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As I walk down the streets of Hanoi (Hà Nội, in Vietnamese), I can see that preparations for Tết—the Vietnamese New Year—are in full swing. In Viet Nam, Tết is by far the most important holiday of the year, and celebrations last for many weeks; in North American terms, it’s Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and New Year rolled up into one. People are stocking up food, buying clothes for their children, and lining up in the banks to make sure they’re debt-free when the celebrations start.

The date of Tết depends on the cycle of the moon and occurs sometime in late January or early February each year. Generally it coincides with the date of the Chinese New Year. However, thanks to the one-hour time difference between Beijing and Hanoi, the dates of the two celebrations occasionally vary.

Traditionally, Tết is considered the first day of spring, and it used to coincide with the blossoming of hoa đào, a peach flower whose blossom represents the start of the New Year. Unfortunately, the blossoming of hoa đào is nowadays out of synch with Tết. The culprit: global warming.

In Hanoi, blossoms of the peach flower are by far the most visible sign of Tết preparations, and all Vietnamese decorate their homes with a bunch of hoa đào. The blossoms not only symbolize the beginning of the new year, but also signify prosperity and well-being for the family. According to tradition, the longer a bush of hoa đào lasts, the more prosperous the family will be in the coming year.

Until recently, the flowers would start blossoming in early February at the start of Tết, thereby aligning with the start of a new year. Nowadays, that is no longer the case. Because of rising temperatures, hoa đào starts blossoming several weeks before Tết and the Vietnamese are upset about it. They feel that global warming has spoiled a cherished, age-old tradition.

Unfortunately, there is more bad news to come. According to a report by Vietnam's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (pdf), recent research by the World Bank indicates that a sea-level rise of one meter would displace almost 10 million people in Viet Nam—a higher number than in any other country.

For the time being, the damage that global warming has caused here is largely spiritual. However, significant material damage may follow if the world does not take drastic steps to reduce the looming adverse impacts of climate change.

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