The Philippines, its environment and challenges
The Philippines with all its natural beauty is not exempt from disasters that affect our environment. Landslides, typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, are a few of the forces of nature that we cannot stop, but in some cases prevent. We can’t do anything about the weather nor what nature has dictated, but if we want our country to survive disasters such as this we have to consider taking care of it.
Our country is always in the path of storms and typhoons. Weather like this, if it continues for days, usually affect our citizens in two ways. One, are the flash floods, which always leaves many of our kababayans homeless. Another one, are landslides, which may also cause death to many people. Why are these incidents still happen to us until now? There are still many Filipinos that practice illegal logging, which causes soil erosion. Large areas of mountains are now naked, and without the trees to help stop the flow of water, we can expect another flood or landslide.
Philippines are surrounded by waters, and that’s a fact. If we are to pollute the waters that border our nation, what do you think will happen? Water pollution has damaged the coastal mangrove swamps, which serve as important fish breeding grounds. Between the 1920s and 1990s, the Philippines lost 70% of its mangrove area. About 50% of its coral reefs are rated dead or dying as a result of pollution and dynamiting by fishermen. The devastation caused by the oil spill at Guimaras also contributed yet another national disaster in our country.
Air pollution is another problem in our country, and we just can’t minimize it. Did you know that most of the buses (not all) here in our country are purchased from our neighbors in Asia for a relatively cheap price. It is because the countries that sold them to us, have phased them out because it’s old and is contributing to pollution in their country. Back when I was still in college, I used to tambay (hangout) at the school’s roof top (another reason was because it was our organization’s meeting place). Anyway, every ‘early’ morning if I don’t have a class I usually go there and stare at endless landscapes as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately each day when I look southward, all I see are buildings and heavy smog that blankets the sky. And no, its not an early morning fog, it is definitely a smog. I wonder if this is the extent of the pollution in our country. Is that really the type of air that we are breathing nowadays?
On the good side however, when I visited the province of Palawan, they have polices and rules about the environment. Palawan is considered one of the most cleanest province in our country. Their sidewalks are full of trash cans, large green trash cans with cover, that is placed 100 to 200 meters apart. So there, you have no reason to throw your trash on the street, and they have rules against that. Every morning, usually before 6:00 am, they have people that clean the streets. Even their beaches are relatively clean and the sea creatures that dwell there are also protected (I wasn’t even allowed to take the starfish I found washed ashore). Why don’t we implement this kind of policy to other provinces and even here in Metro Manila? Is it because nobody really care to throw their trash on the bin that is already provided by jeepneys?
Each of us has the capability to help take care of our environment. Remember this is a give-and-take world. What we offer to nature, nature will certainly offer it back to us.
This post is an entry to Blog Action Day, which is today October 15, 2007 and Tambayan.ph is one of the thousands of participants. On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future. |
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