I know it may sound crazy but sometimes, I do stop to appreciate the beauty of a tree. Its branches are like arms reaching out to me as if saying “Come, stay under my shade. I know you’re tired. Rest for a while. The sun’s too hot.”

Its huge trunk engages me to hug it. It tells me, “I know people are more huggable than I am but try to hug me. Commune with life’s energies. Some say it’s a form of ‘healing.’”

Then, some of its leaves fall to my feet. They fell like confetti, as if there was a celebration. The last time this happened was when I was at the play “The Night Before Christmas.”

“I feel like a winner, with all the nature confetti around me.”

Yes, you are a winner, a champion of the environment if you realize the true worth of a tree.

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In a survey made by the Asthma Insights and Reality in Asia-Pacific in 2005, it was found out that in eight major urban centers in the Asia-Pacific, the Philippines had the highest incidence of work absence due to asthma with a percentage of 46.6. If it affects adults in that severity, then it follows that the effects to children are even worse.

In a recent article entitled “Children with asthma have more emotional problems,” it was revealed that many children with asthma experience behavioral and developmental problems. The article was based on a study published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, which collected data from a national health survey in the United States.

The good news is that there are people doing something to intensify research on child asthma. Watch this video:

On May 5, Saturday, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand will have an Asthma Balloon Day to raise funds for child asthma research. They will be having various activities across NZ all dedicated to widen the knowledge base on child asthma. To know more about this initiative, visit the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation Website.

NZ’s move is a laudable one. I hope that the Philippine society will have the same drive to make a difference for asthmatic children. Air maintains life and gives nourishment. If the air that children breathe is polluted, then what nourishment does it give them? I’d classify that as junk food.

I hope that we can make solid steps to combat the primary cause of asthma in children - air pollution - to create livable communities, and the larger picture is a generation of healthy and bright Filipino kids.

Sunrise

This is a picture of a ricefield in Laguna, Philippines. I took this shot at the beginning of the new year [literally]. I chose this photo for today’s entry to symbolize my vision for the future generations.

Just like in any special occasion, people always ask you what your wish is. This Earth Day, a day just as special as other days, I will loudly announce my wish and that is “for future generations to see more of this kind of sunrise in the decades to come.”

At the rate people are exploiting the resources today, I am unsure that the sunrise in the coming years will still be as clear like in the photo or will it be covered by smog?

If people continue to live without regard for the environment, maybe the next generations will no longer bear witness to the beauty of nature, the music of the vibrant animals, the bountiness of vegetation, the steady drops of rain water, the mild heat of the sun and soft cool breeze caressing their faces.

The sunrise stands for hope. Hope that our children will be wiser than us. That they relinquish their irresponsible stewardship of the earth and treat nature as their brother.

I dream of a world where there is clean air, nourishing water, fertile soil, gentle climate and harmonious living. I dream that dream for my bundle of joy:

I love you, Vito!

Earth Day 2007 is just a few days away. A lot of activities are going to happen on that day in several nations across the globe. However, there is one big question in my head, “what is Earth Day for?”

As I try to answer the question myself, I think that Earth Day is for kids, for the future generations, especially those who are underprivileged. Allow me to share with you the program that I conceptualized in 2004.

It’s called Adopt-a-Kid for the Environment, an environmental education campaign for streetchildren/sampaguita vendors in UPLB. The environment education program was constructed in an interactive way, through games and fun activities. That project earned me the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy 2004 award, which gave me the opportunity to go on an environmental field trip in Germany.

I successfully implemented it in February 2005. It has been sustained by my organization after I graduated from the university.

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Adopt-a-Kid for the Environment

By building a culture of environmentalism among young people, environmental efforts become more sustainable and long-term. “It’s time we hear their little voices.”

Each time I see them in the university, I always ask them who their environmental parent was. And it’s so amazing because they always give me the correct answer. When I ask them, “Why do you remember it well?” They reply, “Because they have made us see a very beautiful part of life. Before, we pitied ourselves because we’re poor but when we saw what you made us see, we realized that life is still beautiful.”

The issue of climate change and global warming have been on the forefront of environment news lately. Erratic changes in the weather and hot days continue to surge unexpectedly. Storms are fiercer. Hurricanes visit often like a close relative. Extinction of species are on an upward trend. The consequences of man’s invasive actions towards nature are now being felt.

I saw an article at Bloomberg.com, saying that Thailand has decided to intensify its coal-burning capacity. The news saddened me. I remembered my fellow environmental youth advocates from Thailand. I met them in 2004 in Germany and I sensed that there was so much passion in them to make a change in their country. But with decisions such as this, it will just make the task too arduous for them.

This was the entire batch of environmental envoys in 2004.

If you want to know more about the news story, read on:
Thailand’s Coal-Power Drive Sparks Health, Environment Outcry
By Beth Jinks and Suttinee Yuvejwattana

March 20 (Bloomberg) — Suratin Maleehuan has seen cases of respiratory disease climb 70 percent in two years at the 30-bed hospital he runs near Thailand’s biggest factory complex. He’s horrified by plans to boost the kingdom’s coal-burning capacity.

“The health problems are already too much to handle,” said Suratin, a doctor in the town of Map Ta Phut in the east, where a third coal-fired power plant opened in October to help fuel more than 200 smokestacks. “For sure when we have new coal plants, the problems will be more.”

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Samuel Coleridge authored the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1797-1799. It talked about the events in a mariner’s long sea journey. The most famous lines from the poem reads:

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

Come to think of it. What used to be plain word and imagination play became a reality. Who would have imagined decades ago that we will be drinking from bottles and not straight from nature?

Allow me to walk you through the water distribution of the Earth. According to the United States Geological Survey, there is just a small percent of the water around us that is usable by humans. Thus, water is considered as a scarce resource. Today, of the 0.3% that’s available to humans, a great percentage had already been exploited and considered unfit for drinking.

Scenes of a weary traveler drinking from a stream is an image that belongs to the past. One can no longer linger in the bounty of nature, unlike before. Things have changed and they have changed a whole lot. Look around you. Are you seeing the world the way your grandparents saw it before? Rich vegetation, pure water, thick forests, clean air. Will all remain a memory?

I hope not. The earth is beautiful if people know how to take care of it. What else do you want to take in using bottles or packages? What’s next? The air? It’s your choice.

Source: www.sanriotown.com

Sanrio Town is definitely an ideal community to live in. Not only does it have friendly, fun, exciting and oh-so-cute characters, it also has lush greenery around. Most of us would probably want to live in such an environment. It’s just sad that our environment now is no longer as livable as it used to be. Take for example the condition of our air.

Source: www.unep.org

“A breath of life” fittingly describes clean air. However, with polluted air, this phrase becomes doubtful. Breath of life? Or otherwise? On the average, we breathe around 20,000 times a day or approximately 35 lbs of air. It is, in fact, the most vital resource that we have. Without air, a person can die in just a few minutes.

A lot of potential problems result from inhaling polluted air. Sneezing, itchy eyes, dizziness and coughing are just some of the symptoms resulting from contact with unhealthy air. Coughing and sneezing are the body’s mechanisms to rid of the foreign dust particles.

Cars contribute around 70% of the air pollution in cities. A diesel-fed vehicle that idles for more than 30 seconds spits around 40 hazardous substances, of which 11 are carcinogenic/cancerous.

Anyway, I am reposting an article from CNN.com about simple steps to help the environment. Read on.

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