how about in an effort to regreen baguio city i plant 1 tree for every guy i have ever dated? 1 tree for every guy who broke my heart? 1 tree for every guy whose heart i've allegedly broken?
all for love of mother nature.
Showing posts with label baguio city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baguio city. Show all posts
Friday, February 19, 2010
Sunday, October 11, 2009
hell hath no fury like mother nature scorned
i woke up yesterday to a bright, brilliant, sunny day. if i didn't know any better i would have sworn it was summer.
how deceptive it was, the breeze was ruffling the tree tops that made up the view in front of our house, the sun was blazing, the sky a clear clear blue. there were no signs of the storm that had ravaged my city and the provinces surrounding it.
i felt so removed from the rest of the area. we had power, water, phone services. dsl was shot but that was just a minor inconvenience. we even had cable.
after a few minutes of soaking in the serenity of the saturday morning, i finally tuned in to the news and confirmed my worst fears. the summer feeling was meant to mask the horror that had taken place in some areas of baguio city and benguet.
landslides had occurred in the dark of night, in the middle of a power outage, and a whole village was buried. the place called city camp lagoon filled up, true to its name. roads closed, people crying for help, families evacuated.
through all the footage and commentaries all i could think about was hell hath no fury like mother nature scorned.
it was painful for me to watch and i found myself giving a big prayer of thanks for being alive and safe, and a small prayer of thanks that the baby clothes and stuff we had put together for the typhoon ondoy victims were still in the car. at least we could give them to people closer to home.
i know we are a resilient people. picking ourselves up after this is a foregone conclusion. i only wish we also had long memories. sana magtanda na tayo. it's not too late.
how deceptive it was, the breeze was ruffling the tree tops that made up the view in front of our house, the sun was blazing, the sky a clear clear blue. there were no signs of the storm that had ravaged my city and the provinces surrounding it.
i felt so removed from the rest of the area. we had power, water, phone services. dsl was shot but that was just a minor inconvenience. we even had cable.
after a few minutes of soaking in the serenity of the saturday morning, i finally tuned in to the news and confirmed my worst fears. the summer feeling was meant to mask the horror that had taken place in some areas of baguio city and benguet.
landslides had occurred in the dark of night, in the middle of a power outage, and a whole village was buried. the place called city camp lagoon filled up, true to its name. roads closed, people crying for help, families evacuated.
through all the footage and commentaries all i could think about was hell hath no fury like mother nature scorned.
it was painful for me to watch and i found myself giving a big prayer of thanks for being alive and safe, and a small prayer of thanks that the baby clothes and stuff we had put together for the typhoon ondoy victims were still in the car. at least we could give them to people closer to home.
i know we are a resilient people. picking ourselves up after this is a foregone conclusion. i only wish we also had long memories. sana magtanda na tayo. it's not too late.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
yes, i want wider roads and taller buildings. why not?
the few times i read the newspapers i always find myself putting the darned thing down and shaking my head. yesterday was no exception.
i glanced at a day-old inquirer and was greeted with the sight of the acacia trees lining mcarthur highway along san fernando, pampanga. i actually smiled when i saw that there were paintings on the trunks, recalling how every time we pass through there, we tell the kids how beautiful the canopy of branches is.
naturally i read the article and found myself aghast at what i read. they are going to cut those trees and the paintings were done by artists protesting the road widening.
the DENR (department of environment and natural resources) has given a permit to the DPWH (department of public works and highways) to cut literally thousands of trees for road widening purposes. you can read the article here.
sure, the trees are not in danger of extinction. sure, the DPWH was required to replace each tree with 30 saplings, and oh, they didn't have the budget for it but they scraped enough to comply. wow. aren't they just so wonderful? saplings, in place of trees that are probably older than those idiots in power.
5,442 trees. some to be moved, most to be cut. for what? so we can cut the travel time from north to south? oh come on. in this day and age of conservation, let's make way for more cars, and less trees. bullshit.
oh, and let's not forget the hare-brained joint venture between SM and GSIS. the joint venture will build condotels in the mini forest in between UP baguio and the Supreme Court. oh they'll just cut about 300 trees and transfer about a hundred. no big deal. then they'll build condotels that will guarantee traffic in the area, and oh, dead trees. the city declared the area as a park and garden zone. so GSIS, in the interest of its members, sues the government. read the article here.
yes, we need more buildings and wider roads so we can buy more cars. we need more pollution, too. we don't have enough at the moment, you see. right now we still get a whiff or two of fresh air. let's do away with that, shall we? and we might as well stop calling baguio the city of pines.
and one day, i'm going to tell my grand kids to go to the museum to visit a real live tree. that may be the only place where they'll find one.
i glanced at a day-old inquirer and was greeted with the sight of the acacia trees lining mcarthur highway along san fernando, pampanga. i actually smiled when i saw that there were paintings on the trunks, recalling how every time we pass through there, we tell the kids how beautiful the canopy of branches is.
naturally i read the article and found myself aghast at what i read. they are going to cut those trees and the paintings were done by artists protesting the road widening.
the DENR (department of environment and natural resources) has given a permit to the DPWH (department of public works and highways) to cut literally thousands of trees for road widening purposes. you can read the article here.
sure, the trees are not in danger of extinction. sure, the DPWH was required to replace each tree with 30 saplings, and oh, they didn't have the budget for it but they scraped enough to comply. wow. aren't they just so wonderful? saplings, in place of trees that are probably older than those idiots in power.
5,442 trees. some to be moved, most to be cut. for what? so we can cut the travel time from north to south? oh come on. in this day and age of conservation, let's make way for more cars, and less trees. bullshit.
oh, and let's not forget the hare-brained joint venture between SM and GSIS. the joint venture will build condotels in the mini forest in between UP baguio and the Supreme Court. oh they'll just cut about 300 trees and transfer about a hundred. no big deal. then they'll build condotels that will guarantee traffic in the area, and oh, dead trees. the city declared the area as a park and garden zone. so GSIS, in the interest of its members, sues the government. read the article here.
yes, we need more buildings and wider roads so we can buy more cars. we need more pollution, too. we don't have enough at the moment, you see. right now we still get a whiff or two of fresh air. let's do away with that, shall we? and we might as well stop calling baguio the city of pines.
and one day, i'm going to tell my grand kids to go to the museum to visit a real live tree. that may be the only place where they'll find one.
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