I recently took a leap of faith, and well... I landed on my first workation. We went to a few places just two hours away from Manila. I did some research before going there - I looked at the websites of the places we were planning to visit, and also read some articles about the town/city we were going to. When we got there, my first impression was "this isn't as green as it looks in the pictures!" I thought the pictures I had seen were old, until I voiced out my opinion and a lady told me "global warming has brought us drought this time of the year". My heart dropped because I suddenly remembered those mornings I spent in Lucknow crying in the office while readings newspaper articles about farmers in India committing suicide because of the drought. I don't know if such is the reality in the Philippines as well. I know we experience typhoons and floods very often over here, but which is harder for the farmers to deal with: flood or drought? Either way, these are extreme conditions brought about by our extreme actions and now require extreme solutions.
A few days ago, the whole world turned off all the lights for an hour. Okay, not the whole world...because a country like Nigeria celebrates Earth Hour every single day (NEPA don dey ohhh). But do you think that's enough? Everyone here in the Philippines, for example, can easily switch off their lights for an hour - no big deal, we still have our laptops and cellphones to kill time with. We go to Bonifacio Global City here in Manila and see three bins for trash segregation, but the condominiums/apartments there, and everywhere else in Manila have only ONE garbage chute. It's hard to do the right thing when the system around you does not encourage it. How can we make our actions consistent?
Why do we wait for our President to call upon us to keep the cities green and clean? There's only one Prime Minister Modi. Why is the only time we've ever planted a sapling that time our teacher said she's give us a grade for it? We'll never learn to love what we're forced to do. Why do we depend on our parents scolding us into conserving electricity and water? Beyond the horizon of time, our children and our children's children are watching us.
I'm sure a lot of us have heard our parents or grandparents comparing life "their time" and "our time". But what's really shocking is that the amount of changes I've experienced during my life time (which is half of my parents') is much more than theirs. The speed and intensity of the changes we've been experiencing in the last ten years and will continue to face is...well, let's just say there are no brakes on this ride. Have you ever wondered why it's very hot right now, compared to this time last year? Have you ever wondered why a certain place is experiencing snow for the first time in twelve years? Here's a short, yet powerful animated video of our reality: mankind vs the planet:
I am less than a quarter of a century old, but I do feel much much older right now thinking...hey, I have some photographs which I need to treasure, and share with my future children/grand children because I am certain their reality will be different. These are memories from one of the greenest places I have ever lived in: Sheffield (2014). Sheffield is one of the largest and most populated cities in England, and used to be the center of steel production, but it feels like a laid-back little town in the country side! In and around all the houses, universities, buildings (new and historic), are gardens and parks and trees and trees and trees. For this, I easily felt at home in Sheffield because that's what nature does - green trees, even on chilly morning, give a sense of warmth. Trees filter our air, so the air always feels light and this does make you feel lighter. There was never a humid, polluted, smelly day. Trees affect us spiritual, mental and emotional state of mind in a very, very positive way.
A few days ago, the whole world turned off all the lights for an hour. Okay, not the whole world...because a country like Nigeria celebrates Earth Hour every single day (NEPA don dey ohhh). But do you think that's enough? Everyone here in the Philippines, for example, can easily switch off their lights for an hour - no big deal, we still have our laptops and cellphones to kill time with. We go to Bonifacio Global City here in Manila and see three bins for trash segregation, but the condominiums/apartments there, and everywhere else in Manila have only ONE garbage chute. It's hard to do the right thing when the system around you does not encourage it. How can we make our actions consistent?
Why do we wait for our President to call upon us to keep the cities green and clean? There's only one Prime Minister Modi. Why is the only time we've ever planted a sapling that time our teacher said she's give us a grade for it? We'll never learn to love what we're forced to do. Why do we depend on our parents scolding us into conserving electricity and water? Beyond the horizon of time, our children and our children's children are watching us.
I'm sure a lot of us have heard our parents or grandparents comparing life "their time" and "our time". But what's really shocking is that the amount of changes I've experienced during my life time (which is half of my parents') is much more than theirs. The speed and intensity of the changes we've been experiencing in the last ten years and will continue to face is...well, let's just say there are no brakes on this ride. Have you ever wondered why it's very hot right now, compared to this time last year? Have you ever wondered why a certain place is experiencing snow for the first time in twelve years? Here's a short, yet powerful animated video of our reality: mankind vs the planet:
I am less than a quarter of a century old, but I do feel much much older right now thinking...hey, I have some photographs which I need to treasure, and share with my future children/grand children because I am certain their reality will be different. These are memories from one of the greenest places I have ever lived in: Sheffield (2014). Sheffield is one of the largest and most populated cities in England, and used to be the center of steel production, but it feels like a laid-back little town in the country side! In and around all the houses, universities, buildings (new and historic), are gardens and parks and trees and trees and trees. For this, I easily felt at home in Sheffield because that's what nature does - green trees, even on chilly morning, give a sense of warmth. Trees filter our air, so the air always feels light and this does make you feel lighter. There was never a humid, polluted, smelly day. Trees affect us spiritual, mental and emotional state of mind in a very, very positive way.
On the left is the path I took every single morning, leaving Ranmoor village, heading to school. On the way back home I'd normally take the bus, and it would stop at the other entrance (picture on the right).
I spent most of my days in the libraries. One of the university's library is beside a park (Weston Park). There is an easy way to get there, but there is also a detour, passing by the park and this is always the path I take because watching ducks at one point became a hobby. The view always did distract me while studying. But you see, a major city does not have to be synonymous with "hustle and bustle". A well-planned urban city CAN be green, calm and laid-back! Sheffield is home to an extremely diverse group of people, most of whom are students and I remember seeing survey reports very often, expressing how HAPPY people were to live in Sheffield. The greenery all around gives a profound sense of peace and trust.
Of course there are the usual pubs and coffee shops youths hang out at, but I've never been to the park as much times in a year than I did during the year I was there. People always made time to go to the park and relax. During the summer, I saw people sun-bathing in the parks. On one of the sunny spring days, my classmates and I had lunch and played games at the Botanical garden. These spaces offer us the 'option' to go out of our homes, keep our technology away and enjoy the simple...the free things.
And for those who are up for an adventure,
we have the beautiful hills of the Peak District just two hours drive away:
we have the beautiful hills of the Peak District just two hours drive away:
These are memories I thought of when I passed through Cavite this week. I never would have really thought that there's a problem, until I was told that this isn't how the area is supposed to look right now. It is getting hotter in some places, and colder in some places. We cannot reverse the process but we can slow it down and simultaneously start the new process of rebuilding. I'll be writing more environment-related posts in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.