Complacency

Main Entry: com·pla·cen·cy
Pronunciation: \-sən(t)-sē\
Function: noun

1 : self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies
2 : an instance of complacency

On second thought, I need not define anything for anyone. People only need to look around and see the word in wondrous action.

Case #1

Lily always liked the McDonald's beverages. Coke Floats, pineapple juices, milkshakes---she loves them all. She's aware she could drink them without plastic straws, but she goes ahead and uses them anyway. She knows how her lips would look like when it's wrapped around a straw. She needs a boyfriend after all.

Complacency.


Case #2

Mario, the environmentalist, has many eco-bags at home. However, he rarely uses them, partly because his friends once laughed at him for shopping with them, partly because he didn't want to lug them around. In the end, he accumulates more plastic bags than his trash bin could handle.

Complacency.


Case #3

Manang Mila hates mosquitoes. Every afternoon, she burns leaves in an effort to drive them away, instead of investing in repellents.

Complacency.


Complacency will kill us all.

Stars and Skies

Climate change had all Filipinos at its feet last month. There’s nothing else for it, typhoons with voluminous rains smashing the archipelago in record time.

When the planet was healthier, super typhoons were more predictable.

September's catastrophe hammers home a point scientists have been babbling about since time immemorial; climate change is more than melting glaciers and drowning cities. Climate change means coral reefs bleaching, which in turn means a food web in disarray. It means the wipeout of a huge chunk of the world’s flora and fauna, not to mention a certain species called Homo sapien. Death. Destruction. Corrosion...

Climate change does not reckon with any creature, even if it has starred in a box-office movie, nor does it care if it has been decked out in the latest bling.

As a case in point:

Christine Reyes, highly esteemed star of telenovelas and films, at the mercy of the elements.

An unwitting poster girl for a planet in peril.

Climate change really is a lethal equalizer. If the SNN newscasts were to let on, showbiz personalities were not impervious to the Ondoy disaster, notwithstanding their towers of ivory and three-storey mansions. Everyone from Sylvia Sanchez to Gladys Reyes had a story and lived to tell it.

On a brighter note, some rose higher than the floodwaters, way above the average moral high ground. Look at these two:



What they did was really dangerous. And the best thing about it was that they never vaunted their actions to the press, unlike one other well-known actor.

Like I said, an equalizer.

A Glimpse on Bioethanol

by: Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

Bioethanol is a fuel derived from renewable sources of feedstock. It is primarily created through a sugar fermentation process. Energy crops are the main sources of sugar required to create ethanol. Examples of these crops are corn, maize and wheat crops, waste straw, willow and popular trees, sawdust, reed canary grass, cord grasses, jerusalem artichoke, myscanthus and sorghum plants. Since bioethanol is derived from plants, it has enhanced the 'Lifecycle Carbon Dioxide' performance. This for the reason that the plants being utilized as feedstock use carbon dioxide. Thus, burning the fuel produces carbon dioxide which is then balanced by carbon dioxide taken from the air.

Bioethanol is therefore, good for the environment because the carbon dioxide emissions are reduced. An order from the European Union was issued to support the development of biofuel. Provided that the amount of fuel in not above 5 percent by volume, then bioethanol can be combined with petrol. This makes it a convenient, clean, and environmentally sound alternative for fossil fuels.

The proposal of bioethanol as a replacement fuel is not just about cost reduction but how it can also help the environment. According to the University of Surrey, these ‘environmental gains’ are the following:

*Reduction in consumption of fossil fuels

*Greener emissions when burnt in comparison to petrol

*Greener process, less waste and harmful emissions during production

*Less pollution to water, air and land

*Production of useful by-products

*Biodegradable fuel

*Cleaner power generation from CHP replacing electricity from the grid.

Thus, bioethanol is advantageous for the environment.

Coral Triangle

by: Charise G. Bollozos

Six Southeast Asian governments are trying to save the undersea worlds that is threatened to be lost due to changes in the environment and because of human irresponsibility.
They have launched the project Coral Triangle as an initiative to protect coastal reefs.

The countries of Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor adopted a 10 year plan to conserve the ocean. The Coral Triangle aims to address the growing threats to the regions coral reefs and coastal ecosystem.

