Waste not, want not 不省油的燈和人

I woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops hitting the roof. This is a reminder of how Munich hasn’t received any rain in an unusually dry month since I come back from my holidays.

And before this rain, everyday has been beautiful and warm, even with a hint of early summer in the air (remember we’re talking about Germany!) These days feel extra lovely with plenty of flowers blossoming everywhere. I should have been overjoyed, except I immediately related this unusually warm weather to the series of abnormal weather events around the world. Crazy weather seems to be happening more frequently and ferociously, and is, in all likelihood, a nasty consequence of global warming. I am actually rather concerned that our future weather will only become crazier.

You don’t need to be reminded that global warming will run amok unless we reduce the production of the greenhouse gases, and we all have a role to play in curbing the emission. But as you know, it’s often easier said than done. I didn’t finish work until about 10 p.m. this Thursday, and to my shock and horror one of the labs were still very well lit even though no one was working. Without thinking, I switched the lights off immediately. I suspected the lights had been on for one or two hours, as the colleagues working in that lab normally don’t work so late. It's probably not in the job description of the security personnel to chase the wally wasting energy!

I shouldn’t be pointing my fingers only at other people, though. As soon as I finished my experiments on Friday, I got dragged into a conversation with my Dutch friend. We must have had a good chat, so much that the machine and the lights of that room have been left switched on but idle for more than an hour. How I have become another culprit involved in destroying the environment!

In these days when global warming will only become a more serious threat, it’s everyone’s responsibility to help arrest or even reverse this worrying trend. I always remind myself to the right thing – however trivial that may be – but the future of the Earth is also in your hands! So let’s all do something to help ourselves.


今早一覺醒來，但聞屋簷滴滴答答的響。回慕尼黑快一個月了，這還是第一次下雨，可不尋常呢。

而下雨前日子，差不多每天都風和日麗，而且和煦，有點初夏的感覺（德國而言），再加上四周百花綻放，很是可愛，本應叫人大喜過望，但我旋即聯想到全世界氣候反常的情況愈演愈烈，這個不尋常地暖的春天，也許是氣候變化的其中一個現象，又想起氣候變化是全球變暖的苦果，真的擔心將來的天氣祇會愈來愈瘋顛！

控制全球變暖有賴減少溫室氣體排放，早是老生常談，而減排也要靠每人自覺，相信無人不曉，不過也是說易行難，本週四到晚上十點才下班，驚然發覺有些實驗室無人工作也仍亮燈，相信也有一、兩小時（該實驗室的同事平常不會這麼晚才下班），便趕緊把燈關掉。負責巡邏的保安員，大概祇管捉賊而不會理會有誰浪費能源吧。

我也不應祇顧數他人不是，週五下午剛做好一個實驗，便被荷蘭朋友抓了去聊天，怎料一聊便不祇一個小時，那台機器和房間的燈一直開着但在閒置，我便如此做了破壞環境的幫兇！

在預見氣候變化祇會愈趨嚴重的年頭兒，可謂「地球興亡，匹夫有責」，我也提醒自已，得出一分力時且出力，那管祇是綿力而已，但地球的前途，正掌握在你我手中！願與大家共勉。