (全球暖化) is evident in other places in the world as well. Before I moved back to Hong Kong last year, I lived in the hills of the western part of Massachusetts. The high altitude keeps my house very cool, and the thermometer often gives a reading of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (in the US, temperature is measured in Fahrenheit) lower than that on the shore. The area is therefore free from some of the summer plants found in the other parts of the state, including poison ivy, which causes serious skin rashes upon contact. In recent years, however, I noticed that poison ivy has begun to grow in the woods where we live, and I learned to tread very carefully when I went for a walk in the woods. It would not be much fun to come back with itchy (發癢) skin.
More seriously, we read and hear about reports about the thawing of the Poles, the rise of the sea level, floods and droughts, increased severity of seasonal storms, and other natural disasters, many of which can be traced to global warming.
Act immediately to save the world
Can something be done to reverse (扭轉) the climate change? The answer is "yes", but we have to act quickly. Some may argue that even if we reduce drastically our consumption of carbon dioxide right away, it will be decades before we can see any noticeable effect on our climate. This does not mean that we should throw up our hands in despair. Rather, it only serves to underscore the urgency of our task. Short of completely overturning our lifestyle, we can at least learn to conserve, and thus slow down the way we use up the resources of our planet. As far as possible, use public transportation rather than drive your own car. Unplug appliances that are not in use. Turn off lights when you are not in the room. Use the air-conditioner judiciously (明智地). On a larger scale, we should also push the Government and the industries to adopt policies that are environmentally responsible. The challenge is enormous, and there is little time to waste.
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