It seems like an utter waste
I don’t have fluency in Spanish, nor Català, to research into whether if the municipal water in Catalonia is actually portable, but it does appear to me that among all the people I know in this region, everybody tells me not to drink water out of the tap, and that all the households I’ve been to, depends on bottled water as their primary source of potable water.
It’s one of those things that I don’t understand: if it’s possible to build the infrastructure to pipe water to every home in urban regions, why would it not be a consideration to make sure that the water is drinkable at source before piping it out?
Aside from shipping costs moving water around, it isn’t an efficient thing to do at a personal level as well. On a regular basis, one will have to drive/walk/lift their daily water needs from the shops to their homes. Imagine having to carry 5-6 liters of water once every 2-3 days, and keep in mind that many houses in this region do not have lifts either; how difficult or different would this be, compared with trying to draw water up from a well?
That and all the single-use plastics generated just to store water, it’s no wonder why mother nature has been fuming at us lately.
Heatwave in Catalonia
It seems like Womanfriend and I got in at just the ‘right’ time while a massive heatwave is set to arrive around these regions. The temperature has been ranging from mid thirties up to the forties, which isn’t a common experience, even for someone who grew up understanding how the heat is like in the tropics.
It isn’t horrible, comparatively even from milder temperatures with high humidity, as sweat is still easily dissipated in this dry heat. However, you wouldn’t want to be in direct exposure from the sun for too long as it would get unbearable relatively quickly.
Think my Irish friends appreciate that it is only a balmy 14°C in Dublin at the moment, but even in this heat, I’m still enjoying being able to be around in shorts & T-shirts, to be able to sleep in the evening without covers and being able to keep windows opened and let fresh air in most of the day without having to shudder and reach for another piece of clothing just to keep myself warm.
Where shall I be?
Even though it’s uncertain how negatively this climate change issue will impact the world, it is clear that we’re already experiencing some of the initial stages of this outcome. Sooner or later, I will have to make a decision on how best to address this new climate reality.
But one thing seems clear in my mind so far - the prospect of returning to Singapore seems dimmer as time goes. While the country is taking proactive steps in managing its climate future, this does not eliminate the fact that what we can do is only for mitigation. It is likely that weather will be inhospitable for daily outdoor activities, and if so, will be a severe reduction to the quality of life.
With all other places around the Mediterranean as well as the Americas' on fire, there’s really few little choices to avoid this climate catastrophe. Maybe, just maybe, Ireland might just become the new Mediterranean of Europe where I’ll do just fine, but for the sake of our collective future, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, even though the realist at the back of my head thinks we’ve already gone past the event horizon.
