Wasted Lessons

Lessons of Ondoy and other previous calamities that brought havoc to the country seem wasted. Another typhoon named Sendong entered the country and brought another devastation and as previous calamities, people were caught unprepared resulted to high casualties. According to the local authorities, there is a high casualty because of illegal logging and mining in that area. Nature looks like taking a vengeance; flash flood carried the cut trees and served as a battering ram in destroying building and houses.

You cannot avoid to wonder if there is still a chance that people will finally change their behavior towards the environment. And accept the fact that the impact of climate change, most appropriately called "global weirding" in weather terms, is becoming clearer with each event. The 100 years floods are piling up. The storm systems are gaining in strength. The boom and bust cycles of flood and drought make old stories of "the way things are" sound like trite but frosty old memories.

Deny if you will, trees perform many important functions in the eco-system­, one of which is dealing with water. You just can't chop down millions of them in one place and expect no consequences. This is not so much a case of "Nature" out to get us, as this will be spun, no doubt. This is a direct consequence of man's actions. And, yes, once again, follow the money.