There was a time in the 1980s and early 1990s when it was fashionable to tease one’s hair upward and use a spray-on product to keep the hair in place.
And then “fashionable” became “harmful.” Such a product was found to contain CFCs—chlorofluorocarbons —that were harmful to the ozone layer. Over time, women learned to let their hair down. For other uses, CFCs gave way to HFCs, or hydrofluorocarbons.
HFCs are used in cooling equipment such as air conditioners and refrigerators, as well as foam blowing agents, aerosols, fire protection equipment. The most important feature was that these did not do the ozone layer harm.
Years later, however, HFC was found to do something equally, if not more, damaging to the environment. It spews greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, which is the primary cause of climate change. HFCs, which stay around 15 years in the atmosphere, are 14,800 times more potent than carbon.
Worse, the use of HFCs is increasing, especially in India, China and Southeast Asia. Experts say HFC consumption is expected to grow 36-75 percent by 2020.
“We can no longer point to the industrialized countries on this one,” said Jessica Dator Bercilla, Climate Change Advisor for Asia and the Middle East for Christian Aid, at a forum last month. Her organization is a member of the Asia Climate Change Consortium.
HFCs currently make up a small percentage of carbon emissions, but the contribution is projected to increase to between 7 percent and 19 percent by 2050.
We know all too well what the warming of the planet means—warmer seas, more frequent and more intense storms that translate into greater damage and greater toll on lives. This is more pronounced in countries that do not have the wherewithal to mitigate risks, prepare for disasters, respond when they do occur and rebuild and rehabilitate in its aftermath.
Countries like the Philippines.
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That forum was the first in the Climate Cafe series of Climate Stories PH, an informal gathering to find ways to communicate climate issues to more Filipinos. A mix of advocates, scientists, and communicators gathered to talk about the phasedown of HFC—and what can be done about it.
Phasing down HFCs would help bring down the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius—anything higher than that would have catastrophic repercussions, scientists agree.
“It’s a moral imperative,” said Bercilla.
In fact, it’s a global moral imperative, which explains the existence of the Kigali Agreement, coming into force January of 2019. Unfortunately the Philippines has not yet acceded to this.
Meanwhile, what can we do?
Bercilla can think of a few everyday examples: Don’t turn up air conditioning units when you don’t have to. She noted that offices and meeting rooms at least in the capital are way too cold that people have to wear layers of clothing. Teach our bodies to adopt thermally. “Allow your body to perspire and just take lots of water so you don’t dehydrate.”
Some establishments have already stopped the use of cooling devices, and major manufacturers have stopped using HFC-powered products, but many older models, and those bought second-hand, still have them.
There is an ongoing campaign at the Senate to get the Philippines on board the Kigali pact, which would formalize the government’s commitment to the phasedown and lay down a plan on how exactly to do it.
Climate change, generally, and HFCs, specifically, need to be kept alive in conversations so that people’s representatives—lawmakers, specifically —would do their part.
Certainly, numerous other issues compete for the attention of citizens and their leaders. Some of them are white noise and are of little consequence, even as they are played up because of their appeal to readers or viewers.
In the case of HFCs, the consequences may seem too far off to contemplate—until we experience the next big typhoon and see loss of lives and livelihoods anew. And then perhaps we can be reminded that while the situation is dire, there remain opportunities for us to do something to stem the tide.
