A BURNING GLOBE

 

By Klaus Döring

Look around. Just any place on our globe. Yes, it's burning. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, war. Will be Asia another place?

In today's moment, nature's story line has reached a low point. It's unfathomable to me that some people can still so easily shrug it off—especially if they have kids or love anyone who is younger than they are—while for so many in my generation, it is such a constant, excruciating worry. Apathy, let alone denial, is no longer an acceptable option, because we know that if we stay on this course, the destruction will inevitably come for us, too.

I got the book "The Burning Earth: by Sunil Amrith. He is the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History and professor in the School of the Environment at Yale University.

Ever since innovations in agriculture vastly expanded production of food, our remarkable achievements in reshaping nature have allowed billions of humans to exist and thrive. Yet every technological innovation has also empowered us to exploit each other and the planet with devastating brutality. In this magisterial book, historian Sunil Amrith twins the stories of environment and Empire, genocide and eco-cide, human freedom and planetary costs. His environmental lens provides an essential new way of understanding war as massive reshaping of the earth through global mobilizations of natural resources, including humans; and explains patterns of migration as a consequence of environmental harm. Amrith relates in gorgeous prose, and on the largest canvas, a mind-altering epic—vibrant with stories, characters, and vivid images and rich archival resources.

In my opinion: A brilliant, paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, over the last 500 years.

We all know: Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.

The main greenhouse gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases.

The Earth is feeling the heat. Humans are responsible for global warming. Climate scientists have shown that humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. Human activities like the ones mentioned above are causing greenhouse gases that are warming the world faster than at any time in at least the last two thousand years.

The average temperature of the Earth’s surface is now about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s (before the industrial revolution) and warmer than at any time in the last 100,000 years. The last decade (2011-2020) was the warmest on record, and each of the last four decades has been warmer than any previous decade since 1850.

Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others.

The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.

We face a huge challenge but already know many solutions. Many climate change solutions can deliver economic benefits while improving our lives and protecting the environment. We also have global frameworks and agreements to guide progress, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (where I got some details!) and the Paris Agreement. Three broad categories of action are: cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts and financing required adjustments.

Switching energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables like solar or wind will reduce the emissions driving climate change. But we have to act now. While a growing number of countries are committing to net zero emissions by 2050, emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to keep warming below 1.5°C. Achieving this means huge declines in the use of coal, oil and gas: over two-thirds of today’s proven reserves of fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground by 2050 in order to prevent catastrophic levels of climate change.

Let's entertain ourselves!

 

By

 Mindanao Daily News

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March 9, 2026

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If you’re waiting for brilliance to strike, try getting bored first. That’s the takeaway of a study published recently in the journal Academy of Management Discoveries, which found that boredom can spark individual productivity and creativity.

In the study, people who had gone through a boredom-inducing task — methodically sorting a bowl of beans by color, one by one — later performed better on an idea-generating task than peers who first completed an interesting craft activity. (The task: to come up with excuses for being late that wouldn’t make someone look bad.) The bored folks outperformed the artists both in terms of idea quantity and quality, as ranked by objective outsiders who assigned uniqueness scores to each one.   

It started with the evolution of mind and more usage of the brain. Meditation is the prime form to keep senses in place. But easier said than done. This brought the concept of entertainment. To keep us engaged in some or other way to channelize the thought process or in some cases to stop it.

Not a single day goes by without feeling good or even terribly sick. Many give up and withdraw in their loneliness. A legal solitude from “somewhere up there”.

Many wonder whether it is good for our future, for the economy, for education, and for our personal life and its surroundings. Well, I don’t want to swap with those up there ahd having to make the right decisions at the right time. You can already notice some things, people are becoming more and more aggressive, no matter where in the world.

Let’s entertain ourselves! Quite simply and clearly expressed. Since my retirement but staying longer  in my home office, I’ve been trying to entertain myself. I enjoy writing more – writing was and still is one of my hobbies. I enjoy playing my different instruments. I ignored that for years.

I enjoy listening to music from my incredibly large record collection back to 1936. I put my photo album collection in the right order. Incidentally, this is a wonderful task, since I am currently working on my  biography.