These countries are mostly archipelagic countries so most of the people who live near the shore depend on the ocean for livelihood. I think it is just right that they do all the necessary things to preserve the ocean. There has been a great deterioration of the coral reefs over the years due to natural causes and of course, destructions made by humans. A lot of the fishermen from these countries still use destructive method of fishing like dynamite fishing and the use of poisonous chemicals. Another factor that has caused the coral reefs to be destroyed is the change in environment like the rise in temperature and change in acidity level, but of course we can still blame ourselves for this because these are all results of global warming.

If coral reefs are destroyed then the fishes will not have any place to live in. As a result people who depend on fishing for a living won’t have any form of livelihood. Having this 10 year coral triangle plan to rehabilitate the ocean is a very good idea. It is just right that we take care of the ocean most especially of we depend on it to be able to live.

Recycled Plastic Bridges

By: Charise G. Bollozos

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers together with Marc Green, President of Axion International collaborated to build a bridge made of recycled plastic bottles and plastic car bumpers.

These bridges are mainly composed of detergent bottles and car bumpers and is said to be strong enough to hold up a 73 ton Abrams tank. The recycled bridge takes only a month to build and is more cost efficient than wooden bridges.

Although building a recycled plastic bridge may sound fun and easy, the whole process is complicated. The process will start by melting the plastic detergent bottles which will then produce polyethylene. Liquid polystyrene and fiber glass from car bumpers should then be mixed with the polyethylene in a hot tank and then the mixture is formed into whatever shape is needed.

The challenge here is that polyethylene and liquid polystyrene is like water and oil. They don’t mix. So to be able to get the mixture a special heating condition is needed and thus will make the plastic very strong, strong enough to hold a tank.

Well, this is something that should also inspire other countries to be more conscious about the environment. Although i'm pretty sure that for developing countries like the Philippines this is just yet a dream though this should serve as our inspiration.

More bridges from recycled plastic should be made. It is like hitting two birds with one stone. We can lessen our use of lumber which of course will benefit us a lot in our fight against deforestation and we will also lessen pollution from plastic which is said to be the number 1 pollutant in our bodies of water. These bridges are also resistant to molds, moisture and termites which means that it requires less maintenance.

Plastiki

By: Charise G. Bollozos


David de Rothschild a British environmentalist wants to deliver a message in a bottle. He has built a 60 foot long boat made out of plastic bottles. The boat will sail from San Francisco to Australia. They named the boat "Plastiki".

The boat is made up of 12 and a half thousand of 2 liter plastic bottles that will act as individual buoyancy chambers. One of their challenges was to find something that is environmentally friendly that will hold all the bottles together. They have come up with water proof glue that is made from cashew nuts and sugar, thus making the whole boat environmentally friendly.

David de Rothschild is also the founder of the group Adventure Ecology. The group’s aim is to influence school children to give more interest to environmental issues. Indeed building this boat will sure catch some attention not just from the school children but even older people. If they will succeed in their journey from San Francisco to Australia then this will prove that building a boat from plastic bottles is a good idea in helping our environment.

This is a very good way of recycling and not to mention e very unique way of sailing that will surely encourage other people to build boats such as Plastiki. This will help in our ever growing problem with plastics. Finally plastics will be able to float in ocean without being considered as trash. I’m really hoping that Plastiki will have a smooth sailing journey so that other people will be inspired to build more boats from plastic bottles.

World Environment Day

by Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

What is World Environment Day?

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.This is commemorated every 5th of June.

This is one way by which the United Nations can raise environmental awareness among people in the society, as well as to gain political attention and action on environmental issues.

The agenda of WED are the following:

1. Give a human face to environmental issues;
2. Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;
3. Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;
4. Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

This year's WED theme is 'Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It views the need for countries to have a consensus on the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen, later somewhere in December this year. In addition, it will also include battling poverty and forest management and improvements.

Mexico hosted this year’s celebration in the fight against climate change.The country is also a leading partner in UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign. It has spearheaded the pledging and planting of some 25 per cent of the trees under the campaign which is also supported by its president, Felipe Calderon. He said that the WED celebration will further underline Mexico's determination to manage natural resources and deal with the most demanding challenge of the 21st century – climate change.

