Environmental Protection, Conservation, and Rehabilitation

[rustyboi]

WWF: Earth Hour 2009 set on March 28
01/03/2009 | 06:40 AM

MANILA, Philippines - After the "success" of Earth Hour last year, environmentalists expect millions of Filipinos to participate in Earth Hour 2009 on March 28 this year.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said Manila and Cebu in the Philippines were among the 76 cities in 62 countries that gave an early commitment to switch off for Earth Hour 2009.

"Seventy-six cities in 62 countries including the Philippines' own Manila and Cebu have committed to switch off for WWF's Earth Hour in 2009. Other Philippine cities expected to participate are Iloilo, Baguio, Davao, San Fernando, Puerto Princesa, Legaspi and Cagayan de Oro," it said on its website.

Other cities that committed include Moscow, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Rome, Oslo, Cape Town, Warsaw, Lisbon, Singapore, Istanbul, Mexico City, Toronto, Dubai and Copenhagen.

The extensive WWF conservation network also has more than 30 teams working in countries such as India, Spain, Switzerland, France and the Philippines ready to support a local Earth Hour roll out.

"Icons switching off include the Philippines' largest shopping mall – SM Mall of Asia, the world's tallest hotel building in Dubai – the Burj Dubai and the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas – the CN Tower in Toronto," WWF said.

WWF said the campaign hopes to reach out to more than one billion people in 1,000 cities around the world.

Earth Hour asks individuals, businesses and governments to switch off lights for just one hour on Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. to create a platform of support for action on climate change.

"It aims to demonstrate unprecedented solidarity and provide a visual global mandate that will put the heat on world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009 to strike a new global deal on climate change," WWF said.

The lights-out initiative, which began in Sydney in 2007 as a public awareness-raising campaign, has grown significantly over the past two years.

"When leaders gather in Copenhagen in December 2009 to negotiate a new deal on climate they must feel that the eyes of the world are upon them. Earth Hour provides an opportunity for the public to send a powerful signal that they are watching and expect action," WWF International Director General Jim Leape said.

"We believe that Filipinos can unite when driven by the common good:
Manny Pacquiao's fights attest to this. The growing realization for the need to act on climate change, coupled with the success of Earth Hour Philippines last March provides us with a springboard to launch a bigger and better campaign next year. On 28 March 2009 we aim to enjoin 10 million Filipinos to join the fight against climate change by simply turning off their lights," added WWF-Philippines Climate Change and Energy Programme Head Yeb Saño.

Saño added Earth Hour couldn't have come at a better time as December sees the passage of the Philippine Renewable Energy Act, a landmark legislation which took all of 19 years to pass.

"The climate movement is in full-swing. Earth Hour is our best chance to meet the challenge with unity and purpose," Saño said.

David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and chair of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group said the C40 Climate Leadership Group is about cities working together to drive down greenhouse gas emissions.

"That is why as Chair of the C40 I support Earth Hour. It's crucial that cities and the public come together to take action against climate change and Earth Hour provides a great platform to do just that," he said.

Earth Hour Global Executive Director Andy Ridley adds that 2009 is the planet's "destiny year" with critical decisions needed to be made at the Copenhagen meeting on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"2009 is the year we decide the future of the earth. It is the year the world finally agrees on a plan to massively reduce carbon emissions across the globe. This is the time to invest in new ways of doing business in a new low-carbon economy. The sum of our actions today can change history and secure the future of our planet," he said.

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. to show their support for action on climate change.

The Philippines was among the first to confirm participation for Earth Hour 2008. Last March 29, Pasay, Manila and Parañaque Cities held a switch-off ceremony and enveloped the entire Roxas Boulevard seaside strip in symbolic darkness. Makati followed suit with its own set of celebrations.

"Across the nation, from Baguio to Tawi-Tawi, lights-off activities were instigated in offices, restaurants, public parks, homes and malls in the Philippines' largest display of solidarity against climate change," WWF said.

WWF, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation estimates that more than a million Filipinos participated, saving 56MWh of energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30-tons in Luzon alone – equivalent to shutting down an entire coal-fired power plant for an hour.

In 2009, Earth Hour Philippines aims to reach out to at least 10 million Filipinos.

[bartstrife99]

Save The Earth Now! before it's too Late!

[barrera_marquez]

Originally Posted by rustyboi

WWF: Earth Hour 2009 set on March 28
01/03/2009 | 06:40 AM

MANILA, Philippines - After the "success" of Earth Hour last year, environmentalists expect millions of Filipinos to participate in Earth Hour 2009 on March 28 this year.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said Manila and Cebu in the Philippines were among the 76 cities in 62 countries that gave an early commitment to switch off for Earth Hour 2009.

"Seventy-six cities in 62 countries including the Philippines' own Manila and Cebu have committed to switch off for WWF's Earth Hour in 2009. Other Philippine cities expected to participate are Iloilo, Baguio, Davao, San Fernando, Puerto Princesa, Legaspi and Cagayan de Oro," it said on its website.

Other cities that committed include Moscow, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Rome, Oslo, Cape Town, Warsaw, Lisbon, Singapore, Istanbul, Mexico City, Toronto, Dubai and Copenhagen.

The extensive WWF conservation network also has more than 30 teams working in countries such as India, Spain, Switzerland, France and the Philippines ready to support a local Earth Hour roll out.

