EARTH: Endangered & Fragile Home

YOUTH: HOPE OF THE MOTHERLAND, HOPE OF MOTHER EARTH!

           As the normal Jose Rizal cliché goes, “The youth is the hope of the motherland,” it is still heartwarming to know that youths of today, millenials as they call, is still doing their job as the hope of our motherland. Along with this responsibility, they even do extra field works to preserve the beauty our Mother Earth has.

           The picture above shows how youths of today still care and manage for the Mother Earth they are living at by doing landscaping and planting. The millenials in the picture are college students in my hometown – Laoag City, Ilocos Norte – who are doing landscaping in our college, “Mariano Marcos State University College of Teacher Education” to ensure that the surrounding is conducive to mingle with.

           Kudos for these youths! I hope, there are more students like them who pays attention in taking care our Mother Nature!

Environmental Groups: Edge for Environmental Development

It's silly to think that the people who are enjoying the true essence and beauty of the nature are still the one who is also responsible for its conservation and preservation. The humans are making action to destroy the home that they are living but also they are the ones who are planning and brainstorming to what action will they take to make the environment safe and be harmonious t live in.

Environmental organizations are those that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. This organizations may be a charity, a trust, a non-governmental organization or a government organization. Environmental organizations can be global, national,  regional or local.

Some of the environmental issues that are of interest to environmental organizations are pollution, waste, resource depletion, human overpopulation and climate change.

Some of these organizations are as follows:

Worldwide

Earth System Governance Project (ESGP)

Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

World Nature Organization (WNO)

Regional

European Environment Agency (EEA)

Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)

Local governments

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability

IS THERE ANY CURE?

GLOBAL WARMING is rapidly going very fast.

As a result, melting of iceberg in both poles are also melting very fast. in this case, as it melts, the water in the ocean is going up and up and up...  Now, what can we do to resolve this scenario?

One solution is to find Queen Elsa to freeze again the melted ices in both poles. But of course, fantasy do not really exist in this kind of scenario.

People might think to invent a humungous fridge so that they will put all the water so that it will be frozen in a blink of an eye. But of course we are not that stupid to assume that there is such kind of humungous fridge that can freeze melted icebergs.

Know the 3R!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle- 3 little words with 3 big meanings. These words possesses powers which can change, conserve, and protect the whole world.

Reduce means using fewer resources to do anything. For the 3R's, this is the most effective procedure but the hardest of them all. This procedure requires letting go of the notions of the people that, the bigger the better, new trump old, and convenience is next to godliness.

Reuse, on the other hand, means using the things we have used already in order to save something. Reusing keeps new resources from being used for a while longer, and old resources from entering the waste stream. For example, a jar can store leftover foods, an old shirt can become a pajama top, and the like.

Moreover, Recycling is the "R" that has caught on the best. Partly, this is because there are so many curb side recycling programs today (8,660 as of 2006, according to the EPA), which makes recycling one of the easiest part in the 3R. This means that the the things that we have reduced or reused should be recycled in a way that it will help the community.

THE END IS NEAR...

Our time in living on Earth is now ticking. Every single drops of water is now disappearing from time to time. Every flicker of a fire is vanishing as days go by... What would happen now into our lives?

Many theories and basis says that the END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR.

In the year 2011, 1 theory bombarded and made all human raise wake up- the Mayan Theory saying that the end of the world is on the exact numbers, 12-21-12 meaning December 21, 2012.

Many people believed that theory that time because on the past years, different phenomena landed in the different part of the world. such as the Earthquake in Haiti which kills many lives of people. Another is the Tsunami in Japan that destroyed infrastructures, agriculture and the economy of the said country.

As time goes by and also as the said to be the end of the world, people were relieved. But that does not say that we are now safe. You see, even though that theory was proven to be wrong, we must not be play safe. As of now, in every phenomena occurring in the world, thousands of lives were being taken. We may not see the effect yet but the world is slowly killing us and ending its own life.

CUTTING CHANGES IT ALL!

God has created the world into perfection. He sprinkles the world with all the beauty that an environment should have. He created the Earth together with its natural resources like the water forms, the different land forms, the animals, birds, flowers and all living organisms which is beneficial for living. The true beauty of the Earth is greatly seen because of the trees and plants that are silently lying on lands. But, how will the Earth look wonderful if the trees and plants are being cut by the people? Will it still be wonderful?

The word deforestation is not new to the people already. Deforestation in layman's term means the process of cutting down trees and the process of burning them down. People doing these practice are not replacing the trees they are cutting, so, it is a problem for people because the trees that give beauty to the environment is degrading. It is reported that forests still cover about 30 percent of the Earth’s surface, but each year about 13 million hectares of forest (approximately 78,000 square miles) are being damaged by this practice.

