CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING
NO HOLDS BARRED (037) October 22, 2009
By Ike Señeres
CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING
Climate change is definitely here, and it had to take a costly lesson for our country to wake up to this reality. It is here, and it is here to stay not unless we do something to prevent it. In fact, it will be here to stay long after we are gone, because it has the potential of destroying all life forms in our planet, but also the whole planet itself.
Climate change and global warming are two intertwined challenges to our survival, and it is important for all of us to understand the relationship between the two. There is actually as cause and effect relation between them, because it is global warming that causes climate change, among many other causes that could all be traced to environmental causes.
So much finger pointing and blame throwing has happened since the disasters struck, but it seems that the real culprits have yet to be known. Although we are all inclined to blame our government officials for their apparent lack of preparedness in dealing with the disasters, we should bear in mind that the disasters were only effects of known causes that could directly be traced to the behavior and habits of everyone in this planet.
While it is very easy for us to say that plastic bags are to blame for the clogging of the rivers and waterways, has it occurred to us that it is within our power to actually reduce the volume of plastic bags that are thrown away as garbage? No, I am not talking about recycling although that is needed too. I am talking about our propensity to buy and use consumer goods that use a lot of non-biodegradable materials on one hand, and produce a lot of carbon footprints on the other hand.
Years of neglect and apathy have caused the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in our environmental defense mechanisms. It will take years to rebuild and revive these mechanisms, but from now on and in the many years up ahead, we should know what really needs to be done, apart from knowing what we should expect from, and demand from our government officials in the years to come, starting now, today.
Small things add up to big things. In the same way that “small is beautiful”, small things could also add up to become ugly, if nothing is done to put order in the small things before they add up or pile up to become the big causes of major disasters. We need not wait however before they add up, because everyday, people are already getting sick because of air pollution.
Local mayors are damning the dams for the release of water that have apparently worsened the effects of the floods. Is their understanding of the problem of the floods limited to the volume of accumulated water? Since it is a known fact that many mountains and hillsides are within their own jurisdictions, has it occurred to them that it is actually their duty to do the reforestation and the other measures to prevent soil erosion? They should start by planting bamboos in the mountains and hillsides!
As big steps could start with small steps, it is now obligatory for all mayors to put up their own hazard mapping systems in their own jurisdictions. The core of these systems should be a Geographic Information System (GIS) that should also be supplemented by a Global Positioning System (GPS) and also equipped with a Short Messaging System (SMS). If any of the mayors would need technical support to install these systems, I am very much willing to help them.
In a manner of speaking, blaming the mayors for their lack of disaster preparedness without demanding complete climate change and global warming prevention programs from them is tantamount to letting them get away with homicide instead of murder. Murder it is, because many people died from the disasters, and more are dying from the diseases that came after. It is even possible that more will die from the diseases, more than those that died from the actual disasters.
First things first, the mayors should now implement the law that requires them to put up at least one Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). This does not require much thinking and planning, because the technologies are already in the market and are ready to be tapped. For whatever it is worth, putting up an MRF could become their signal that they are serious about putting into order their own local environmental management programs.
Watch my business show 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 21 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639293605140 for local cable listings. Visit senseneres@blogspot.com
By Ike Señeres
CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING
Climate change is definitely here, and it had to take a costly lesson for our country to wake up to this reality. It is here, and it is here to stay not unless we do something to prevent it. In fact, it will be here to stay long after we are gone, because it has the potential of destroying all life forms in our planet, but also the whole planet itself.
Climate change and global warming are two intertwined challenges to our survival, and it is important for all of us to understand the relationship between the two. There is actually as cause and effect relation between them, because it is global warming that causes climate change, among many other causes that could all be traced to environmental causes.
So much finger pointing and blame throwing has happened since the disasters struck, but it seems that the real culprits have yet to be known. Although we are all inclined to blame our government officials for their apparent lack of preparedness in dealing with the disasters, we should bear in mind that the disasters were only effects of known causes that could directly be traced to the behavior and habits of everyone in this planet.
While it is very easy for us to say that plastic bags are to blame for the clogging of the rivers and waterways, has it occurred to us that it is within our power to actually reduce the volume of plastic bags that are thrown away as garbage? No, I am not talking about recycling although that is needed too. I am talking about our propensity to buy and use consumer goods that use a lot of non-biodegradable materials on one hand, and produce a lot of carbon footprints on the other hand.
Years of neglect and apathy have caused the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in our environmental defense mechanisms. It will take years to rebuild and revive these mechanisms, but from now on and in the many years up ahead, we should know what really needs to be done, apart from knowing what we should expect from, and demand from our government officials in the years to come, starting now, today.
Small things add up to big things. In the same way that “small is beautiful”, small things could also add up to become ugly, if nothing is done to put order in the small things before they add up or pile up to become the big causes of major disasters. We need not wait however before they add up, because everyday, people are already getting sick because of air pollution.
Local mayors are damning the dams for the release of water that have apparently worsened the effects of the floods. Is their understanding of the problem of the floods limited to the volume of accumulated water? Since it is a known fact that many mountains and hillsides are within their own jurisdictions, has it occurred to them that it is actually their duty to do the reforestation and the other measures to prevent soil erosion? They should start by planting bamboos in the mountains and hillsides!
As big steps could start with small steps, it is now obligatory for all mayors to put up their own hazard mapping systems in their own jurisdictions. The core of these systems should be a Geographic Information System (GIS) that should also be supplemented by a Global Positioning System (GPS) and also equipped with a Short Messaging System (SMS). If any of the mayors would need technical support to install these systems, I am very much willing to help them.
In a manner of speaking, blaming the mayors for their lack of disaster preparedness without demanding complete climate change and global warming prevention programs from them is tantamount to letting them get away with homicide instead of murder. Murder it is, because many people died from the disasters, and more are dying from the diseases that came after. It is even possible that more will die from the diseases, more than those that died from the actual disasters.
First things first, the mayors should now implement the law that requires them to put up at least one Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). This does not require much thinking and planning, because the technologies are already in the market and are ready to be tapped. For whatever it is worth, putting up an MRF could become their signal that they are serious about putting into order their own local environmental management programs.
Watch my business show 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 21 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639293605140 for local cable listings. Visit senseneres@blogspot.com
posted by Ike Señeres at 2:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home