We're all slowly boiling, like frogs

'We are afflicted with the boiling frog syndrome, in that we are not aware our living conditions are deteriorating,' says a heat resilience expert about climate change. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

The rice crops shrank and the padi dried up. The eggs got smaller and production declined. The vegetables wilted and fish washed up dead on beaches. These calamitous scenes were all seen in this region in April during a brutal heatwave.

The heat severely impacted crops in Vietnam, a major rice producer, and led to a state of emergency. Smaller egg sizes became more prevalent in the Philippines, as chickens lost their appetite in the intense heat, the Philippine Egg Brand Association said. On beaches in Penang, small dead fish were seen, such as kitang or gelama, which live near the shore where seawater gets warmer.