M

y first brush with global warming was in November 2007. My schoolmates and I represented our school in Hwa Chong International School's International Youth Forum on Global Warming. Our responsibility was to prepare a program of presentations in our respective booths aimed at educating and encouraging the public to act on global warming.

It was an insightful experience indeed, learning more about climate change and sharing our knowledge with students from other countries. Nevertheless, after the forum ended, life went on as usual - homework, tests, extracurricular activities, student council duties, etc. Then I found myself forgetting the reality of climate change. It was because my daily life - mostly spent inside air-conditioned classrooms - was not severely affected by climate change. I haven't thought about global warming since then, until now.

It recently dawned on me that global warming is a responsibility that belongs to each and every individual. The world leaders' summits on climate change need to be supported by understanding and initiatives from society. From daily headlines we learn that leaders from all across the world are meeting for discussion to tackle global warming, the upcoming United Nation Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Nevertheless, global warming has become more than just a political issue that merely belongs to the leaders. Governments may set up rules and regulations that control the emission of greenhouse gas, such as the Kyoto Protocol that requires industrialized countries to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent compared to 1990 levels.

However, our society does not seem to believe much in the seriousness of global warming. We do not seem to believe that global warming is an issue that requires immediate actions. We spend our time living in a state of denial, ignoring the responsibility thrust upon us by global warming. We promote the emission of greenhouse gas every day - our vehicles, factories, etc. We carelessly and excessively use electrical appliances, even when we do not need them. We think our individual actions in tackling global warming do not count.

But we can no longer live in this state of denial. The time has come to start contemplating and to start taking action. A recent headline in The Jakarta Post, "UK climate map shows RI doomsday" (Oct. 26, 2009), caught my attention. It said Indonesians living in Sumatra, Java and nearby islands might suffer from floods caused by an 80-centimeter rise in sea levels if the world's mean temperature increased by 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

The Copenhagen conference, Dec. 7 to 18, will involve 192 countries, and more than 150,000 heads of state and government, officials, advisers, diplomats, campaigners and journalists. The conference hopes to agree on a new climate treaty that will succeed the current Kyoto Protocol.

Nevertheless, it is not enough. It is our time to take action against global warming. Even the simplest action could make a difference in fighting global warming. We can use energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps instead of incandescent light bulbs. We can turn off our electrical appliances when they are not in use. We can cut back our meat consumption once a week. We can use solar water heaters. We can use natural lighting instead of lamps.

Many prominent figures have realized that global warming is an extinction-level threat to us, and this is what some of them have said.

"Two thousand scientists, in 100 countries, engaged in the most elaborate, well organized scientific collaboration in the history of humankind, have produced long-since a consensus that we will face a string of terrible catastrophes unless we act to prepare ourselves and deal with the underlying causes of global warming." -Al Gore

"Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it." -Tony Blair

Thus, it is indeed our time to take action for change. This message does not come from an environmental expert. This message does not come from an environmental activist. This is a message from a 16-year-old who simply realizes that each and every one of us needs to act on climate change.