Let's make everyday a World Environment Day! :)

When Earth is bigger than the universe

Like so many gay people, I look forward to the Miss Universe tilts each year with the religious fervor of a saint. Alright, maybe not as fervent as for Charmed or Survivor, but excited all the same. Amazingly enough, I am excited for the yearly Miss U as much as my sister is excited for UAAP. Talk about baliktaran.

Lately, I have been enamored with the Miss Earth pageants.


It has yet to approximate Miss U in terms of glamour, to say nothing of the prizes at stake. Nevertheless, Miss Earth is a joy to watch.

Part of my fervor for the Miss Earth pageant has to do with a little bit of ethnocentrism. You see, the company that owns Miss Earth is not based in America or Europe, but right here in the Philippines.

In other words, Miss Earth is a Philippine pageant. Carousel Productions, a Manila-based company led by Ramon Monzon and Lorraine Schuck, owns it.

Miss Earth prides itself as a reworking of the concept of beauty contests. It gets its candidates to promote environmental awareness and take part in preservation campaigns. On top of the customary beauty and brains, Miss Earth is clearly on the lookout for an environmentalist’s goodness.

(By promoting environmental awareness, Miss Earth probably meant longer question-and-answer portions. Just kidding.)

I had always thought the works of the winning Miss Earth contestant represent little more than symbolic efforts to protect the environment. Yet when I watched her grueling schedule on TV, I thought to myself, gee, they must really mean business. In fact, organizers put up the Miss Earth Foundation in 2004 to institutionalize the pageant’s environmental cause.

Since its first pageant in 2001, Miss Earth has risen to become one of the world’s “Big Four” beauty competitions. In fact, it now ranks the third-largest in the world, a factory of beauties to rival those in Miss Universe and Miss World.



My only reservation is that the Philippines has been host of the pageant since 2001. It has never been held outside the country. On the brighter side, such arrangement has showcased the country’s tourist spots for seven years in a row now. Still I am not impressed by the telecast at all, with its gazillions of ads and cheap titles.

The 2009 Miss Earth would be aired live from Boracay in November.

What Happened in The Happening

Myhowtimeflies!

Just over a year ago, I dragged my friend along to a screening of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening.



I had resolved to come to the cinemas in full support of this director’s bid for redemption, which was highly essential after the box-office bomb that was Lady In The Water.

Alas, not even a sage-acting Mark Whalberg could salvage Shyamalan’s reputation, which had gone on a downward trajectory since 2004’s The Village. The Happening’s critical notices read like those for Mariah Carey’s Glitter or Kevin Costner’s Waterworld.

In the end, Shyamalan’s greatest claims to fame remain 1999’s The Sixth Sense and 2002’s Signs, one of my favorite movies ever. Nevertheless, the box-office returns of The Happening were a tad better than Lady In The Water.

In spite of it all, I cut the film some slack. I mean, Shyamalan himself conceded The Happening should play out like a B movie. (spoiler ahead!) The film’s premise—that the earth’s atmosphere could turn people suicidal—was attractive enough without my sympathy for the director. Somehow, I enjoyed the film, down to James Newton Howard’s haunting score. But a Signs, it is not.

Running with gale force throughout the film was an undercurrent of environmentalism. Near the film’s end, two people on TV were shown debating whether or not the airborne “suicide virus” was nature’s way of avenging humankind’s excesses.

Other than that, Shyamalan never gave the cause of the film’s visceral, apocalyptic scenario. Yet it doesn’t take gusts of killer wind for moviegoers to extract a cautionary tale out of the film.

For all we know, by some mechanism from god-knows-where, the planet could turn against all its human inhabitants. It could decimate every one of us, not caring how large or small our carbon footprints are. In that case, Shyamalan may have made a horror film miles better than An Inconvenient Truth.

Understanding Sustainable Development

by: Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

Nowadays, the place we live in has become so modernized. Everything seems convenient with the technology fed to us that greatly satisfies our every need. Sounds great, right? Yet, are we aware of the perils our environment would be facing due to some harsh effects of modernization? This is where the context of sustainable development comes in.

What then is sustainable development?

