Indeed it was a sad 2019 for many people around the world; especially those who are concern with our environment. Fire was raging in Australia, Borneo, Brazil and in tropical Africa destroying precious jungles and forests due to global warming. The building up of carbon dioxide due to these burning perpetuated the problem as carbon dioxide itself trapped the heat of the earth.
I think Australians are still choking right now since the fire hadn’t stop. While the Australian fires are natural (actually deliberate too if we considered the problem of global warming), we in Borneo felt the same way back then in September-October 2019 as the fire was deliberately started by unscrupulous businessmen involved in palm oil plantations. Palm oil planters in Sabah are the culprit responsible not only for the burning of large track of jungles, but also driving out the animal into extinction due to the clearing. They are also partly responsible for killing the wild animals such as elephants because the animals destroyed their crops they say! So every month, we hear elephants in Borneo being killed!
How I wish Father Christmas, the knight in shining red shirt, instead of delivering presents, bring the snow from the north and south poles and doze it over the flame burning around the world. But! Wait! Oh! No! Father Christmas himself is facing critical problem as his home in the Arctic is also melting… at a rapid pace! Soon Father Christmas himself will have to seek refuge in the Himalayas because the melting snow in the poles will drive the sea to rise thus submerging the coastal lowlands!
Despite being pessimistic about the future of our environment, I really hope that next year in 2020 and beyond will be a better year for the people on this planet. Many populist governments around the globe think global warming is a hoax. However, I hope after seeing all the environmental destruction around, they will take a more serious views of how to overcome this crisis.
So once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!
