THE RAINS brought about by that freak typhoon wending its way along a path parallel to but not traversing the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan have become a welcome boon to the country and especially its flora. The browning landscape is slowly becoming green once again. How long will this relief from the ravages of what was becoming a hot, hot summer last? Well, the rainy season is just around the corner and, as I mentioned in my last blog entry, it is time to take stock and plan what trees to plant to make up for the abuse we have heaped on our environment.

The interesting thing about modern communications today is that they provide one with instant knowledge that can be put to good use. For example, there are any number of organizations (NGOs) in the world that help those unable to do so to plant trees that neutralize a particular person’s carbon footprint. I saw several websites with carbon footprint calculators which would help one figure out just how much he or she contributes to global warming in a year. Then, a given number of trees would be planted that would — in a few years — effectively make up for said individual carbon footprint. For a fee, of course.

A few months ago, Sister Pilar Verzosa, RVM, a good friend of the current environment secretary, came up with a tree planting project that would credit certain trees planted to generous individuals (read: those who made donations). I am sure that she would appreciate any effort to help her various projects through such efforts that also contribute to mitigating global warming.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

BY NOW, the normal just about anyone who either reads or watches TV is learning more about this phenomenon called global warming. What was an indistinct cry accredited previously to scientific kooks or others like them is hitting more and more closely to home. Especially when one considers that life will never be quite the same. For one, that oceanfront condo or seaside resort once so beckoning may not be such a welcome investment after all, especially with the threat of inundation so real and so near.

What can one do to help — even in a little way — alleviate global warming? I will not go into the whys and wherefores of why one should plant trees, but simply exhort everyone to get off his or her butt and get ready to plant a tree or trees after what promises to be a long hot summer. First of all, it is a big mistake to plant any trees or do serious gardening work at this time of the year. The heat and need for water will militate against your effort. Let nature take its course and wait for the rainy season to begin come June.

But wait… to plant trees, one will need seedlings. And not just any seedlings, mind you. One must first consider where one is going to plant his tree(s), and whether the area can support the type of tree one has in mind. For example, one should not plant forest type dipterocarps in areas like sidewalks that have those pesky Meralco or PLDT posts with lines and wires on them. Nor should one plant big trees where both plumbing and other sanitary facilities are located, like one’s village water system. So, read a bit and look around at what trees are already in place, and consider which ones will suit you best. Do you want trees with large leafy canopies, or large flowering shrubs that almost mimic small trees? Or do you want trees that will attract birds and bats, and help in the furtherance of the ecosystem?

My friend Ed (Chief) de Vera and I have this terrible habit of picking up seeds or uprooting small seedlings in anticipation of the planting season from June to about September. This time of year, in fact, is when most trees come up with their seeds or seed pods. Some seeds germinate pretty much on their own, while others need help. Again, consulting with some experts from places like the Manila Seedling Bank foundation or those ubiquitous flower and tree farms in Los Baños will help a lot. Of course, one can take the easy route and purchase seedlings ready to plant from those same places. But get instructions from the vendors, such as where to plant those seedlings, the width of the grownup trees’ canopies, whether they prefer morning or afternoon sun, etc. Find out also how best to prepare the hole which one will insert the tree in, the mixture of garden soil and compost to be placed in the planting medium, etc.

Find out also which varieties of trees produce relatively hard wood, which ones are basically softwoods, or which ones have branches that break under the least bit of wind and rain because they are brittle. This little bit of research will stop you from getting a lot of grief come rainy season and typhoon time. If you want birds to populate your vicinity, plant a good old balete (fig), of which there are hundreds — even thousands — of varieties. But these fig trees, otherwise known as parasite trees, should be planted in the clear and not near a place that can be destroyed by their powerful root networks. Some trees also have hardened seed pods that will dent your cars or heads when these pop and fall to the ground. They are best planted away from places where people gather or valuable items are kept. Just like common sense tells one not to plant coconut trees where the nuts can fall on an unsuspecting guest or friend.

In the end, however, planting trees will provide one with a sense of satisfaction and joy, especially when one is able to enjoy the cool breezes that seem to be where trees also are. One will also enjoy the drop in the ambient temperatures in the shaded areas by as much as 10 to 15 degrees. Best of all, trees attract birds and other natural forms of wildlife, and the sounds one will hear especially from 5 to 6 a.m. and p.m. are indescribable.

