Earth Day 2009

Today we celebrate Earth Day. It is the day to be aware and appreciate our home, the Earth. All living and non-living things in nature are on Earth. It is held annually during both spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year.

From the Earth Hour held last March 28, where in all lights from houses, some streets and establishments were turned off for an hour 8:30pm to 9:30pm PST to remember and be aware that mother nature needs our help to keep the earth well maintained and cared for.

There are now many disasters that our world is encountering. From climate or sudden weather change, flash flood, erosion, pollution (land, air and water), earthquake and global warming. If you would compare our surroundings before, now many are taking advantage of our nature and they are not aware of what they are doing which destroys earth.

Yesterday, around 3am Philippine time, there is an earthquake I felt. I think it is around 2 to 2.5 magnitude on the Richter scale. It lasted for a minute and thank God nothing awful happened for I am at work. But some of my co-workers got scared. I was thinking of my family and friends at that time. It's not usual to have earthquakes. The last country I heard that was hit by a massive earthquake was in Italy, were many died.

I no longer enjoy riding the jeepney because pollution hits my nose and I come home with a dirty nose and face. Smoke belchers don't care if they polluted the air with tons of black smoke from their vehicles. Even factories no longer care if they pollute both the air and water. I was watching a show in one of our local channels last Sunday and they featured Pasig River for an advance tribute to Earth Day. What I saw really really made me sad and disgusted at the same time. Let's face it, there are many projects to revive the Pasig River, but how come non is successfully. Why I said non is successful? Because the river is still polluted and other parts of it already produce methane gas because of the garbage piles under the water aside from the garbage along it's river banks. Pasig River used to be a cool and refreshing spot I think in the early 60's. But now, I don't even want to go near it because of the bad smell of the water. Thank you very much for those people who are trying to rehabilitate the Pasig River, I salute all of you.

Here are some photos I found on the Internet that somewhat related to the environment.

People look at an eruption of an underwater volcano in Hunga Ha'apai, Tonga, March 18. The blast is only 34 nautical miles off the coast of Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa.

Environmentalists have big plans for robotic fish like this one shown at the London Aquarium. The carp-shaped machines, which cost $29,000 a piece, are being released into sea off northern Spain to detect pollution. The robots mimic the movement of real fish and are equipped with chemical sensors to sniff out potentially hazardous pollutants.

Laundry hangs outside a student dormitory at a college in Wuhan, China. I think this will help in electricity conservation, don't you think?

I forgot if this is Sunrise or Sunset but it is definitely in Mumbai, India. This is the photo I like most. Let's take care of our environment so that we can see the clear blue sky and rays of the sun not the gray and polluted sky.

I hope by the year 2015, we still have a place to live called Earth if all of us will do something for our environment. Let's start by not using plastic bags and use alternatives to replace plastic bags. Let us recycle. It's true that there is money in garbage but we need to be patient in segregating the garbage in order for us to sell those recyclable materials. Instead of throwing your used plastic bottles of energy drinks or soda and aluminum cans, you can take that home and collate them in one sack and later on you will see that you have just collected recyclable materials that you can sell and turn into money. It's not too late, we can make a change.

"Let's HELP the ENVIRONMENT by starting to RECYCLE"