Sustainable development is maintaining a delicate balance between the human need to improve lifestyles and feeling of well-being on one hand, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and future generations depend. This means that we must adopt lifestyles and accept developments that respect nature. In addition to this, we are able to meet our everyday needs without compromising our environment.Our day-to-day activities and the natural world must have a stable relationship to not prevent the future generations from enjoying the quality of life that we have right now.

I personally believe that sustainable development must be inculcated in the minds of the people. We must be responsible enough to manage the risks of technology. We should meet essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water, and sanitation. Individual participation in political decisions and policies that affect our lives is very important, especially of those that concern our environment. This is definitely a must for achieving sustainable development. We must be careful in not exhausting our natural resources. Above all, we should learn to take part in conserving our planet.Indeed, humanity must share with each other and care for the Earth.

The Green Film Festival in the Philippines

By: Charise Go Bollozos

For the first time the Green Film Festival will be held here in the Philippines. The Green Film Festival is an international film festival staged yearly in different countries, and this year fortunately they chose the Philippines.

8 films will be shown that will tackle environment issues like climate change, scarcity of water, environmental decay and a lot of other things that will try to educate people on how to take care of the environment. Japan, France and the Netherlands are among the countries who contributed films to be shown. It will be screened in selected SM theatres in Luzon and the good thing about this is it’s free.

Since the aim of this Festival is to educate people most specially the young ones or the students regarding the environment the Environment Committee coordinated with the Department of Education to let students watch the films in different batches.

Unfortunately the film festival will only be shown in Luzon, I hope that the people in other parts of the Philippines will also get a chance to see these films. The Environment Committee and the Department of Education should have done something about this. They should have proposed that the films should be shown nationwide. There are still lots people in the rural areas that needs to be educated about the environment. Although it’s a good thing that people are more concerned and are now putting more importance in taking care of the environment. I commend the people behind these films and the ones organizing the festival for giving importance to nature and not just thinking about how to gain monetary profit. It’s a good sign. We should act before it’s already too late.

Giant Ocean Trash Vortex

By: Charise Go Bollozos

The world’s largest dump site is not found on land, but in the ocean. I came across an article about the ocean trash vortex while I was surfing the net. Out of curiosity I researched more about it.

I guess the ocean trash vortex speaks for itself already it is also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is located in the Central Pacific Ocean and it is estimated to be twice the size of Texas. The total area of Texas is 266,807 sq mi or 691,030 sq km. It is said to be the second largest state in the United States after Alaska. So just imagine how vast this garbage patch is. The patch is made up of plastics that have been thrown in the ocean and that has been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. An oceanic gyre is a large scale system of rotating ocean currents.

This patch was for formed gradually over time. Researchers say that 80% of the pollution comes from land and the other 20% from ships at sea. It has been estimated that it will take about 5 years for the currents to carry the trash from the western coast of North America and about 2 years from the east coast of Asia.

There are 5 major oceanic gyres in the world. So this means that if we do not stop throwing our trash in the ocean, most specially plastics, it will not be a surprise that all these gyres will turn into garbage patches as well.

This is very horrifying and not to mention the hazard that this will do to our health. I just can’t imagine swimming in the beach and seeing a plastic island across. This is something that we should be taking seriously. I can’t imagine myself living in a world with no more beautiful beaches to swim with.

the pH Factor

by Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

We probably love when it rains, when raindrops fall on our faces or while we listen to our favorite song on the radio. Yet, are we also aware that it could be acid that falls on our head, carefully concealed in rain drops?

Acid rain is absolutely something we have to look out for.

If you think that you can easily detect acid rain from normal rain,I'm sorry to disappoint you guys but you can't figure out acid rain with your 5 senses. You will need to measure the acidity of the rain through chemical means. The rain's acidity is measured in terms of pH. According to the site, www.peer.tamu.edu., the pH measurement scale is based on logarithms, because the range of possible concentrations of acid is enormous, ranging from none to a whole lot of acid. The scale also runs in the other direction, to include measures for chemicals that have negative acidity (more properly called basic compounds). The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with the value of 7 being neutral (neither acid or base). Numbers from 0 to 7 are acid values and from 7 to 14 are basic values. Normal rain tends to have a pH value of about 5.5.

