'I can hardly breathe': Tales from a nation scorched by global warming

Plus, help is on the way for overheated apartments and Tesla sued for (gasp!) pollution.

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Record-breaking heat has been brutal this spring in South and Southeast Asia, including Manila, above. Photo: Ray in Manila/flickr.

In early 2019, not long before Covid and shortly after I had lost a longstanding job, I decided to take what my wife describes as a “walkabout” of South East Asia, a region I had long wanted to visit.

One of my favorite places along the way was the Philippines. It had amazing scenery, beaches almost beyond imagination and some of the friendliest people on Earth.

And in this latter regard, I have stayed in touch with several of them, exchanging — in addition to family news and such — tales of woe as the pandemic hit and general elections and their aftermaths roiled both nations.

But I have never had as much correspondence with my Philippines pals as in the last month or so. “Matthew, I can hardly breathe,” one of them wrote. “It’s so hot.”