Stream of Ry

Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) came.
They saw.
Ondoy (Ketsana) conquered.
Pepeng (Parma) is still conquering.
They left hundreds dead, thousands homeless and millions and billions worth of properties lost.

Global warming made these typhoons the monsters that they are. I’m not so keen with the details but I suspect that the slight increase of water temperatures fueled these typhoons and while you may be thinking that “what’s a slight increase of temperature makes as a difference”, I suggest you review some chemistry and do some math and then come back with the numbers. (hint: Specific heat capacity)

You’re done? Yes, that’s a very large amount of heat energy and that’s what fueled these typhoons. I may be wrong here, but that’s what happened with the Hurricane Katrina. I don’t think it’s far off.

So, what should we do about it? What can we do about it? A lot thinks that the elections this coming 2010 will be a turning point for our country’s environmental policies. After all, the government plays a very big role in affecting a lot of things. Should they have environmental policies in place, I would very much appreciate supporting the solar panel market in a way that they can make it cheaper for the consumers. With these, maybe MERALCO may find a way to “buy back” any electricity produced by consumers’ panels whether as a bill-deduction or a rebate. These panels may help during calamities too. By providing that little bit of energy to be able to charge up your phone to call for help and heat water to drink or cook makes a lot of difference.

Also, electric cars and docking stations are well appreciated. They already started with the jeepneys, might as well go to the private sector. To boost up the sales, maybe they could provide tax discounts or any other merits for owners of these cars.

If both are a bit too far out to implement just yet, why not start with our garbage disposal? Have a policy for collection such that people will be forced to segregate their trash. What’s the use of segregating your trash when you see the trash collectors just dump ‘em all together?

(In Norway, if the garbage collectors see that your trash is not segregated properly, they will leave your trash bag on your doorstep. Yes, even if your doorstep is some 50 meters away from your trash bin, they will take it there.)

Then again, these are things that is a little bit beyond our reaches and the only thing we can do to affect change for the coming elections is to vote wisely. And I don’t like not being able to do anything else than that.

We can all help out. Trash is a very big problem. We should start reducing our own trash and dispose of them responsibly. At least, don’t throw them anywhere. A little plastic wrapping does not hurt your pockets when you put ‘em there, does it?

I think a lot of us have forgotten that whatever we do and whatever we fail to do has an effect on everyone. After all, no man is an island. Even if you did live in an island, whatever happens in that island affects everyone else in the whole world.

We all made the world change. We might as well change it again.