In addition, it was also stated in the site that the causes of the acid rain are the following:

*Power plants, automobiles, and other sources that burn fossil fuels

*SO2 and NOx released into the air; these compounds dissolve in and react with water in the air, making the water acid

*Rain, sleet, and snow carry the acid back to earth


Acid rain will greatly affect the environment. It was stated from the site previously mentioned, that acid rain eats away at the surface of buildings, especially those made of limestone or marble.Acid rain also affects the acidity of ponds, lakes, and rivers, causing their pH to drop.Some fish, such as bass and trout, are sensitive to changes in pH. Plant life is also damaged by acid rain. Crops, forests, and other plants grow more slowly.


So what shall we do then?

The suggested solutions to reducing acid rain are that we stop burning so much fossil fuel and use more gas-efficient vehicles. In addition, the use of alternate energy forms can also be promoted.

Let's help save our planet Earth!

The Perks of Cycling

by Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

In today's society, cars, jeepneys and the like are the worst pollutants. This is very much seen in cities of which Cagayan de Oro is one. Our polluted atmosphere does not only damage our environment but undeniably it also affects our health and well-being. In addition, the emission from vehicles contain harmful substances. An enormous amount of carbon dioxide will contribute to the degradation of our environment.

So,wanna help the environment? Climb on your bike! Let's set the trend on bicycles as the new cars.

I personally think that for biking to flourish in our communities is very much essential to saving our planet Earth. If you are riding a bicycle there is no combustion of fossil fuel as it would be if you were driving a car. Thus, you are not contributing to global warming.

As stated in the article titled 'Biking saves money and environment' by Lynne Tolman some things to also consider are the following:

* A 10-mile bike trip requires 350 calories of energy. The same trip in an average American car requires 18,600 calories of energy (about half a gallon of gasoline); or 9,200 calories per person by bus, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

* Bicycling costs approximately 13 cents to 15 cents per mile, according to a 1994 study by the Conservation Law Foundation, while driving with no passengers costs 54 cents to 94 cents per mile, depending on the city and the time of day. About 30 cents of that is the cost to the car owner alone, including insurance premiums, and the rest is borne by government (read: taxpayers) and society at large. These costs include building and maintaining roads and parking places, addressing the health and environmental effects of air pollution, and paying for accident consequences not covered by insurance.

* Auto emissions are the No. 1 cause of air pollution. Motor vehicles are responsible for 55 percent of cancer contaminants, greater than any other source, according to the League of American Bicyclists.

Therefore, to preserve our ecosystem riding a bicycle is definitely one great step. Perhaps, with a little change in our day to day activities we can play a role of protecting the Earth in which we live.

Gay Environmentalism

I knew Melissa Etheridge first from watching encores of her 90s hit, “Come to My Window,” on music television. At a time when angst-ridden singers like Alanis Morissette and Jewel ruled the airwaves, I made enough room for Ms Etheridge in my album wish list.

Next, I knew her as the consummate gay activist—Etheridge is openly lesbian, happily married to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. As with all successful gay people, Melissa truly struck a chord with me, although I haven’t gotten to buying any of her albums yet.

Now comes "I Need to Wake Up," a song Etheridge wrote for Al Gore’s environmental documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. It’s a perfectly pitched soundtrack to a perfectly hair-raising film.



“I Need to Wake Up” has all the trappings of a great Etheridge song, a folksy rock opus interspersed with the songstress’ subtle snarls. This time around, those snarls consist not of Sapphic paeans to women, but bombastic battle cries for the environment.

In 2007, it won the Oscar for Best Original Song, besting three nominations from Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson’s musical Dreamgirls. Etheridge’s win marks the first time a soundtrack to a documentary won an Oscar.

Accepting the award, she thanked Gore and memorably said:

Caring about the Earth is not Republican or Democrat. It's not red or blue, it's all green.

Quite apart from anything, Etheridge could never be faulted for hypocrisy; the woman simply puts word—or lyric, for that matter—into action. She went on the road in 2006 and rode biodiesel-fueled vehicles to all her gigs.

