(EID-013) “TRIPLE WHAMMY CRISIS”

I am not the type who would sound alarmist about coming problems, but I would not hesitate either to issue fair warnings if I think there is a reason to do so. Normally we would expect the government to issue these types of warnings, but it seems that the government is either unaware of what is coming or it would rather not talk about these issues.

It has already been reported in the newspapers that the prices of beef and flour are going up in the United States, because the corn harvests that are supposed to feed the cattle are now being processed as bio-fuels, and the farm lands that used to be planted to wheat are now being converted to corn plantations.

Considering that about 70% of our feed ingredients are composed of corn imported from the US, we are probably going to face a food crisis not unless we could find cheaper imported substitutes for corn, or if we could not grow the corn ourselves, along with other local substitutes.

It has also been reported in the news that our water supplies are going down, partly due to the pollution of our water sources, and partly due to the effects of global warming. Either way, these two reasons for the depletion are environment related.

No one seems to be keeping count, but most of our dumpsites are reaching full capacity, while there is no hope in sight for the construction of real compliant landfills. As the solid wastes from Metro Manila and its environs are piling up, it appears that we will also be facing a garbage crisis.

All told, it would not be far fetched to say that these three crises would either happen one at a time, or worst, these could happen in the form of double or triple whammies. I will no longer ask what the government is doing or supposed to be doing to prevent these from happening, because it seems that the only hope now is for the people, the ordinary citizens to take action in their own communities, to do what they can on their own.

It makes good sense to revive our agriculture industry to plant more corn or sorghum, which is a good substitute. It also makes good sense to stop polluting our soils and bodies of water in order to conserve what still remains. Lastly, it would make good sense to give waste segregation another try, as we see the possibility of completely doing away with dumpsites and landfills forever. Is this really possible? If you really would like to know, I will show you the places where it has been done already.