Rain

Raymund Fernandez

It is around this time of year when things fall into place for the rest of the year. The minutes, the hours, the days fall like rain. The world becomes shades of blue and grey. Who said there is no winter here? There is. This is it.

Bad time for depressives. But there you are. It has been raining for days exacerbating the perennial shortage of things to wear. But this is only harbinger for other thoughts. And the saddest ones can always be found in the papers.

An increase of electric power rates is now almost inevitable. Government is considering emergency powers for the President to legally keep down the cost of power. But this option might prove quite dangerous for him. P-Noy is suffering another major dip in his popularity ratings. According to energy officials, the real solution is to build more power plants. Over the years the demand for power has increased, outstripping the capacity of existing plants to generate power. Which seems only to be expected if the economy is indeed growing as fast as the government has claimed.

But it is not as simple as that. There has been some opposition to the building of power plants especially if they are to be built inside the vicinity of one’s own neighborhood. Power plants, unless they are geothermal plants are always messy. They pollute the air and contribute to global warming whether they are diesel or coal-fired plants. And yet, the existing alternatives to these are so far not commercially viable. Considering the periodic earthquakes here and our people’s innate incapacity for discipline, nuclear power plants should not even be considered beyond the bounds of a mental whisper. And even that ought be presented with a measure of shy embarrassment if it is to be received in good taste.

And so we are left with diesel or coal-fired plants, which to be sure leads to global warming, which in turn contributes to the warming of the waters of the Pacific where superstorms grow from the temperature differentials of wind and water.

We are not supposed to find solace from the fact most of the greenhouse gases floating about now on the planet are produced by countries like China and the US, countries of advanced economies. We ourselves produce only a tiny, almost microscopic percentage of those greenhouse gases. And so the logic that goes: Why should we sacrifice anything at all for the cause of reducing greenhouse gas emission? Why should our economy be capped? Why should we restrain ourselves that way?

Well the best reason is that we are the first who are likely to suffer the results of global warming on this side of the planet. Any typhoon coming out of the Pacific is bound directly for us.

We are the typhoon gateway. The next Yolanda is in the offing. That die was cast long ago.

But in the meantime, the threat of periodic brownouts. Which, as might be expected, leads to a shortage of water, and consequently after that, the shortage of things to wear for school or work. No need to argue how the cost of power or the lack of it affects us. The question is, Does it affect all of us in the same way or at least to an equal degree?

It would be nice if we could trust the government to distribute both misery and benefit equitably and rationally. Unfortunately, such is not the case and so we find ourselves taking all these in stride even when we half-suspect, there will be many who will make a profit from all these. We know how bad things are, but why allow this to bring us into despair and depression?

Better to think it is just the rain which makes us feel this way.