The question here is, why are they cutting trees the fact that they are absorbing CO2, helping to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere? The fact that Carbon is one of the key causes of global warming and reducing these gases will help to slow and stop the greenhouse effect. Are they not aware of it causes?

Some of the most common causes of deforestation is merely the fact of globalization, urbanization, overpopulation and climate. This major causes are taking in action by different groups in order to attain and preserve the beauty of the Earth. Trees are being cut down for construction purpose, lands are cleared for growing crops and trees are also used as firewood.

Globalization in many countries has lead to deforestation as many industries and factories are build which emit carbon dioxide which affect the trees and forest. India and china are a big example. China being a big market for producing and supplying many products in various parts of the world for which trees and forest are used to produce product. Urbanization on the other hand, leads to deforestation as the country develops the cutting down of trees for the use of building materials, furniture, paper products and material used for highway and roads. Forests are also cleared in order to accommodate expanding urban areas. Overpopulation also causes an increase in population also means an increase in produce consumption for which the trees are being destroyed. The basic needs being shelter and food are given with the help of forests for which an optimum amount of consumption and production is needed. One good example is China which is considered as one of the overpopulated country in the world. Climate is also one factor for deforestation mainly acid rain. Climate not only affect the people but also trees, roads and small plants. Trees are also harmed by acid rain. Scientists say that acid rain damages the waxy outer coating that protects the leaves. When this happens, it allows the acid to seep into the tree. Instead of water changing from a liquid to a gas inside the leaves, gas is taking the place of the water. This prevents the plant from taking in carbon dioxide to perform photosynthesis, and the plant eventually dies. Global warming is another factor as the temperature increases than the average temperature which affects the plants growth or soil growth.

EARTH... A place that gives our satisfaction... a place where all of us has the right to live... And a place we call Home...

We people will not live without the gift of nature which are the natural resources.As technology is rapidly going into its highest peak together with the humankind's abilities and capabilities, we are abusing the true meaning of NATURE. Creating new machines that causes pollution into the environment. Destroying and replacing nature into humungous buildings and infrastructures not knowing that we are slowly killing it.

As a result, the result of Global Warming is spreading rapidly in the whole wide world.

" KARMA". this is the result of our "hard work in destroying the Earth." In the past, past years, different phenomena approached in the different part of the world. Earthquake...Landslide...Flood...Flash flood...Tsunamis...name it, we have it.

Lately here in the Philippines, a devastating typhoon landed and killed many lives of people in Tacloban. Recently, the famous Mt. Mayon known for its famous "almost perfect cone-shaped" alarmed many citizens in Albay because its raging with ashes every minute in time which made to think others that this is the cause of rapid Global Warming...

"Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans."— Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

A very meaningful quotation from an oceanographer which should serve as an eye opener to all people that even the water forms should be protected and conserved.

Facing the 21st century has changed the lives of many people, even the environment that we are living in has changed. Everyday, there have been numerous reports about destroying the environment. Pollution, Climate change, Forest fire, and the like have been consistently reported as major problems in the society. But, people should also be concerned to the condition of our marine biodiversity.

As we keep on waking up each day, there have been an increasing number of wastes are being dump in the ocean by ships. This problem caused the marine life and ecosystem degrade.  Major causes of marine pollution involve non-point pollutants, marine garbage, toxic ocean pollutants and sewage disposal in oceans. From heavy metal poisoning including lead and mercury killing predators such as sharks and whales, to waste getting trapped in the digestive tracts of marine animals.

Everyday activities can cause massive nutrient loading in an ecosystem, but by reducing the amount of waste the ship are dumping into the seas, this problem can possibly be lessen. As an individual, we should act right no, for water life is also essential in our lives.

On this era, rapid industrialization has engulfed the whole humanity. This change that has been happening has changed a lot to the environment the people are living in. Nowadays, not only the people, but also environmental groups in the four corners of the globe are taking in action to solve this problem. These environmental groups' way is the CONSERVATION of the environment. Why Conservation? Because for them, conservation is the philosophy and policy of managing the environment to assure adequate supplies of natural resources for future as well as present generations. Let me enumerate different reasons that makes this group take action to protect the environment.

The incalculable loss of tropical forest has been affecting countries in the tropical region. Tropical forests are being destroyed at an increasing rate. It is not a secret to everyone that these forests are the natural habitats of numerous animals and plants species. This provides them their food and shelter. So what will be theirs if these forests are destroyed?

Another thing is that these forests provide natural resources like water and fuel for almost half of the world population. The one responsible for this destruction is commercial logging, clearance for agriculture, ranching, and fuel gathering.

In North America and Europe, it has been reported that the greatest environmental threat that they have experienced is the acid rain. Acid Rains can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which reacts with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. This problem has caused the environmentalist to do an act to protect their place for greater threat.

As a solution, groups have included the development of alternative fuel wood supplies through fuel wood plantations, the regulation of logging, and a consensus as to the value of forest conservation over commercial development.