Thinking Green - Environmental Tips, News, Commentary

The drive for awareness on global warming in the Philippines is not an easy feat. Since us Filipinos have a tendency to learn things the hard way. We forgive easily. We forget too quickly. And despite its importance, the issue of global warming in the Philippines is not a priority. Our Waste Management Act, which mandates every city to have a proper waste management, is being implemented since 2007 but is anyone complying on the standards set? The methane gas being emitted by mountains of garbage in poorly managed landfills contributes to greenhouse effect. The illegal logging of trees that could counter the effects of global warming is still rampant. Studies show that 5 million hectares of our forest have been stripped and that the deforestation rate of 119,000 hectares for every year means that in a decade our forests will be in sorry state. The carbon dioxide emissions from our vehicles, what with their old engines, compete among the worst all over the world. The toxic emissions ...

Fossil fuels- Humanity's most disruptive source of energy Traditional energy sources particularly energy from fossil fuels like oil can be disruptive. The continuous increase of oil prices creates impact to the economy thus affecting socio-economic development of each community. Not to mention the disturbing effects of oil to our natural environment, which is yet another crucial problem the government needs to address. Aside from its increasing price, its adverse effects to the environment even prove that we can no longer rely to oil for our future energy needs. It is no longer stable source of energy which is why we should develop our renewable energy sources. For if we continue to use fossil fuels for our energy, the further damages we create into our natural environment. Oil emits greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming and other ecological concerns. Moreover, the unstable prices of oil only cause problems to consumers particularly the end market or the ...

Image by gilderic via Flickr There are so many interesting breakthroughs in energy nowadays. For example, the use of solid wastes to derive energy is really intriguing. It is also known as the biosphere gasification process wherein it uses high temperatures to produce clean green energy out of wastes.

We cannot change the reality, global warming is a global concern that requires a global solution. Although we do individual actions such as recycling, still it’s not the ultimate solution. Global warming also requires the action of every government. It takes both individual actions and government legislation to save our planet from devastation brought by global warming. If there’s a way of enacting the laws to provide the needs of a growing world of 6.3 billion people, there must be a way to reduce every nation’s consumption of energy and further emission of greenhouse gases. Governments simply need to consider taking actions seriously about this global problem. Why not end the selfish reasons of globalization and act collectively as one nation, one world? We are no longer talking about conflicts on resources here or economic development but our lives. We urgently need to restore and maintain the balance between ourselves and our planet earth before the problem of global warmi...

Environmental issues such as global warming have reached its alarming stage which made the entire world investing extra efforts to resolve it. One of the solutions that nations considered is the “cap and trade system”. Cap and Trade is a regulatory system which allows pollution emitters to trade pollution permits, and allowances among themselves. It aims to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by defining limits on the said emissions.

1. 150,000 human deaths yearly is attributed to climate change according to World Health Organization 2. China is currently the country with highest carbon dioxide emissions. 3. Compact fluorescent light bulb uses least energy thus helps in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 4. It takes 100 years before carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to disperse 5. The melting of global snow and ice cover accelerates global warming. (ref: natgeo)