We must work together...

"For outstanding and representative view of natural and scenic values of the Philippines, we should protect, acquire, maintain, restore and sustain it for the benefit of present and future generations."

This should be our country's mission. Despite economic downturns, we, Filipinos should engage somehow with beautifying our country. Who else would do it, aside from us? Though some people wouldn't be interested but still would help if they could do things for our environment and natural resources to be more improved. We should somehow at least balance today's needs through responsible governance, education and most importantly conservation, to be able to protect our environment and natural resources for the future. These things may not be sufficient for everyone for the reason that these are merely words from a simple but an alluring student, but I am just concern for the benefit of the good of our country.
Pollution is the contamination of our air, land or water in a way that is harmful to life. It can occur naturally such as when an erupting volcano emits sulfur dioxide, but the term usually refers to negative effects from human activities such as industry, agriculture, and a growing population.
Pollution monitoring is especially important because its levels are excellent indicators of ecosystem health and the health of organisms and humans. Pollution monitoring and control is a complicated task, particularly in large areas.
Sources of air pollution include paint and body shops, dry cleaners, funeral homes, gas stations, and air conditioning service repair shops. But not only industry is to blame, everybody contributes to air pollution: when you drive your car, cleaning your houses, top off when fueling up, fire up the barbecue, or use a can of spray paint.
Sources of land pollution include both solid wastes and liquid wastes that spill on the ground. Many of these contamination sources are industrial facilities. However, even you contribute to this type of pollution when you improperly dispose of used engine oil, throw litter out the car window, or don't take the time to recycle.
Sources of water pollution can be wastewater, other liquid wastes, storm water runoff or even solid wastes that contaminate or even obstruct our waterways and conveyance systems. An important thing to consider is that anything that spills on the ground could contaminate our source of drinking water, the aquifer, which is located just below the surface.
Many of these sources may be industrial or pretreatment facilities, however industry does not bear all the responsibility for this type of pollution. Even you contribute to this type pollution when you pour your used engine oil in the backyard, throw litter out the car window, or use too much fertilizer or pesticides at home.
We, Filipinos are known to be the hard working people so, "Together we must work to ensure that the air we breathe, the land we share, and that the water bodies, groundwater, and drinking water that we share will be clean and healthy." Through this I believe we will live in protected, acquired, maintained, restored and sustained outstanding and representative view of environment of our country.

"Our hearts needs Air"

"Since ancient times the heart has been considered to be at the center of human life. When the prophet Jeremiah spoke of the heart as "desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9), he was speaking more of human attitudes than physiology. Nevertheless, both wrong attitudes and a literally broken heart are indeed a kind of "thorn in the side" of humankind."
What does this have to do with our environment?! Well, for me it has to do with everything most especially with our environment and for our natural resources, particularly with the air we everyday breath. With clean and properly organized environment, there would be free from dirt, there would be a graceful form of air, and healthy human bodies as a result. Yet nevertheless with unorganized and polluted environment, people will certainly have health problems most especially when it comes to our heart. Most of the people, especially with those people who are living for a long time, they would prefer going to places with clean air and surrounding, and some people would sometimes get irritated and agitated of what and where they are staying.
Air is an important resource that is needed to sustain life. As human beings clean air is vital for our health and well-being and is required by us virtually every minute of the day. Because of the importance of clean air to our health, the environment, and even our economy, higher leveled people should do some things to take care of these things and have better and organized surroundings.
One of the most important components of air is oxygen. Human beings and other animals use oxygen to convert the "fuels" in our bodies into energy that we use. Carbon dioxide is then produced by us as a by-product of respiration, as we convert the stored energy in our bodies into the energy for our activities.
In contrast, plants will actually take-in carbon dioxide and release oxygen as a by-product during the day, as they use a process called photosynthesis to convert energy from sunlight into energy stored as simple sugars.
Air is a mixture of many different gases. In addition to the main components, there may be many other chemicals in the air that we breathe, but these are typically a very small percentage of the volume.
Hence, we should be aware of our surroundings and place where we live and stay especially for children who get sickness easily, for the benefit of our good and for our health.

We could make a better living place

I never understood why some such people have to do some bad things to our lovely environment when they can do some thing good to make it much better for the nation and for our world to be a better and much suitable place. How in their conscience of minds do take and use functions of our environment for granted not knowing it could be used not for just luxuries but for what we, people could live for. I, honestly speaking, have done little things that for a certain of time have I realized that it could do harm to our environment and to our natural resources. Now it just concerns me much of how such people continuously manage to do things not to make our place a better one and not knowing it is for their own good…

I believe that the earth and life forms upon it, which our environment and natural resources are to be found, are the result of purposeful design and creation by that cosmic intelligence referred to in the Bible as God. I do not believe this creation is the result of purely materialistic or evolutionary forces. Hence, taking good care of it must be a necessity for us people living in this world and most especially in this country.

