By Ennan Qiu

Why, why, why? Why open the windows and wear Siberian winter gear just so you can blast air-con at 16 degrees? Why pull down the blinds and block out all sunlight, then turn on all the lights?

Some teachers are throwing away school money and squandering the world’s carbon budget.

Global carbon emissions are set to rise 16% by 2030 in spite of a multitude of new plans to limit climate change, according to a United Nations report in September. Scientists project that considering our current futile policies to cut emissions, global temperatures could still rise by 3.9 degrees Celsius, which would be nothing short of catastrophic. In comparison, the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees would already lead to 2-3 metres of sea-level rise, drowning huge swaths of Hong Kong.

Some of the effects of climate change are already irreversible for centuries to millennia. At 2 degrees of warming, food and health systems are likely to buckle, causing widespread world hunger and food insecurity, even in developed countries. We, as the affluent in developed countries, will be responsible for the imminent ecological collapse which will occur if we refuse to take transformative action immediately.

Some teachers seem indifferent to not only the mass extinction the world is facing but also our very own mission statement:

On the week from the 17th to the 23rd of October, the temperature in Sha Tin District dropped to 16.6 degrees celsius. Despite this, some of my teachers inexplicably felt the need to open all the windows while simultaneously blasting air-con, converting the pleasantly cool classroom into a commercial freezer. They huddled away in their arctic clothing while their students glaciated. After meticulous scrutiny by psychologists from all over the world, the only possible explanation for such bewildering behaviour is that my teachers are in fact fervid environmentalists operating a complex carbon capture machine, chilling their classrooms to 78.5 degrees below in an effort to lock carbon away as dry ice. However, they failed to take into consideration the vast amounts of energy required to operate the carbon capture system, which was so inefficient that it is being used as a model by the Australian government.

To avoid slaughtering your students and accelerating an unmitigated environmental collapse, I appeal to teachers at RCHK to not convert classrooms into dry ice freezers and instead utilise either the natural air conditioning system known as winter, or fans, which are far more energy-efficient. I would also like to make the audacious request that you consider opening the blinds on bright days instead of paying for fossil fuels to be burnt and our planet to be choked.

P.S. it would be great if you could spend three seconds to turn off the lights and air-con as you leave the classroom!