Adjusting to cold weather
According to media reports, the cold snap from Jan. 7 to 9 resulted in the sudden deaths of more than 100 people. While the nation is engaged in collective self-satisfied backslapping over Taiwan’s excellent management and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic — which has resulted in one of the lowest death rates from the virus of any nation — we should take care not to neglect the challenge of extreme weather caused by global warming.
It is already well-documented that global warming is causing constantly rising average temperatures across the planet, producing hotter and increasingly unbearable summers, and also causing the rapid melting of glaciers and icebergs at the north and south poles, as well as of high-altitude glaciers around the world.
However, while winters are becoming warmer, when a cold weather front hits, temperatures plummet more quickly, resulting in even more severe cold.
At the same time, global warming is also causing extremes in rainfall, resulting in more frequent and severe droughts and torrential rain that triggers mudslides.
These extreme weather patterns are also having a major impact on the environment, animal husbandry and agriculture, and are also affecting industrial production, as all manufacturing industries require massive amounts of water.
In the past, Taiwan used to be ill-prepared to deal with the challenge of climate change. Not only is the population used to the subtropical weather and therefore finds it difficult to adjust to sudden falls in temperature: Some of my foreign friends who reside in Taiwan have been complaining that as temperatures have fallen to about 7°C in the flatland areas this winter, the cold has been even more unbearable than the sub-zero degree winters experienced in the US, Europe and other countries in the northern hemisphere.
The reason for this is that Taiwan’s buildings, cars and buses are designed to be heat-resistant and therefore lack sufficient protection against the cold. Taiwanese houses lack central heating, coal or log fires, heated seats or other accoutrements that make cold winters more bearable.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the icing-up at the Yushan Meteorological Station as a result of insufficient heating equipment, as reported by Chinese-language news Web site Storm Media last week.
As is usual in Taiwan during winter, despite the particularly cold weather this year, many office blocks still have to keep their air-conditioning systems running to aid air circulation.
Both the government and the private sector are going to have to do more to prepare Taiwan for the effects of continued climate change and extreme weather patterns, and they must install the equipment and facilities required to cope with these changes. Climate change is upon us, and Taiwan needs to start adjusting now.
Lin Tsai-hsing
Tainan
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