sAve thE plANeT, it is tHE OnlY eARtH wE've gOt

Look around you, what do you see? Are we still living on the same Earth that we came to?
We’ve all heard of stories about how the world had once been. Picture this, clear waters, blue skies and beautiful mountains… perfect scenery. Now, let’s go to reality. Instead of clear waters, we have muddy and “garbage filled” waters. Instead of blue skies and cool breeze, we have polluted air that goes to level with skyscrapers. And instead of beautiful mountains, we have burned and “treeless” mountains. Is that the kind of place you want yourself or your children to live in?
We all know that forests provide many social, economic, and environmental benefits. In addition to timber and paper products, forests provide wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities, prevent soil erosion and flooding, help provide clean air and water, and contain tremendous biodiversity. Forests are also an important defense against global climate change. Through the process of photosynthesis, forests produce life-giving oxygen and consume huge amounts of carbon dioxide, the atmospheric chemical most responsible for global warming. By decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, forests reduce the effects of global warming.
But because of overpopulation, space, water, food and other resources available are becoming more and more insufficient. Hence, we consume more and save lesser than we are supposed to. In the Philippines alone, we are experiencing shortage of all sorts. Our bodies of water are overflowing with garbage making it unsafe for consumption. Mountains and forests are converted to residential and commercial zones. To make matters worse, we are at the verge of global warming. Ice glaciers are rapidly melting; drought is experienced in unexpected places.
For the past years, we have been experiencing disasters like floods and landslides that have caused the lives of many. (In December 2006, we were all witnesses to the Leyte landslide when a whole town got covered with mud including thousands of people.) We Filipinos have been blessed with being rich in natural resources. We live in the “Pearl of the Orient Seas”. With our “virgin forests” and all, these disasters could have been prevented. But still, it happened. Why is that? Because of our carelessness and stupidity, the forests we have prided ourselves of having is now gone. These disasters are still happening and will continue to happen if we do not do anything to stop the destruction of our natural resources.
Illegal logging, kaingin method, muro ami, use of dynamites and other chemicals for fishing, dumping of garbage not only in bodies of water but everywhere else. These are only some of human activities that destroy our natural resources. Let’s face it. Because of our irresponsible and inconsiderate acts, we have destroyed our “sources of life”. We have been too selfish in thinking only of what we can get out of our available resources and not what we can do to protect and preserve mother earth. NOW, it has to STOP. We are the cause of all these havoc so, we should be the solution. It’s not enough that we comfort ourselves by saying, “through technological advancement, we can solve these problems” because in the first place, our preference for modern technologies has led us to all these.
Anyway, let us not dwell on what we could have done because obviously, we haven’t been thinking of them before. Instead, let us work together to make this world a better place to live in, for our children and our children’s children. If we work now, we will see results tomorrow. Self – discipline is all it takes. There is no use in enforcing hundreds of laws on preservation of our natural resources if we do not follow. Let us cut lesser trees and start planting more of them. Let us reduce, reuse and recycle to lessen garbage. Most of all let us save the planet because it is the only earth we’ve got... :) :) :)(bow)