Do you again enjoy floods?
IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring
I asked this question already many times in the past. Also at this corner. While writing this piece, I have to admit, that the sun shines and the sky looks so beautiful and blue. Fact is: our climate changes. Nothing new. Many people around me squarely blamed the climate change and mentioned El Niño nowadays not only in Region 11 in the Philippines. I must confess: the weather really changed. Not only now.
Maybe you consider my headline a little bit sarcastic. Maybe this column may sound like a “curtain lecture”. It might sound as a “love’s labor lost”… “Much ado about nothing”! Really?
As Th. Campbell said in his “Lochiel’s Warning”, “Coming events cast their shadows before”. Of course: NO to floods! What a crazy question! But prevention is indeed better than cure. Let’s face it, if we don’t try to alter our lifestyle NOW, we may once again face to face with the disastrous effects of typhoons and heavy rains. Much effort has already been undertaken regarding the issue by our local and national governments in segregating wastes properly. But many of us really don’t seem to learn. We are enthusiastic at the beginning, but we give up halfway. Why can I observe so many garbage at many corners? Why indiscriminate dumping remains one of the causes of flash floods?
Most of our drainage systems are also still clogged by wastes of different kinds, rendering them useless. Guys, try to become “intelligent consumers”, meaning to say: we must be conscious of those products we consume and where they will go after we are done using them.
Natural disasters in-deed occur all the time. But they are getting more destructive. It seems we are no more having control over our beloved Mother Nature, which is suffering more and more – because of US!
I am still meeting people shedding tears over the “wrong incoming president of the Philip-pines, Rodrigo Duterte”. Why? He is indeed opening up old sores and is bringing up old subjects. What’s wrong in agreeing with the EcoWaste Coalition expressing support to presumptive President Duterte’s plan to ban firecrackers and fireworks nationwide? It’s indeed saving lives and is protecting the environment and the public health from hazardous emissions and wastes.
Yes, it’s indeed high time that the Philippines, a climate hot spot, bid goodbye to New Year pollution and mayhem. I strongly agree that banning firecrackers and fireworks will indeed help in meeting the objectives of the Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Clean Water Act, Climate Change Act, Animal Welfare Act and several other environmental and health laws somehow remained forgotten during the last years.
I am also glad to learn that the new president is planning to initiate major changes in the economic provisions of the Constitution, including those on foreign business owner-ship, to attract more investors. Personally, I do know that several foreign investors are still waiting for “the right moment” to settle down especially in Davao City and whole Mindanao – the many times forgotten part of the Philippines.
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Email:doringklaus@ gmail.com or follow me in Twitter or Facebook or visit www.germanexpatinthe thilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic. blogspot.com .
