blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

A metal is mined from the ground. For example  Iron was mined and it gave rise to the Iron age when people used iron for making tools rather than bronze. But before that copper was mined first and relatively soft copper allowed people to master metallurgy. It's alloy with tin, bronze was harder and has more uses than copper and it brought forth the Bronze age in human history. The use of iron came much later.  Iron was softer than bronze but required more advanced "smithy" technologies. However it was in more supply and it replaced the bronze technologies in what historians call the Bronze Age collapse. Homer's "The Iliad" describes metaphorically what this collapse involved. The mining of minerals surely caused a technological revolution in the time when humans shifted from neolithic hunter gatherer and incipient agriculture to a more permanent agricultural state. And the need for mineral resources grows unabated as we come up with more technologies. ...

"Mindanaoan" posted this Twitpic of a weeping father cradling his dead daughter in the wake of the tragic floods that sank Cagayan de Oro city as a result of tropical storm Sendong (Washi) last Saturday evening. The little girl I presume is just a wee bit over two years of age. This is the age of temper tantrums and delightful innocence. Those of us who have children will know. The pain of small children taken from us at this age is unfathomable. And so the photo broke my heart into a million pieces and that too of Mindanaoan. But this is the nightmare that I am waking up to. Environmental catastrophe is now at hand and there are no easy solutions. Whether this be a flash flood (which is the most dangerous of natural hazards) or even the chronic air pollution poisoning Metro Manila, people will die and most tragically children will die. The photo is reminiscent of Roman Catholic iconography of the Mater Dolorosa  or the Sorrowful Mother. Dolorosum (neutral gender) is the ...

One of the major national security issues that face the Philippines and neighbouring countries is massive environmental changes that can cause the displacement of hundreds of thousands if not millions of citizens. As of this writing, metropolitan Bangkok is now being innundated by massive monsoon floods and the engineering interventions made by the Thai government in the last 20 years of rapid economic development are proving of very little use. The Prime Minister of Thailand  Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, has to call on the Thai armed forces to offer relief and rescue. Like the Philippines, the massive evacuation of thousands of citizens is a logistical challenge that will tax the capacity of the government of Thailand. However the Kingdom of Thailand is in a much better position to respond. Why? The Armed forces of the ASEAN countries have seen improvements in training, equipment and recruitment. These countries armed forces have enough strength to call in times of national environmen...

Those of us in the Philippine environmental science profession learn in undergraduate geology that Palawan is the most aseismic place in the whole country. For one thing, the island is a piece of the Eurasian continental crust that was ripped from the mainland as a result of the formation of the South China Sea more than 30 million years ago. Palawan is a continental island as compared to the other Philippine islands, which are called "oceanic" meaning their origin is from the oceanic crust. Volcanism built these islands. In graduate school, we had to pass the master's level course on geological oceanography. I was fortunately under Dr Margaret Goud-Collins (who is now affiliated with Woods Hole) who had not a few class days devoted on how the formation of Palawan. I fact the evolution of this island is linked with the evolution of the Sulu and South China Seas. Palawan is relatively aseismic since it is far from any plate subduction zone. In contrast the islands of ocea...

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Decades of poor governance, dictators, hurricanes have all contributed to the country's desperate status. The country is at the same latitude as northern Luzon. And like the Philippines is in the path of tropical cyclones and is earthquake prone. The country is the first independent republic in the Caribbean declaring its freedom from France. But due to political instability, the US occupied the country from 1915 to 1934. French and American intervention in the past remains in the nation's consciousness. Widespread poverty has contributed to widespread deforestation. In the 1920s Haiti had 60% forest cover. In 2010 it had >2%. It is mountainous in the interior. Loss of precious topsoil reduced crop productivity, worsening the chronic food security problem. This also is the major factor in the recent devastating floods that hit the country in the last 2 years. And now comes the deadly earthquake. The buildings and houses in Haiti...

To understand the magnitude of the recent floods that hit Manila and northern Luzon in the wake of TS Ondoy (Ketsana), it pays to look at the historical record of flooding in the Philippines. There had been major flooding events before and some have been recorded in Spanish friar accounts. Floods regularly inundated Bulacan, Pampanga and Pangasinan as well as the Laguna de Bay area. Marikina was flooded at certain years and this endangered the colony's food security that residents of these areas had to ask for exemption from the hated colonial tribute. Researchers may well try to see if these flooding events are somewhat related to climate events such as El Nino or La Nina. Also they may take note of how long the floods lasted before it subsided. One very documented flood is the one that deluged Manila in November 1943. This is so significant that all writers of WWII memoirs recall it since it marked the start of the worst aspects of the Japanese occupation. The flood deluged part...

Ironically, I was in the Philippine Coast Guard typhoon response and rescue exhibit in Manila when TS Ondoy's deluge hit Metro Manila. I was following the storm on real time satellite apps on my mobile phone and was shocked to see that the storm's core was compact and consolidated. This meant a deluge will come. Checking on the PAGASA forecast, I saw that the forecast still said "gusty winds" I have seen and experienced these kinds of storms in northern Australia. During my first year there as a PhD student in 1997, a tropical low dumped a year's worth of rain in 6 hours. The university got washed out. Cars in the student parking lot were piled on top of another as the flash flood rushed from the eucalyptus covered hills. There were no casualties. Six hours before, people were advised to seek higher ground. Those in buildings were advised to seek the higher floors and stay put. Some friends were trapped in the library building and did not go hungry since even th...

