Punchline
Climate change is here
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
People don’t know what to make out of the most unusual heavy downpours that the country has seen the past weeks. These could hardly be referred to as the welcome cool April showers because these tons of water from the skies caused flooding in the streets and unduly doused summer festivals and parades.
What these really are, points to the much talked about phenomenon, climate change. Most every literate Pinoy has heard or read about it yet they continue to be in a state of denial, refusing to acknowledge that it is happening. Or could it be because we simply refuse to accept the fact that each of us is responsible for today’s climate change.
But like it or not, it is here. It is with us. We are experiencing the initial impact of climate change and it’s going to get worse before it gets any better. Take a glimpse of what’s in store.
It has not occurred to most that soon, we will not know of a summer or rainy season just plain unpredictable weather and climate. Yes, you can forget about summer or rainy season sale in the malls. Raincoats and rubber boots will be sold beside bikinis and beach balls. Soon, earthquakes and tsunamis will be treated in media as they would an ordinary police story because of their frequency. Images of mass destruction caused by natural calamites either by drowning, burning or starvation and diseases, etc, will no longer shock our senses. While nobody is saying it, I believe the present swine flu is indicative of more air-borne diseases that will reach pandemic proportions victimizing peoples because of unabated pollution in our air, water and soil). Diseases will no longer be contained by physical boundaries.
Farms will turn into infertile lands. Communities will be turned into virtual garbage dumps after days of flooding what with the tons of garbage carelessly disposed of in their surroundings. Prices of bottled water will soar while protection of sources of clean water, not properties, will be on top of the agenda of the national police.
Most people will be dying not with spilled blood all over them but with their faces turning blue and grey before their remains reach the morgues.
I am not talking omens of the end of the world. Simply about climate change.
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MONIES SPENT, MONIES EARNED. To say that the staging of the last Bangus Festival was a success is an understatement.
While to some, the preparations may have gone overboard what with the economic crisis, to my mind the extent of the preparations indicated how if effectively stimulated the local economy.
Monies from commercial sponsors flowed in and were spent here on local suppliers’ products and services. Residents and visitors spent whatever they could to partake of whatever the festival’s events offered. The small street vendors had a chance to earn hawking water, snacks, ice cream, barbeque bits, etc. Even households where events were held were seen exploiting the situation, setting up their own tables selling bottled water and fun drinks. Contractors hired more hands to provide the services required of them. Tarpaulin printers surely had a good return on their investment in the first quarter. Evidently, nobody felt there was an economic crisis because there was money to be earned, money to be spent.
It was not an activity where city’s officials were seen raking in from their own staged activities. In fact, the city government this time did not allocate any for the staging of this year’s festival. Under the Lim administration, hundreds of thousands were allocated as seed money only to be left unliquidated by the designated festival chairmen. To the credit of this year’s organizers, the commercial sponsors felt the festival was an event that fully justified their expenses.
Take a bow, Mayor Al, VM Belen, city councilors and yes, the private sector for footing the bill!
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