By Eric S. Caruncho, Staff Writer
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

MY 15-year-old Lancer wasn’t the most earth-friendly vehicle around, what with worn valves, blown gaskets, a rusty exhaust and myriad other ills that caused it to leave a trail of oil spots and black exhaust in its wake. How it passed its emissions tests is still a mystery to me.

Anyway, when it finally gave up the ghost (after being totaled in a car wreck), I actually heaved a sigh of relief, like the owner of a decrepit old nag that was finally put out of its misery.

The year before, I had gotten myself a scooter. It was an LML, an Indian-made clone of the famous Italian Vespa PX150, identical in nearly every respect, down to the 150cc two-stroke engine.

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By Ruel S. De Vera, Associate Editor
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

THE BRIT band Oasis had a pretty catchy song called “Little by Little,” and that encapsulates what I think about protecting the environment. There are many important and high-profile tasks to be accomplished by people around the world, but personal responsibility is often forgotten. After all, those folks are saving the whales and preventing global warming, so why me worry?

Yet I try my little bit everyday. Small steps, but a steady pace. The footprint humanity leaves on the planet is terrible enough (check out the supremely scary “The World Without Us” by Alan Wiesman if you don’t believe me), but every little bit can’t hurt. The commonsensical tips, like turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth, aren’t hard, just hard to remember.

Perhaps the most commonly forgotten step is recycling, and I don’t mean segregation. It really doesn’t make any sense when we’re asked to segregate biodegradable and non-biodegradable and then the folks in charge of garbage just mix them back together anyway. We feel like we’re doing something but it’s just a placebo. Make sure it stays segregated, and we have a deal.

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By Leica R. Carpo, Publisher
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

I LOVE to shop and how I converted that to saving the earth is my story.

Like most people, I wantonly use and abuse the environment without considering the impact on future generations. Until I saw “Happy Feet” and realized that the bubble baths I was taking may be causing penguins to swim further out for food and endangering the world’s already fragile life cycle. So I tried to do my bit to lessen my carbon footprints by avoiding plastic anything, never littering and carpooling whenever possible. Those were cool things to do until I was able to find my own unique way to help the environment that involved my love of shopping.

I have always loved vintage fashion and have dreamt about opening my very own little boutique filled with items I loved and hopefully, others would love as well. That this would actually be an earth-friendly venture was the extra incentive I needed to make it happen.

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By Pennie Azarcon-Dela Cruz, Executive Editor
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

SOME people have shrinks. Others take valium. The rest just sleep it off. Me? I take a ride on the LRT. Nothing can make you forget your blues quicker than the more immediate need to (puff-puff)… get (huff!) on that train! Quick now, before the buzzer sounds and the doors slam shut.

It helps that it’s fast, cheap and you don’t have to talk to the other riders. You’re just basically left to your thoughts, thinking about lunch maybe or that pair of shoes you saw in the mall last night. Except when a cell phone rings and as one, everybody starts groping inside their bag or patting their pants. Never fails to amuse me. Like Pavlov’s dog or a Marcel Marceau sketch.

Then the distraction begins. “Hello, Papa? Oo, pauwi na ko. Initin mo na yung ulam diyan. (Yes, I’m on my way home. Heat up the food.). Sometimes it’s less innocuous and you find yourself lost in translation — the Japayuki talking in nihonggo to someone in Japan, the sticky intonation hinting of romantic transactions. Or a couple fighting, strong whiffs of third party liaisons in the air. The mother pleading for a son to stay put, she’s almost there. Speculations rise. Puzzled looks, raised brows, the pursed lips of judgment.

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