October 4 is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, nature, environment, ecologists, San Francisco, the Franciscans and every one named Francis. For the more secular, the day is also World Animal Day . The day is apt since Francis really loved animals. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis tell of tales of how Francis talked to the birds, tamed the Wolf of Gubbio, preached to the fish and when he died, thanked his donkey. But Francis is best known for the prayer attributed to him. The Prayer of Saint Francis is one of the most known in Christian spirituality. But this prayer probably dates just back to 1912. One prayer the Canticle of the Sun (Canticle of the Creatures) was really written by Francis himself in 1224. Considered as one of the foundation pieces of the Italian language, It has been translated to many languages. October 4 is also the day when animals are blessed in church. I myself have assisted at the Mass of the Animals and all sorts of soun...

My newest environmental science research project is to determine the evolutionary biology of invasion by the "janitor fish" in Marikina River. Today we made our first survey and collections. Marikina River is the"greenest"in Metro Manila but that is just on the surface. One master's student is doing her thesis on biotic integrity and a volunteer MD is working on the project too. The "janitor fish (Pterygoplichthys sp) is the dominant fish now in the river,displacing traditional Marikina food fishes such as dalag and hito. The fish are collected and left to rot on the riverbanks. Despite this, there is still some subsistence fishing on the river. The highest densities of the fish are observed near sewage outfalls where they find food to eat. It is likely that the fish can be controlled if we can clean up the river! BTW the name "janitor fish" insults janitors. The fish thrive in dirty rivers and don't clean them up. Janitors on the other hand, ...

Plaza Roma, the main square of Manila, just in front of the Manila Cathedral, was bounded by old Figs Ficus trees. One of them I believe existed even during the Spanish colonial period as evidenced by the old photo (probably taken in the 1870s) above I lifted from http://www.simbahan.net/ . It was then hardly a sapling. (Thank you http://www.simbahan.net/ for giving us an online historical resource on our churches.) I have seen the same tree in photos of Manila devastated by the 1945 battle. The cathedral was almost totally destroyed save its facade. In one of the photos GIs are seen having a drink under the tree that was by then a strapping tough balete . As of the last time I was in Intramuros for the traditional Visita Iglesia last March, the tree provided shade for us while we drank our C2 ice tea. We just said our prayers under the tree since the cathedral was jampacked with worshippers. But horrors, the photo in today's print edition of the Philippine Star shows the tree n...

Environmental science has come to a point in its development in which it can predict future trajectories for the planetary environment. Among the issues being debated is the carrying capacity (K) of the Earth. K is one of the seminal concepts in ecology. In high school kids are introduced to the classic Paramecium culture experiments to demonstrate this concept. The theory says that environments are limited in resources and if populations exceed the K then the population will crash. This is the concept behind "ecological footprint" which was first proposed by Mathis Wackernagel, in his PhD in regional planning dissertation in 1994. Wackernagel now heads the Global Footprint Network , a NGO dedicated to sustainability issues. Based on his latest assessment, we are now using 120% of the biosphere's capacity. Clearly this isn't sustainable and means we have overshot the planet's K. Wackernagel's concept has been criticised for being simplistic in that it attempts...

Fort Lauderdale FL USA - The 11th International Coral Reef Symposium is at its midpoint and the word from the reef gurus is out. The buzz word now is coral reef resilience. The effects of global climate change has resulted in more acidic oceans and warmer seas. While some corals can indeed tolerate warmer seas, none of them can survive an acidic ocean. Those who have taken college chemistry or have drank Coca Cola would know. Calcium carbonate (which make up coral skeletons) will dissolve in acidic water. The corals have had a double whammy. Increased sea temperatures result in coral bleaching where their symbiotic zooxanthellae are expelled. These symbionts provide the coral their nutrition and help them build their skeletons. Increased carbon dioxide in the air results in more carbonic acid in water. Under these conditions, corals can't build their skeletons. Coral reefs have been poetically referred to by none other than Jacques Costueau as the "Stones Alive". Here he ...

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has the rice price crisis as a headline. Perhaps it is good politic to say it is just a matter of market forces and economics but it may be better to dish out the plateful of truth, we have a global food crisis. The IRRI and Philippine rice experts have listed climate change as big factor together with land conversion and the biofuels boom. Nonetheless none of them would want to say that we have reached the two major determinants for carrying capacity (K) of planet Earth. Water is the first limiting factor followed by cultivated land. Both resources as any freshie environmental science student knows are finite. IRRI board chair Professor Elizabeth Woods listed the following areas of immediate concern 1. An agronomic revolution in Asian rice production to reduce existing yield gaps. Farmers have struggled to maximize the production potential of the rice varieties they are growing, so there is a gap between potential yield and actual yield. Farmers must i...

