Beat the Heat (and Haze) with COPE

Extending learning beyond NLB Storytelling@Bedok Library

If you’ve stepped outside in Singapore recently and noticed the skyline looking a little hazier than usual, you’re not imagining it. Our nation island’s 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) crossed into “Unhealthy” zone in early September 2026, driven by smoke drifting over from forest and peatland fires in neighbouring Indonesia. This year’s El Niño — a powerful “super” event on top of a developing positive Indian Ocean Dipole — has made the region hotter and drier, turning a perennial practice of human land-clearing fires into a much larger transboundary environmental and health hazard.

For families, this is more than just a reason to check the PSI readings before letting the kids play outdoors — it’s a timely reminder of why climate literacy and disaster preparedness matter from a young age.

That’s exactly the mission behind Beat the Heat with COPE, a book reading session held on 1st August 2026 at Bedok Library, organised by the National Library Board (NLB) in partnership with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) UniLEARN and COPE Disaster Champions Teams. Led by COPE Ambassador Sia Chae, the session brought COPE: Heatwaves to life for children aged 3 to 12, helping them understand why extreme heat happens and practical ways to stay cool and hydrated. It’s the kind of everyday knowledge that becomes all the more relevant as El Niño pushes global temperatures up in the region.

Storytelling events like this provide a wonderful opportunity to foster curiosity in the minds of our young ones. Alongside Heatwaves, is a collection of other eBook titles such as Wildfires, Floods, Landslides, Storm Surges, and Climate Change — with each book describing a new adventure led by the COPE Squad to different parts of the world – inviting young readers to learn how such natural hazards occur and how each of us can better prepare ourselves to minimise risks associated with such calamities. The SUSS UniLEARN COPE eBook collection is freely available at unilearn.edu.sg/partners-cope.

Tips on Next Steps

• Read together. Explore the free COPE eBooks with your children and talk about the causes of each hazard — including how El Niño and human lifestyle choices make such calamities more likely and the consequences more dire.
• Talk about the “why.” Use real events — like this year’s haze in Singapore as well as the recent Nepal flooding tragedy or Anak Krakatau eruption— as a good entry point to explain climate patterns and why preparedness matters.
• Look out for opportunities to make a difference. We can each do our part to reduce the adverse impact of climate change on our environment. Check out practical tips from COPE: Climate Change. Draw inspiration from Sia on her contributions.

VIDEO: Sia Chae shares her inspiration behind her role as Ping

As El Niño reshapes weather patterns across Southeast Asia, building climate awareness early isn’t just an academic exercise — it’s also learning and taking practical steps in disaster risk reduction. And thanks to partnerships like SUSS UniLEARN, NLB, and COPE, that practical lesson is just a free eBook or a Saturday morning storytelling session away.

Explore the COPE eBooks: unilearn.edu.sg/partners-cope

Download the COPE Disaster Book Series: https://cope-disaster-champions.com/