I have researched an article something about the Global Warming or the Global Climate change in our world and it made me somehow improve my understanding of how climate changes and how we, people could make a better living place.

Global Climate Change
Global warming is the gradual rise of the earth's surface temperature. The Earth's average temperature has increased by about 1°F (0.5°C) over the past century. An increase in Global warming has occurred in the distant past as the result of natural influences, but the term is most often used to refer to the warming predicted to occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases.
Human and industrial behavior alters the chemical composition of the atmosphere. This occurs through the buildup of greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. The most probable consequence of these greenhouse gases are increases in temperature, and changes in precipitation, soil moisture and sea level. Economic resources and quality of life such as agriculture, forestry and fishing may be affected.
The main reason that Global Warming is now being called "Global Climate Change" is because the expected outcome of this world-wide temperature shift is that there will be greater variability and less predictability in regional and local climate. It does not necessarily indicate that temperatures will be warmer at a particular location. Weather patterns can be very complex.
Global Climate Change isn't really a new phenomenon. Historically, Earth's global temperatures have always fluctuated. These climate changes occurred naturally and took place over hundreds or thousands of years. Consider the hot and humid climate of the Dinosaurs and the frigid climate of the Mastodons.
The difference now is that human activities are rapidly adding to the naturally occurring greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The natural cycle has been accelerated and the fear is that the "evolutionary cycle" will not be able to adapt to such a rapid change. Trees "migrate" to warmer or colder climate zones over hundreds or even thousands of years while coral reefs - extremely sensitive to temperature changes - take thousands of years to mature. A radical shift in temperature could cause a calamitous loss of habitat.
But how could human activity actually alter the planet's climate? It seems that something as enormous as our planet would be too "big" for us to really interfere with, right? The answer lies in those global warming gases. Carbon Dioxide, the primary global warming gas, only constitutes 0.03% of our atmosphere - essentially a trace gas! Since such a tiny percentage of our atmosphere plays such a crucial role in our climate, it becomes clearer that "small" changes can make a big difference.
Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have pumped billions of tons of global warming gases into the atmosphere through the burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. These fuels have become the backbone of our modern society - they power our cars, homes, and factories. Additionally, landfills produce methane from the decomposition of trash, and intensive agriculture and the livestock that keep us fed also emit huge quantities of Methane - a more potent, yet less abundant greenhouse gas. (http://www.metro-dade.com/derm/climate_change.asp)

There are many "ifs, ands or buts" of some such people around us associated with global change. One thing for me is certain, however: that the change is a fact of life on this small planet and basically in our daily lives. Whether those changes are brought about by the hand of man or are simply the effect of a cosmic roll of the dice, they exist only for humankind to consider and mostly manage. They are a test of human cooperation and ingenuity, a test where the results will certainly have global consequences. And I definitely will try to help myself and help some such people change for the better to have an improved living life and place.

“What’s left is important and what’s there need to be conserved”

Our world can not survive without water. The 71% water coverage of the Earth makes our planet different from any other planet. Without water, life wouldn’t be present. Water balances the climate and needs of living things and this balance is a very important factor we need and we use in every single day of our lives. Salt water or fresh water, both has the same significance for us. We, humans, need 70% of water in our body while plants or animals need at least 50% of water. In addition, people use water for necessities such as taking a bath, laundry and even for enjoyment purposes.

The problem is there is an unequal distribution of fresh and salt water around the globe. Some places need a more frequent water supply while other areas are rich with it. What makes the problem even worse is the shortage of ground or surface water. Why? because it is very hard for the people to find and use it properly.

The consumption of water is increasing every time because of population and because it is a fact. Water shortage is a problem that some of us in the world can feel and some of us will eventually feel it soon. Water shortage is caused by improper storage and consumption of water, meaning we overuse it. The transmission of water from one area to another area is also one of the reasons for water shortage.

The world right now is experiencing water shortage, water unavailability, wrong water transfers, floods and many more. All of these get worse and worse continuously and it will only stop if we think and have a change now. We should conserve our water and stop polluting it. It is one way of saving what God has blessed us to have.

What’s left is important and what’s there need to be conserved.

A nice thing to think about “we are responsible”

Natural resources like plants and trees are very important because it gives us clean air and it lessens the carbon dioxide that is present in the air. Obviously, we’ll die if these things God blessed us to have doesn’t exist. Natural resources are something we can’t live without. Imagine living in a world without coal for cooking, water for drinking and coral reefs for the fishes. Everything will definitely be a catastrophe.

