Every Day is Earth Day

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Big Yellow Taxi

Joni Mitchell

I know it's a day late but caring for the earth should not be given attention for only one day. It's time to shake of the indifference because everyone's well-being is at stake, whether we care or not. If you want to start caring but don't know how, here are 50 Ways to Help the Planet.

The Tubbataha Reef: 7 Natural Wonders Nominee

Photo by Phua Boon Wah

The Philippines’ very own Tubbataha Reef is nominated in the global poll to name the new seven natural wonders of the world. The 96,000 hectare reef ecosystem in the middle of the Sulu Sea, touted as Asia’s best marine park, is one of over a hundred natural attractions from around the world vying for the distinction.

Surprisingly, the reef is our country’s lone entry in the list of 77 nominees. There are definitely many more natural attractions from the Philippines that deserve to accompany the Tubbataha reef on that list, and it’s a shame only one got through. (I've nominated Albay's Mayon Volcano)

Still, the Tubbataha Reef certainly deserves to be part of the top seven. This ecologically-rich reef composed of two atolls located 92 nautical miles southeast of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. In 1993, Tubbataha Reef was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site “in recognition of its outstanding universal value in terms of marine life species diversity and richness.”

Find out how to vote after the jump.

Photo by lexmanxxx

Comparable in diversity to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Tubbataha is home to over 300 species of coral and 400 species of fish including giant jacks, hammerhead sharks, barracudas, manta rays, palm-sized moorish idols, parrot fishes, and moral eels. The rare hawksbill turtle also call Tubbataha home. Thousands of migratory seabirds also flock to the island during their annual migration.

The stunning diversity makes the Tubbataha Reef a favorite destination for divers. And yet the reef has been protected for years from exploitation due to its own remoteness and inaccessibility.

Photo by pinay_diver

Personally, I find the poll ridiculous. All the wonders of the natural world can not possibly be given justice in a measly list of only seven. Still, this is yet another chance to showcase our well-known Pinoy solidarity when it comes to online polls. Let us vote for the Tubbataha Reef because it definitely deserves to be there. As of January 25, 2007, the reef is steady at the 34th spot. Tubbataha needs to enter the top 21 rankings to be considered as a finalist candidate. Voters from around the world will then choose the new seven natural wonders from the finalists. Click here to vote!

Photo by Lawrence Yung

Blackle: The Energy-saving Search Engine

How can a search engine possibly save energy? That was the first thing that came to mind when I encountered Blackle, maybe short for Black Google, which claims to provide energy-saving search. With its rather funny name which made me chuckle (pun intended), I was a little skeptical about the site's claim. Blackle is basically Google Search rendered in black, instead of the usual white. There lies Blackle's advantage, or so it claims.

Apparently, a black webpage uses only 59 watts to display while a white webpage uses about 74 watts. This is similar to saving a laptop's battery by turning down the monitor's brightness. The 15 watts difference may not seem much at first glance. But a blogger proposed that if Google search, which receives over 2.5 billion queries a day, is displayed in black, this can translate to a global energy savings of 8.3 megawatt-hours a day or over 3,000 megawatt-hours a year.

Come to think of it, it does make sense. With billions of computers accessing Google Search daily, the small amount of wattage (15 watts) that can be saved if Google is displayed in black can easily add up to reach the megawatt levels. This also works for me personally since I don't have a problem with websites rendered in black (including this blog..hehe)

I tested Blackle to see if there would be any significant difference in the search engine results compared to regular Google Search. Thankfully, there wasn't any drastic difference- except for the absence of sponsored links, which is actually great. I think I may be using this search engine from now on. Maybe even in this small and insignificant way, I can actually help in the efforts to save energy. :-)

Visit Blackle - http://www.blackle.com

Green Skyscrapers

Maybe because of my love for architecture and skyscrapers combined with my heightened awareness of environmental issues, ‘Green Skyscrapers’ or environmentally-friendly towers naturally captured my interest. Skyscrapers aren’t really known to be environmentally benign. I’m sure the amount of energy needed to power the lighting and air-conditioning needs alone of such huge structures takes a sizeable chunk from the power generated by coal-fired plants that produce toxic emissions.

But apparently, skyscrapers can be sustainable environmentally-friendly structures that can actually help conserve and even produce renewable energy, and minimize waste materials through recycling and reuse.

One such skyscraper is the new Hearst Tower in New York, featured in this article. The Hearst Tower, a soaring glass and steel landmark with distinctive triangular frames built on top of an older building, is NY’s first green building incorporating a number of environmentally-friendly features in its design. The building’s structure itself uses 80% recycled steel. To reduce the energy used for air conditioning by 22%, the building uses outside air for heating and cooling and uses a system of polyethylene tubing embedded in the floor filled with circulating water collected from rain at the tower’s roof.

The collected rain water is also used to irrigate plants and for use at a three-story waterfall at the main lobby (which in turn, helps cool down and humidify the lobby). Its unusual triangular framing pattern or diagrid also has a purpose: It helped reduce the amount of steel needed to construct the building by as much as 20% compared to conventional steel frames. Hearst Building is designed to use 25% less energy than the minimum requirements for New York.

I hope more skyscrapers like the Hearst Tower will be built all over the world. Here in the Philippines, I have yet to see a truly energy-efficient skyscraper that uses a number of environmentally-friendly features. In the near future, I’d like to see perhaps a tower with built-in solar panels to capture the energy from the hot tropical sun, or a building equipped with turbines that will harness the wind to produce sustainable energy. I hope our new breed of architects and engineers will also prioritize environmental-friendliness and energy efficiency in their designs.

Rude Awakening to a Grim Reality

For many of us, global warming and climate change were only trendy catch phrases for the environmentally-inclined. I too admit that I almost never gave it more than a passing thought.

Yes I was aware of what was happening throughout the world - how forest cover were disappearing by the thousands of hectares every year, how polar bears were drowning because their homes on the ice shelves floating on the Arctic waters were breaking apart leaving them stranded on slowly melting little icebergs, or how shocking and extreme weather conditions were destroying lives and properties all over the world.

But I never really cared, until late last year.

On that fateful day of November 30th 2006, global warming, climate change and all those fancy catch-phrases became a grim and tragic reality right before our very eyes. Probably the worst typhoon ever to hit the country in decades bore its full fury upon this puny little peninsula called Bicol. No one will ever forget how strong and angry the wind was and how the blinding torrents of rain lashed without mercy for hours on end.

We thought it would never stop. When the winds and the rain died down, the enormity of the disaster slowly dawned among those who survived – shattered homes, shattered lives, whole villages erased from the map, hundreds missing and hundreds dead.

Now, only a few weeks after that dreadful day, my home province is still trying its best to recover from the misfortune that befell it. Questions and fears race through my head, will it happen again, or rather, when will it happen again? Are we ready to face yet another disaster of this magnitude? Now that we have experienced the full wrath of nature, will we start caring or do we fall again into complacency only to be shaken by another rude awakening?