I do think that being gay begets environmentalism. In fighting for the ostracized and the disenfranchised, i.e. gays and lesbians, defending the environment comes as a natural consequence. Mother Nature, ever more oppressed in a world that ultimately revolves around straight men, could surely find an ally or two in us.

The Horror of the Greenhouse Effect

by Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

The greenhouse effect as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary is the phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation, caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface. In other words, retention of solar radiation.

According to MSN Encarta, the greenhouse effect results from the interaction between sunlight and the layer of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that extends up to 100 km (60 mi) above Earth’s surface. Sunlight is composed of a range of radiant energies known as the solar spectrum, which includes visible light, infrared light, gamma rays, X rays, and ultraviolet light. When the Sun’s radiation reaches Earth’s atmosphere, some 25 percent of the energy is reflected back into space by clouds and other atmospheric particles. About 20 percent is absorbed in the atmosphere. For instance, gas molecules in the uppermost layers of the atmosphere absorb the Sun’s gamma rays and X rays. The Sun’s ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the ozone layer, located 19 to 48 km (12 to 30 mi) above Earth’s surface.

For over a billion years, the greenhouse effect has warmed our planet. Today there is a great concern on the alteration of this natural process of which the causes are the different activities of humans. In turn, it can also harm us. The more we burn fossil fuels or engage in agricultural land clearing, the more gases are released into the air which include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases build up in the atmosphere and trap more heat near Earth’s surface.So what happens next? The Earth's climate is surely to become warmer than what naturally it is.

Picture yourself living on Earth and the weather is boiling hot. Sounds threatening, huh?

Green Bag It Is!

I went to SM super market a few days ago and I saw a big sign board just as I was about to enter the market premises. It says BYOB or Bring Your Own Bag every Wednesday.

Every Wednesday customers are asked to bring their own bag for their groceries whenever they shop at SM. If they do not have their own bags they can either buy the eco friendly bags also known as the green bag that SM is selling, which costs around Php 35. It may be a bit expensive for a bag but it’s reusable and what’s important is you are not adding pollution to the world. If you do not want to buy the green bag they will let you use the brown paper bag but if you insist in using plastic bags you have to buy them. The price of the plastic bag depends on the size.

I was so happy that finally, this giant corporation is doing something to save the world. Plastic bags are non - biodegradable, it takes about a 1000 years for it to decompose. Plastic bags can also harm animals in the ocean. Many animals mistake them for food, when they ingest the plastic bag the animals die and even after the animals die the plastic bag still remains intact. This means that it still lies around the ocean waiting for the next victim.

I surely do hope that other stores and super markets will follow and will stop using plastic bags.I hope the customers will cooperate too. After all, this is for our own good.


Charise Go Bollozos

To Recycle or Not

by Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

What is recycling?

"Recycling is the conversion of waste products into new materials, such as waste paper which can be converted into new paper goods.We can only say a product has been recycled when it has been purchased and used again." as stated by Andrew Roper in his article from the site www.webschool.org.uk.

It sounds worth doing, right? It seems like it is a very good alternative to just throwing materials after use.

It is beneficial in the sense that it slows the consumption of natural resources. In addition, it saves energy. It promotes scientific advancements in recyclable and biodegradable materials.It also helps to limit the amount of glass, paper and plastic that must be produced. Waste disposal costs are reduced as well as the raw material costs. How cool is that? Brilliant! Isn't it?

We are constantly bombarded with advocacies on recyling materials and the like. In turn, it makes us environmentally aware.

Yet, do you know that recycling has also certain disadvantages? Have we ever thought about that?

Here are some of the downsides of recycling:

1.) A significant percentage of items marked as recyclable end up trashed or burned anyway due to poor quality, contaminants, lack of resources able to handle that item in a specific region or recycling installation,etc.

2.)Establishment of low-quality jobs that include sifting through garbage to separate it, dealing with the toxins from the breakdown process, and other manual-intensive labor tasks;

3.)The recycling process itself produces pollutants consist of chemical stews when breaking down different products;

4.)Twice as many trucks on the road : those collecting garbage and recycled goods piled just cause more pollution.

So,what now? Should we recycle or not? Well,it's up to us to decide on the good and bad of recycling.