We all know that today’s environment needs to be taken care. There are a lot of carbon dioxide emissions and there are many other chemical that are released by cars, factories and households that destroy our natural resources that results to global warming. We can feel the heat of Global warming, we can see climate changes and we see a lot of environmental disasters lately. I’ve seen these negative happenings when I watched the documentary movie “The Inconvenient Truth”. My thoughts suddenly opened up knowing that half of the world’s land coverage would possibly sink into how many feet in 10 years time. And also, there will be a result of more tornadoes, tsunamis and unexpected typhoons if we don’t start changing the way our society is treating the environment that we have.

If we don’t change the way we take care of the environment, it will let us suffer alone. The treatment is actually simple. If we stop cutting tress, there will less carbon dioxide. If we stop air pollution, less people will be sick. If we stop polluting the water, fishes and more people will benefit and lastly, if we solve land pollution there will be fewer floods and our earth will be a better place to live in. All of these solutions are very easy to say I such a blog. But if we will take a look at it, it will take a lot of disciple, unity and proper use of freedom from the citizens. We should always put this quote in our minds: “We and we alone, are responsible for all that we have.”

Scientists: Global warming could kill coral reefs by 2050.

One of the adverse effects of global warming is the rising carbon emissions that might kill of the ocean’s coral reefs by 2050, according to scientists in today’s edition of the journal of Science. This review, conducted by 17 marine scientists including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is the most widespread review so far of the catastrophic threat global warming poses to coral, and by extension many ocean species.

Burning coal, oil, and gas adds carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and ocean water absorbs it from the air. The ocean’s waters becomes more acidic when carbon dioxide is added into it, impeding the ability of coral to solidify their skeletons, thus, they are slowly deteriorated and eventually dies.

Coral reefs are very essential because they serve as hatcheries and nurseries for open ocean fish. They also guard the shorelines from storms, supply fish, leisure and tourism dollars. Approximately one billion Asians depend on coral reef fisheries. The total economic value of coral is estimated to be $30 billion.

According to marine scientists, global warming is severely risking that crucial component of the ocean biodiversity.

Bob Steneck of the University of Maine said that we have created conditions on Earth unlike anything most species alive today have experienced in their evolutionary history. Corals are feeling the effects of our actions and it is now or never if we want to safeguard these marine creatures and the livelihoods that depend on them

These scientists have provided three possible scenarios on what might happen to the world’s coral reefs, based on the lower range predictions of atmospheric carbon dioxide given by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

1. In the best case scenario, carbon dioxide emissions are evened out at today’s levels of 380 ppm (parts-per million). Coral reefs here can be ensured to be still unbroken.
2. In the midrange scenario, carbon dioxide levels rise to 450-500 ppm and the temperature goes up 3.6 degrees. Heat-tolerant kinds of coral emerge and reefs considerably become less diverse, with a decrease in fish and other sea creatures.
3. In the worst scenario, carbon dioxide levels rise above 500 ppm and the temperature increases more than 5.4 degrees. This may cause the reefs to disintegrate and half of the sea creatures may fade away. Red, brown and green algae emerge, planktons flourish, and the quality of water erodes. At present, levels are rising tremendously due to increasing amounts of fossil-fuel burning.

According to coral expert Chris Langdon, this trend may indeed be bad for corals, but predicting it earlier is sensational because there is a possibility that they will be able to adjust their composition.

There is no doubt that oceans are becoming more acid, which is more straightforward than climate sensitivity where you don't know exactly how much the atmosphere will warm for each doubling of carbon dioxide.

There are so many factors that affect this kind of phenomena. Not only does nature contribute to the worsening conditions of these corals but also the acts of people that harm it.

But there is still hope for our society to resolve these threats. If we survived other catastrophes in the past, these problems can be easily mobilized and responded to.

"Scubasurero"

General Jesus A Verzosa the PNP Chief is personally leading PNP officers and personnel in a coastal clean-up project that will be launched in San Juan, Batangas. Verzosa will lead PNP diving teams from the PNP Maritime Group and other PNP units in cleaning the coastal waters and off-shore reefs which is part of the 494,700 hectare Verde Passage Marine Biodiversity Conservation Corridor or which is more popularly known as MBCC. They are holding this activity to continue advocacy campaign of environmental protection nationwide. Scubasurero 2008 also aims to heighten public awareness to global environmental concerns, particularly on environment protection.

news.balita.ph/2008/10/05/verzosa-leads-clean-up-of-rp-coastal-areas