When the weather gets too hot for even a koala to bear, the going gets tough down under. There’s a danger of heat stroke and dehydration, but also of bush fires and your car breaking down. It’s easy to see the problems Australians face each day out there in the hot sun. A simple mental juxtaposition with roast chicken suffices to bring to mind the challenges associated with the rising heights of mercury in Australia.

But it’s not all doom and gloom in the Aussie cauldron, however. When it’s bubbling and troubling outside, you will always find Australians doing what they excel at: making the best of the rugged environment given to them. When it’s hot, Australians make it a time to go for an evening stroll, letting the cooler nights linger on their backs. It’s a change from our usual winter habits when we’d all be bundled up indoors at night. Summer is also the time for us to go enjoy the beach, get a tan, and have fun in the surf and sand. It’s a time when we like to talk about the weather, and have deep meaningful conversations about the heat. More than anything else, the weather brings people together in Australia, rather than separating us. That is one thing about climate change: the more it puts the Earth in disarray, the greater its potential to bring people together for a single purpose and cause. Global climate change, the phenomenon that is sweeping the world off its feet in alarm, is bringing us closer towards having a common purpose of saving the Earth for future generations. It is helping us sow the seeds of great international relationships and setting the stage for new international agreements to be erected. It is pushing countries to get past their old policy banners to take new stances on controlling carbon emissions and pollution. We cannot ignore the effects of global climate change and how it has already started to change our weather patterns just within a few years. Things are clearly different now. People in many parts of the world don’t remember it being so hot ever before. And perhaps now, what people will remember and talk about is what they are going to do to stop global warming. Then in the future, they can recall fondly not only what they did on those hot Sundays at the beach, but also what they did to prevent the temperatures from rising further. They can share stories about how we all survived as if we had erupted triumphant from the fires of hell.

As I write this, it is hot today. Smoldering hot, in fact. But trouble doesn’t brew in this cauldron. Only the taste of summer roast chicken, cool punch, and the smell of the beach.

_________________________________________________________________________

*David Ma is a student of University of New South Wales, Australia, and a member of C:F community.