Mosquito Season, The Third Philippines Season?

I can't help myself laughing every time I see the commercial of a fabric conditioner. The commercial model/actress claimed that it is mosquito season again. I find it crazy because why they are adding season to our climate just to promote their product. Philippines have only two seasons, the dry and wet season. No wonder the product they are promoting is a fabric conditioner which they claimed effective in warding off mosquitoes. And they are still airing the commercial now even it is no longer rainy season which is the only season when we have a lot of dengue cases and when there are a lot of mosquitoes.

But when I learned that the son of my neighbor got dengue, it looks like they make sense after all. Dengue is most common during rainy season and it is quite surprising that this kid still got dengue when it is already dry season. And what more surprising is our barrio has just been fumigated by barrio officials. It is alarming to know that we now have an all season dengue carrying mosquitoes and the use of chemical is not quite effective in eradicating this kind of mosquitoes. This is only show that we cannot resolve the dengue problem by using insecticide alone, we still need the natural way of limiting the population of mosquitoes. We still need the help of animals that prey on mosquitoes. We cannot discount the fact that during the old days the big population of this mosquito predators save us from mosquito related diseases. Sad thing is their population is now very small. The most common mosquito predators here in the Philippines that I know are frogs and lizards. I can rarely see frogs now a day even during rainy season and the last time I saw is a victim of a road kill. The on going land development is the main reason why their population decreased. Farm land which is their habitat is now being converted to residential and commercial area. It is sad that we have maintained our old belief but not the ecological balance. Up to now many still afraid of Palakang Araneta or bullfrog in English, because they believe that they will be poison by it, so every time they see this kind of frog they will kill it, but so far no known incident wherein a person has died because they were poison by this frog. While the Palakang Bukid or mountain frog has remained as one of Filipino staple food, which is why they are always being hunt. While the Palakang Dikit or banana frog is being believe to be the cause of kulogo or warts once you have contact with their urine. Although lizard can still be seen, there is still a possibility that their population will decreased because there still some Filipino that still believed that eating a lizard will cure their asthma.

If we will continue to have this beliefs and we will believe with the word of the commercial model of the fabric conditioner commercial that they will be able to solve the problem of disease cause by mosquito then we will continue to be reluctant in keeping the ecological balance which is very important in keeping the harmonious coexistence of , organisms and their environment.

Cold Snap Energized Global Warming Deniers

Global warming doubters and agnostics get help from cold weather to bolster their argument that global warming is a hoax. Due to cold season many doubters flooded blogs, online news site, social networking and forum to criticize those environmentalist that promote green living. They are saying that the proponents of green living only use the global warming scenario to earn money. They are now asking for explanation why there is a cold snap if the earth is warming.

Maybe our creator only wants to remind us what we will lost if the global warming is for real and will reach its peak. Sure it may be cold now, but as a whole the world is warming. 2010 is the warmest year on record; we've been experiencing a hot weather for a long time, so let’s not be quick to conclude that global warming is a hoax just because of once in blue moon cold snap. If it wasn't for global warming this cold snap would happen much more regularly. We don't know what will happen next, this might be the last time we will experience a cold weather.

I hope that the current cold weather will not halt the ongoing green program of some organization and government and the environmentalist will not be discouraged by the recent challenge being thrown upon them. Regardless if the global warming is true or not I still see some benefits if we will continue to be conservative in using our natural resources. Let us remember that by limiting our carbon footprint we will prevent air and water pollution. Two million die prematurely each year because of air pollution and ther'e is a mass extinction of marine life due to water pollution. Let’s not forget that fish and other marine life is our main source of food. By taking care of our environment we are also taking care of our future, health and wealth.

Eat Bulaga's Plastic ni Juan

It is 12:00 pm again and I'm about to watch my favorite noontime show "Eat Bulaga". Eat Bulaga is the longest-running television show here in the Philippines. One time one of their program segment caught my attention because of its environmental tempo. I learned that Eat Bulaga has a project named “Plastic ni Juan”, this is part of their Juan For All, All For Juan: Sugod Bahay sa Barangay  segment. They are asking viewers to bring 3 plastic bottles or containers so that they can join a game wherein they have a chance to win cash prizes.  According to one of the program host, this project aims to collect waste plastics so that it can be used for good purpose instead of clogging the drainage system and avoid flood.  The Collected plastics will be then recycled to a school chairs and will be donated to selected public schools here in the Philippines.
 
It is nice to hear that a TV variety show such as Eat Bulaga  is doing an Eco project like this.  This only shows that environmental awareness is getting a headway. This will help spread environmental awareness among Filipinos especially the masses since Eat Bulaga has a lot of viewers from all social classes. And since Eat Bulaga is the number one noontime show some TV program tried to imitate them to gain viewers. It will be advantageous to the environment if the other TV program will also have their own environment friendly program.
 
But there is a little downside though. The plastic they are collecting are those that can be sold in the junk shop. Most of these plastics are being collected by scavengers and being sold to junk shop. Plastic bottles and containers are like  treasures to the eye of scavengers so it is very rarely that they will missed one and end up in the drainage system.  And because most Filipinos having a hard time with their finances very few people throw this kind of plastic, there a lot of Filipinos now a days collect everything they can sell and that's include plastic bottles and containers. 
 
I am not trying to discredit their good deeds, I'm just hoping that they will be able to think a project that instead of collecting plastic bottles and container it should be plastic bags instead. Plastic bags are the most common cause of clogging of our drainage system.  Since plastic bags cannot be sold in the junk shop, they are mostly being thrown away everywhere and ends up in the drainage system. And the worst thing is some Filipino just burned their garbage that includes plastic bags that is why it emits toxic smokes. Or a much better idea is a project that will encourage Filipinos to limit the use of plastic bags.