What do you think?

Planet in hot water—literally

OMFG.

In data released August 20 by the US National Climatic Data Center, the worldwide average for water temperature in July was…

(drum roll please)

…62.6 whopping degrees.

So pardon the expletive, for these findings represent the hottest month for ocean temperature in a century. It is even hotter than the average for the whole Twentieth Century. In comparison, the temperature in 1909 was just 59.3 degrees.

This bodes lots of things, other than giving natural Jacuzzis to inhabitants of cold countries. Warm ocean is a surefire portent of global warming.

I don’t know what to make of deniers of climate change at this late a point. More than searing temperatures inland, the warming of oceans is a foolproof symptom of a planet in heat. As scientists would put it, water requires manifold more energy to heat up than land. Worse, warmth doesn’t leave water for a loooong time.

Already, the warming oceans have caused coral reefs to undergo fatal bleaching. Of course, that would throw the biosphere’s food web, humans included, into anarchy. Usually, bleaching transpires months after excessive ocean heat. But that isn’t the case in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Florida Keys.

In fact, The Gulf of Mexico’s temperature breaks mercury at 90 degrees. That means fiercer hurricanes for everyone. It so happens that hurricanes strengthen when they pass over warm waters, in the same way a car juices up at a gas station.

But the heat has taken its biggest toll on the Arctic Ocean, home to massive icebergs and ice sheets. The waters there have reportedly warmed by 10 degrees more than the average. Anyone could make the connection, I guess.

God, I feel sorry for this planet. We’re nearer the biblical lake of fire than most people would think.

The Troublesome Truth

by: Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

According to the site www.environmentpoint.com, approximately 14,000 people die every day because of waterborne diseases, primarily from untreated sewage in third-world countries, and at least 40% of the surface water bodies in the United States are too polluted to use for recreational activities such as swimming or fishing. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people do not have a safe drinking water source and almost two-thirds of the world could experience water shortages by 2025.

Can you handle this? Imagine what would happen to us in the years to come. We are very much aware of the fact that water is indeed essential to human life, yet we disregard this by contaminating our oceans, lakes and rivers. Aside from certain organisms dying off at an alarming rate, the water we drink everyday has also become greatly affected. In turn, our health also becomes at stake due to pollution of water. This would give rise to more complicated problems that would definitely destroy our well-being.

To combat water pollution, we have to be part of the solution itself. Obviously, this issue is not just a concern of environmental departments around the globe but rather our planet earth and all the living things which reside in it.

Thus, we all have to be responsible and be involved in preventing water pollution. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Right?

Garbage in Baywalk

Garbage was all over Baywalk last August 6 because of the big waves in Manila bay. It was a horrendous site to see. It took 6 dump truck loads to clean up the whole mess.

This is not something new, the garbage in Manila bay has been a problem for quite some time now. Although the government has made great efforts to beautify the shore by putting up the baywalk , they weren’t able to solve the problem with regards to the trash in Manila bay.

What happened last August 6 is somewhat a warning that if we continue to abuse and pollute the ocean it will come back to haunt us. We Filipinos are all guilty of being litterbugs in one way or another. We are so used of having to pay other people to clean up our mess. In other countries most especially in the more developed ones they are disciplined with regards to proper trash disposal. You can not just throw trash anywhere because you’ll get fined.

We Filipinos still do not see the bigger picture, we still do not see the danger and the price that we are going to pay if we would not stop our habits. What happened in Manila is just a warning to us that if we would not stop throwing our trash in the ocean somehow the ocean will throw it back to us. I sure hope that the Filipinos learned something from what happened before it is too late. The change should start from each and everyone.


Charise Go Bollozos

Rare! Environment destroyer admits fault

Exxon Mobil Corp. has recently pleaded guilty to killing birds whose migratory paths happened to be right smack over the oil company's mucky production facilities in the American Midwest.

Of course, it should pay the fines of $600,000; this sum is just loose change for one of the world's largest corporations. Heck, it is already the world's biggest, its wealth built on the backs of gas-guzzling cars all over the world.

Big deal, you might say; Exxon killed only 85 migratory birds. But it was enough to throw the food chain for a loop.

