Mike’s Personal Blog

I was still in grade school when I first heard the issue of global warming but back then the cold war with its threat of nuclear weapons was much more of a concern to people than global warming itself. I also remember hearing in the news stuff about the depleting ozone layer and other environmental stuff - mostly related to pollution. Deep in me I knew I had to do something but I was still young or was I?

Today is Earth Day and I watched lots of stuff on TV about it. National Geographic spent the entire day on “green” topics and HBO showed the movie An Inconvenient Truth » Buy the DVD. After watching global warming related topics for about 4 to 5 hours today I came to realize that what the science community was saying back in my grade school days are still true today - and things are getting worse!

Ice caps melting, glaciers receding, global sea water levels rising, stronger hurricanes and typhoons, warmer hotter climate, drought and such things are getting an all high mark these past few years and it appears that many of us ordinary citizens are not doing anything about it. A special case is us here in the Philippines where most people would say “leave it to the government” to issues like these. We all share this fragile planet and I think we all have an obligation to keep it clean and livable.

To point out this truth, take a look at this photo of Mt. Hood in Oregon. The one top was taken in 1985. See the ice? The one at the bottom was taken in 2002. See the difference?

Fact: The earth is getting hotter and I think it’s time that we as individual human beings take action in solving this global warming problem and not wait for the monkeys to take the initiative.

I want to help. An even striking truth is that I want my children to live in a world where they can breathe the worry and not worry about their health. We can’t ignore it anymore and I believe that it’s time for us ordinary people to take a step and start doing something about it and stop our arrogance now - we’re too small to be.

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan - it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

We Filipinos are proud of the freedom we won from invaders and we inspired the world with our example of People Power. I see no reason why we can’t unite once more to fight for mother nature. No, we don’t need to go to the streets and bring placards with us. We just have to be vigilant and we can start with ourselves. We can do stuff like:

• Conserve electricity - leaving appliances on standby (TV, DVD players, etc) still consume about 85% electricity so turn them fully off. And oh, change those lightbulbs with more efficient ones. One more thing, leave the windows open to let some wind into the house.
• Conserve water - we all know this, the lakes are drying up so why add to the problem?
• Don’t be a smoke belcher - you do hate those smoke-belching vehicles right? So do we.
• Recycle - use stuff that can still be used
• Walk or ride a bike when possible - it’s good for both mother nature and our health
• Use mass transportation such as the LRT/MRT and buses - less vehicles on the road, less pollution
• If you want to buy a car, buy an environment-friendly car
• Stop burning plastic and rubber. That’s bad

I’m pretty sure you can think of other ways to help combat global warming. I think it’d also be a good idea to take it a step further by reporting smoke belchers and other polluters to the authorities. Here are some phone numbers of some of government offices in the Philippines which you may call to report these violators:

• Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
  Report factories and other establishments here
  Website: http://www.denr.gov.ph/
  Phone: +63 (2) 9296626
• Land Transportation Office (LTO)
  Report private vehicles here (they’ll need the plate number)
  Website: http://www.lto.gov.ph/
  Phone: +63 (2) 9219072
• Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)
  Report public transportation (buses, jeeps, etc) here. They’ll also need the plate number of the offending vehicle.
  Website: http://www.ltfrb.gov.ph/
  Phone: +63 (2) 4262515 / +63 (2) 9257191 / +63 (921) 4487777

You can also report people in your neighborhood to your local barangay.

What if these government agencies don’t act? Well, you can always go the media. They’ll definitely love to hear your story.

Lastly, my dear fellow human being, I say let’s move on and save our planet.