Gwapo! The Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday had this editorial entitled "Ugly" about Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman's Bayani (BF) Fernando's tarpaulins on EDSA. This editorial would have been on target if it didn't dish out another round of innuendos on BF. That BF isn't ugly is beyond debate (I don't know him that well to say he is vain). I have met him on several occassions and he strikes me as a dandy and to some extent a fop. My brother-in-law works with Fernando on many projects and according to him BF buys the best shampoos and hairsprays. No wonder he can keep that coiffure intact during 1) crisis situations and 2) disasters that hit the Metro! Not even Queen Gloriana can keep an intact coiffure during her stressful situations! The politicians who would like to rip Fernando's tarpaulins can hold no candle to BF's gwapo. Can Rambotito be called gwapo? Can Roilo Golez be as gwapo as BF? Fernando's turf and river can be call...

In the undergrad course I teach "Environment and Society" one of the important environmental issues we take in class is human population growth. And no one can take stock of the issue without bumping into Thomas Robert Malthus and his theory on population. Malthus was an Anglican country parson who wrote one of the most influential works in science "An Essay on the Principle of Population". This essay influenced Darwin and Wallace at a time they were formulating their evolutionary theory. Malthus being a parish priest was able to create his theory from christening, marriage and funeral records. What better place to be a demographer! Malthus' essay has three important concepts. Some environmental science textbooks call these as "prophecies" while some call it "predictions". For the sake of scientific objectivity, I prefer the latter term. The predictions are 1) Population will increase exponentially as long as their is enough food (Malthus ini...

Remember the comfort women? These were young women abducted and forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers in World War II. In the Philippines the issue was brought to fore when Lola Rosa Henson came out and told her story after one prominent historian declared that there were no comfort women in the Philippines. The truth is that the Japanese government did officially sanction rape in World War II. The Japanese government has never formally apologized for Japan's atrocities in World War II. The Japanese government also has not paid any damages to the women although a private foundation sponsored by the government has done so. The comfort women are now passing away and are a perfect analogue on what's happening to the Philippine environment. It is not a foreign power that is officially sanctioning environmental rape but the Philippine Government! Take for example the Philippines's mango isle of Guimaras. An Australian company has applied for a mining exploration...

The semester is almost over and last Friday I gave my summing up lecture to the undergrads. The undergrads signed up for my Environment and Society course. The semester started with us learning how to think scientifically. This requires objectivity and an empirical outlook. Then we studied the basics of the environment sciences. Matter and Energy cycles in the planetary environment. All we humans do are built upon this concept. Political,economic, agricultural, social and technological systems are built on environmental systems. We may fail to realize that environment is major factor in socio-political and religious change. We are so fixated on Jun Lozada and Cory style People Power. Environment Power can really shake things up! So at the end of the sem, we integrate the paradigms and relate this to what happening now in the Philippines. My lecture really focused on the environmental warning signs that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has to heed if she wants to last until 2010 when her term en...

Fulbright alumni have to be congratulated for hosting the successful "People and the Planet" conference in Washington DC from Nov 1- 4, 2007. The gabfest attracted 300 academics, policymakers and government officials from the sciences, social sciences and to the humanities. All of the participants were Fulbright grantees. Rob Bradley of the World Resources Institute reviewed the science behind climate change science and discussed possible scenarios if mitigation is done or not done. What seems to be clear is that human induced climate change is real. The questions that we have to determine is how severe are the effects and at what time scale this will happen. Answers to such questions are needed for a climate intervention strategy. The USA and China are the number 1 CO2 emitters. Three fourths of all emissions come from industrialized countries with the Philippines now considered as a "moderate emitter".This is some support to Queen Gloriana's assertion that...

Environment practitioners and environmentalists must be overjoyed that the Nobel committee has given this year's peace prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Gore who will go down in history as the environmentalist president the USA never had, is now a household name for the Oscar winning docu "An Inconvenient Truth". Such is Gore's campaign to inform the public that the film is required viewing in countless high schools and colleges all over the world. The film is also seen by Pinoys in many barangays. In one coastal barangay I visited recently, the whole village viewed the movie (pirated version!) in the local videoke bar. In my environmental science institute, we require students to watch "Inconvenient Truth" after we have had studied the various theories in environmental science and climate change. However we also require students to watch the alternate take on the issue "Global Warming Swindle" before we wr...

Talim Bay, Lian, Batangas- My research takes me to look into some beach dwelling snails and crabs that could indicate the first signs of environmental change. We are developing rapid ways of detecting and diagnosing this change. In recent years, environmental scientists have been asked to become medical doctors for the biggest patient, planet Earth! Unlike the patients of pediatricians and vets , my patient can't talk cry or bark, hiss or meow. So I have to listen and try to see what ails her. To those wags who think PhDs are not real "doctors", I say that I have become a doctor in the original and fullest sense. Too bad there isn't any drug company that gives me freebies and golfing junkets! BTW I am also a fish doctor! Seriously people begin to notice something's wrong with the planet when something big dies. A Brydes whale washed ashore in nearby Nasugbu town. The beached whale attracted media attention but it need not take an biggie iconic species like a whale...