THE low dark clouds, the rumble of thunder, the flashes of lightning and the rising wind bending branches all indicate a powerful typhoon is approaching, and that means danger, worry and concern for the thousands of small farmers and their families and another week of loss, hunger, hardship and survival. City dwellers worry less about their strong buildings and water drainage systems to protect them. But living in a bamboo hut with a grass roof or flimsy metal sheet roofing is not secure against the force and might of the all-destructive typhoons and floods that frequently hit the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.
The consequence of climate change is here, there is no doubt. The Philippines endured 19 typhoons and storms in 2022, and they are increasing in number. Every year, they destroy harvests, houses, roads and river embankments and cause landslides, floods, death and destruction. Climate change continues to intensify and grow worse and more intense because of the non-stop burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil to generate electricity. They must be replaced with clean, renewable energy plants.
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