What this shows, ultimately, is a company ready for penitence. Exxon has veritably built a new model for environmental consciousness. And for that, I applaud it.



Gerard de la Cruz

Toy Soldiers

This is long overdue.

According to the The New York Times, the unequivocal rate of climate change in the United States would finally compel intervention by the military. The report cites high-ranking analysts from the Pentagon, among other sources.

Not that they haven't already. Or that they would come out shooting their ammunition against carbon gases, but the military is clearly taking stock of an ominous foe. As it stands, the upshots of global warming i.e. rising seas, fiercer hurricanes, drier drought, more emaciating famine, and deadlier disease can make geopolitical upheavals, the likes of which have never been seen before.

In fact, global warming is hitting the US soldier in the face. In the same report, violent storms are threatening several naval stations across the country.

It's all very apocalyptic. Climate change has all-too real consequences. The fact that the most powerful nation in the world is mobilizing its soldiers is a very grave portent of things to come.

Here's hoping the greater use of arms won't put democracy on the line. Climate change has every way of making severe changes on governments the world over. We've heard nations warring over oil; there's no reason they wouldn't over depleted oxygen.

Glaciers are not the only ones melting nowadays, if one thinks about it. As they drift away to oblivion, people's sense of security are also melting and plunging into an ocean of nothingness.

Stuff In the Air

by: Janinah Jimmin M. Molina

Each time we breathe, we risk inhaling dangerous chemicals that have found their way into the air.

Air pollution contains dangerous substances that can be either in the form of gases or particles. Buildings are mostly immersed with pollutants causing indoor pollution and lasts for a long time.

Nature and humans are the sources of air pollution. The majority of pollutants released into the air are caused by humans since we have been generating pollution. Air pollution has been a problem throughout times gone by.

The consequences of air pollution are diverse and profuse. The health of human beings can be at stake and even our ecosystems can be severely damaged. Imagine that?

Air pollution travels fast through our atmosphere. Thus, air pollution is a global problem and has been the area under discussion of worldwide cooperation and conflict.

Nowadays, some regions suffer more air pollution than others, especially cities with a vast numbers of automobiles, jeepneys and the like or those that use great quantities of coal often experience most sternly from problems brought about by air pollution.

So why not help combat air pollution by starting with ourselves? This is not a government concern but rather it is the responsibility of every individual to help control the worsening air pollution that our mother Earth is experiencing now. At home and at work, turn off the lights when not needed; change the light bulbs into low power ratings with high efficiency; dispose old appliances or household materials with aerosols properly; walk instead of using the car when going to a place only a block away; and let your school children ride in a school bus rather than sending them to school with the family car, and the list goes on.

There are plenty of ways that we can contribute in the preservation of our environment. Air pollution is an important matter, which every individual should be concerned about if we want to have a better and healthy life for ourselves and the generations to come.

It’s getting hot in here!

Sure we have been talking about global warming, thinning of the ozone layer, climate change, melting of the snowcaps and other things that are too scary to think about if they happen. These are things that we take for granted most of time. We fail to realize that it is indeed something that we should take seriously. Living in a third world country this concern has not been given that much attention. We tend to ignore the deafening campaigns of the more developed countries to do something about global warming.
Well I guess its time we do something about it. For the months weeks it has been raining so hard here in our city. It’s like we have been hit by a typhoon or something because the wind is also very strong. Of course we expected it already because the rainy season here in our country usually starts in June but the thing is the rain already started pouring down since May. It is quite obvious that we are already experiencing a climate change. What I am most concerned about is the very hot weather that we have been experiencing for the past few days. I know that we are a tropical country and it is quite normal to experience hot days but the heat now is different. It seeps into your skin. It’s like we are inside an oven. It scares me, because now I realize that we are really experiencing global warming. Climate change is already very evident nowadays. Whenever I go to Manila I always complain to very hot weather that they have there. The heat there is quite different from what we experience here, of course we do still have trees here and we are not in the middle of a concrete forest but what we experienced lately really gave made me realize that if we do not do something about our planet, if we do not go out of our way to stop and if possible repair the damage that we have done I am not going to be surprised if a few years from now we will have the climate of Africa.



Charise Bollozos