Original by Dr. Steve Wong
July 31, 2023
I have just returned home after a monthlong visit to India, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. I experienced continuous heavy rain in extreme weather, causing landslides and many casualties in Mumbai and Kolkata, India. In New Delhi, the weather was scorching hot and sweaty. Therefore, unless necessary, I generally stayed in the hotel to meet customers. After arriving in Taiwan, the temperature was around 35 degrees Celsius every day, two to three degrees higher than usual. In Seoul, South Korea, it was raining non-stop, and some areas were even hit by torrential rains, resulting in 40 deaths, nine missing and 34 injured. In Tokyo, Japan, the weather was also hot. The high temperature ranged from 35 to 39 degrees Celsius for several days, causing many people to suffer heat stroke. Given such a situation, I had to cancel some appointments due to the heat and work in the hotel.
After returning to the United States, I visited my second son in Las Vegas. The daytime temperature there was around 45 degrees Celsius, and the temperature around Death Valley was recorded at 54.4 degrees Celsius, only two degrees lower than the historical high temperature of 56.67 degrees Celsius in July 1913. Initially, I planned to go to Houston and Florida to visit suppliers. Still, considering the temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius and 34 degrees Celsius, respectively, and the chances of airline cancellations being relatively high under high temperatures, I finally decided to stay home.
This heat wave affected one-third of the United States population and triggered wildfires in Greece, and the United Kingdom had to send planes to evacuate its people. In other countries, such as Spain, Italy, Turkey and the Balkans, temperatures remain high, and the worst may be yet to come, seeing that July‘s heat has broken records.
Scientists attribute these high-temperature phenomena to the impact of global warming. So far, we are still waiting to see obvious signs of improvement. It is estimated that it will not be possible for humans to achieve carbon neutrality and further control warming intensification until 2050 at the earliest. With carbon neutrality as the first step, in the future, it will be necessary to achieve reverse carbon emissions to restore the temperature to pre-industrial revolution levels. The development of human civilization and population expansion has brought the global population to 8 billion, and many earth resources have been wasted and consumed extravagantly. We should treasure these resources, such as coal and oil, which took tens of millions of years to be conceived and availed for use, and the remaining coal and oil may only be enough to last for another 200 years and decades, respectively.
While global leaders are discussing the issue of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, we as ordinary citizens, businesses and governments also need to actively pursue the use of recycled materials and alleviate resource depletion. The most effective way to reduce the development and consumption of natural resources is by recycling, which can also reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Nevertheless, government support and endorsement are needed to enact laws. Enforcing the use of recycled materials and facilitating the transnational movement of recyclables in the recycling industry are essential while avoiding unreasonable restrictions.