Entertaining means to talk with my wife and family personally too, and not only by messenger. Playing with the dogs, gardening, watching the daily TV-mass, praying … .

Yes, it’s our new abnormality we have to live with. We must not get down. Trust in God. It’s all in His hands.

A woman's work is never done

 

By Senator Risa Hontiveros

Published Mar 9, 2026 12:05 am | Updated Mar 8, 2026 04:11 pm

Senator Risa Hontiveros

Anne Curtis is, in many ways, a woman whom our society has long admired and celebrated. But during a recent hearing, Anne became someone whom Filipinas know too well: a woman subject to the crude imagination of a man who has forgotten the basic respect for others.

I felt disappointment. But I also felt recognition.

In moments like these, her name does not even matter. She could be any of our daughters or our sisters. Any of us, really!

Because abusers think that any visible woman, just her existence, gives them permission to speak about us in lewd ways. This behavior is not new. But it has never been acceptable.

That is exactly why I fought for the Safe Spaces Act, better known as the Bawal Bastos Law, which protects people from unwanted sexual remarks, gestures, and harassment in public spaces, workplaces, and online.

I am proud of this law, because it affirms that dignity is a right.

When disrespect like against Anne is laughed off, it becomes easier for the next person to repeat it.

That’s why catcalling is not harmless and offensive comments are not simple “compliments” that women should learn to ignore.

The hard truth is that the fight for women’s dignity has never been about just one law. Or one incident. Or one woman in the headlines.

The everyday realities that Filipino women carry quietly are not separate struggles. They overlap and spill into one another—a connection that has shaped my work in public service since the beginning.

Whether through the Safe Spaces Act, the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law, the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act, the Healthy Nanay and Bulilit Act, or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children Act, the goal has always been the same: that women’s problems be addressed with urgency, compassion, and respect.

What does that mean in everyday life? It is a woman protected from harassment. A mother given the time to heal and care for her newborn. A solo parent recognized not as an afterthought, but as someone carrying an enormous burden with quiet courage each day. It looks like children protected from abuse online. That’s a country where women and our quiet courage are recognized and supported.

Just recently, I turned 60. Among friends, we’ve joked that I am now a dual citizen: citizen of the Philippines and a citizen of the senior lane.

Even so, I don’t feel like I am finished with the work I have been called to do. On the contrary, it made me feel even more certain about the work that still needs to be done.

A dear colleague of mine, Senate President Tito Sotto, once told our session that growing old is not something to fear. It is something to aspire to.

And he is right. It is not a burden, but a privilege. I am grateful to still be in the fight.

Like many seniors, this season of life also makes me think more deeply about the people who make all the work matter.

For me, they have always been my children.

Much of what we do, all the long days, late nights, and hard battles are for them.

I tend to think about the kind of country they will grow up in, the kind of world they will inherit, and whether we adults have done enough.

Are our laws fairer? Have we made them more humane? Have we built a culture of respect for both men and women? Or are we still raising girls to be careful, while men continue to believe that a woman’s discomfort is a small price to pay for some cruel amusement?

Because the real measure of a society is not only about putting women on a pedestal, but how consistently it protects us in ordinary places and everyday life. Whether we are famous or simply going about our day, we deserve to feel protected at work, online, on the street, at home, in school, in public.

So to Anne Curtis, and to every woman who has endured the same indignity: we see you. Know that this fight is for all of us.

There is still so much work before us. And I, for one, am not done.

Philippine peso, inflation face pressures from oil shock

 

Philippine peso, inflation face pressures from oil shock; 50% electricity discount bill pushed

A Gas station in Davao City displays current pump prices as of March 5, 2026, amid warnings of a significant price increase next week. (Photo by Keith Bacongco I MB)

Foreign banks have warned of rising risks to the Philippine peso, which could slide to the ₱60:$1 level, and to domestic inflation, which is poised to climb further if Middle East tensions persist. Read more

Meanwhile, the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) led by its president, Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez is banking on the party's pet measure in the House of Representatives to deliver relief in the form of a 50 percent electricity discount for qualified households. Read more