THE INTEREST in this very fine undertaking called the Family Farm Schools (FFS) seems quite genuine. Therefore, I will provide some very basic information for those interested in the concept and in contacting the organization in charge.

The FFS network is managed by the Pampamilyang Paaralang Agrikulture, Inc., a non-profit/non-stock foundation that provides assistance in the establishment and operation of the farm schools in the country. PPAI has its main office on the third floor of the PIECO Building, Don Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City. You may contact them through their phone numbers +63 2 892-8977 to 78, or fax +63 2 892-8977. They also have an e-mail address ffs@i-manila.com.ph

Principal sponsorship and guidance for the FFS network is derived from SIMFR, the International Solidarity of Family Associations for Rural Training. SIMFR is a Belgian NGO established in 1980 that is affiliated with like-minded foundations with the Association of Family Farm Schools (AIMFR), headquartered in Spain. AIMFR has a network of about 1,000 associations that affect over 100,000 families in 30 countries. The FFS derives its concept and operations from that of the Spanish group Escuelas Familiares Agrarias, small units of community schools that assist rural areas in the education of the youth and their respective families.

In the Philippines, there is one girls’ school called Balete FFS located in Bo. Makina, Balete, Batangas. The boys’ schools are in Dagatan, Lipa City, Batangas; Bais City, Negros Oriental; Dingle, Iloilo; Talon at Tuy, Batangas; the Gelacio Yason FFS at Bo. San Mariano, Roxas, Oriental Mindoro; and one still in process in Bo. Koreo, Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte.

In a succeeding blog, I will delve more into the concept and its operation. For this I thank Dr Rene Gayo who so graciously provided me with a brochure of the FFS.

Prologue

WHEN my class entered grad school, many of us had just come fresh from the streets and barricades that were the hallmark of a period of anti-war demonstrations and sympathy for a whole spectrum of liberation struggles. Thus, the theme of this issue strikes the author with more than just a chord of melancholy. True, the average revolutionary soon outgrows most of his more extreme outlooks in life, but a choice few have not forgotten what it means to have broken bread with the weak and the downtrodden. This, hopefully, carries on to one’s stint in the otherwise secular business world, where the pursuit of profits and personal gain often buries any lingering altruism in anyone.

One of the initial admonitions of the Almighty to our first parents is this instruction from the Bible: “Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air and all living creatures.” (Gen 1:28) It may be inferred that God gave man the right to occupy the earth, work the land, and enjoy the fruits of his labor, while making good use of the animals and all material goods as a means for survival and the conservation of life.

Thus, the concept of wealth and the accumulation of said wealth is a necessary progression of this early economic activity. Unfortunately, the process of accumulating wealth often finds dire poverty existing beside great riches. Perhaps, without going into a distributive mode — as our more extreme and radical friends are wont to do — there should be a better way to allow wealth to filter down more evenly to those classified as have-nots.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

A FRIEND and I who happen to have a passion for both the environment in general and trees in particular, try to plant as many trees as we can on a personal basis. A pet peeve is the generally lackadaisical attitude of most Filipinos toward trees and the environment. One would think that with the threat of global warming becoming more of a reality with each passing day, more Filipinos would tend toward the planting rather than the cutting down of trees.

I was not prepared to comment on the problem of the Hanjin condo project in Subic, since I had little or no idea of where exactly the “offending” project was and whether it was actually in a built-up area or within the forest preserve. That is, until the Inquirer published a Google Earth picture of the project. It looked like it had been carved out right inside a very green area. The picture did not give any perspective, so one could not discern if the green areas were merely shrubbery or composed of primary and secondary forest growth. Whatever! The picture, as the saying goes, speaks a thousand words.

Besides, can anyone just arbitrarily declare a diminution in the forest preserve by shrinking it from 10,000 to 8,000 hectares? That is a loss of 2,000 hectares, or 20 percent. Pretty soon, some other bright guy will come along in the future and seek to shrink the forest cover further by, say, another 30%. Of course, it goes without saying that some SOB will get very rich cutting and selling all that precious hardwood.

When it comes to the environment, we really tend to push the envelope… towards the negative. If we fry or suffer from horrendous weather in the next 10 years we know whom to blame, among others.