"Icons switching off include the Philippines' largest shopping mall – SM Mall of Asia, the world's tallest hotel building in Dubai – the Burj Dubai and the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas – the CN Tower in Toronto," WWF said.

WWF said the campaign hopes to reach out to more than one billion people in 1,000 cities around the world.

Earth Hour asks individuals, businesses and governments to switch off lights for just one hour on Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. to create a platform of support for action on climate change.

"It aims to demonstrate unprecedented solidarity and provide a visual global mandate that will put the heat on world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009 to strike a new global deal on climate change," WWF said.

The lights-out initiative, which began in Sydney in 2007 as a public awareness-raising campaign, has grown significantly over the past two years.

"When leaders gather in Copenhagen in December 2009 to negotiate a new deal on climate they must feel that the eyes of the world are upon them. Earth Hour provides an opportunity for the public to send a powerful signal that they are watching and expect action," WWF International Director General Jim Leape said.

"We believe that Filipinos can unite when driven by the common good:
Manny Pacquiao's fights attest to this. The growing realization for the need to act on climate change, coupled with the success of Earth Hour Philippines last March provides us with a springboard to launch a bigger and better campaign next year. On 28 March 2009 we aim to enjoin 10 million Filipinos to join the fight against climate change by simply turning off their lights," added WWF-Philippines Climate Change and Energy Programme Head Yeb Saño.

Saño added Earth Hour couldn't have come at a better time as December sees the passage of the Philippine Renewable Energy Act, a landmark legislation which took all of 19 years to pass.

"The climate movement is in full-swing. Earth Hour is our best chance to meet the challenge with unity and purpose," Saño said.

David Miller, Mayor of Toronto and chair of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group said the C40 Climate Leadership Group is about cities working together to drive down greenhouse gas emissions.

"That is why as Chair of the C40 I support Earth Hour. It's crucial that cities and the public come together to take action against climate change and Earth Hour provides a great platform to do just that," he said.

Earth Hour Global Executive Director Andy Ridley adds that 2009 is the planet's "destiny year" with critical decisions needed to be made at the Copenhagen meeting on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"2009 is the year we decide the future of the earth. It is the year the world finally agrees on a plan to massively reduce carbon emissions across the globe. This is the time to invest in new ways of doing business in a new low-carbon economy. The sum of our actions today can change history and secure the future of our planet," he said.

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. to show their support for action on climate change.

The Philippines was among the first to confirm participation for Earth Hour 2008. Last March 29, Pasay, Manila and Parañaque Cities held a switch-off ceremony and enveloped the entire Roxas Boulevard seaside strip in symbolic darkness. Makati followed suit with its own set of celebrations.

"Across the nation, from Baguio to Tawi-Tawi, lights-off activities were instigated in offices, restaurants, public parks, homes and malls in the Philippines' largest display of solidarity against climate change," WWF said.

WWF, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation estimates that more than a million Filipinos participated, saving 56MWh of energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30-tons in Luzon alone – equivalent to shutting down an entire coal-fired power plant for an hour.

In 2009, Earth Hour Philippines aims to reach out to at least 10 million Filipinos.

Ang dalawang San Fernando yata ang tinutukoy nila.

[chuck23]

Am last year po kasali po ang siyudad ng Zamboanga sa Earth Hour..so am sure sasali uli ito ngaung year...

[kiretoce]

Post away folks!

Link to Thread 1 in the Archives.

[dinabaw]

Originally Posted by davaoeagle

Our dumpsite
01/06/2009 - 13:02 Saturday, January 17, 2009
Print Email Comment Subscribe
By Stella A. Estremera
Sunstar Davao


STUDENTS looking for a sob story and pitiful photos of soot-covered children at the city's dumpsite for their social science classes will have to look somewhere else.

The city mayor has been mentioning it in his television program on Sundays, the city's sanitary landfill is almost done and the city can even become the only highly-urbanized city to have a functioning landfill.

It's something the city can be proud of, he once said.

Having seen the dumpsite in 2004 just before it was converted into a restricted dump the following year, it was hard to believe how a place designed for garbage could make anyone proud.

But that the dumpsite is also a regular part of the itinerary of visiting employees and officials of other local government units should make you wonder what's in there that are bringing in excursionists...And so we went on an excursion as well and found...

Nothing. Not a single garbage. That's what was at the old dumpsite in New Carmen. What was once covered with garbage and stank to high heavens is now a rolling terrain of vetiver grass and young mahogany and fruit tree seedlings.

Had the engineer of the landfill contractor not said the hill we were facing used to be the old dumpsite, I wouldn't have realized that we were in the same place as I was almost five years ago. Down the hill was the almost-finished sanitary landfill facility.

Constructed at P261 million, it is designed to contain 1.2-million cubic meters of residual garbage -- or garbage that can no longer be recycled -- in five to eight years, said Engineer Eliza Guimbaolibot of the IPM Construction, a Manila-based company specializing in sanitary landfills.

The end-design, she said, will include a retention pond for leachates or the garbage juice. No treatment plant, she said, since the design and contract they bidded for doesn't include that. Just the retention pond. But it seems like with time, even leachate or garbage juice can be recycled for as long as it is not allowed to freely pour down water sources,

"We used to water the vetiver glass with the leachate, the growth was good," she said.

Vetiver or Chrysopogon zizanioides is most often used for erosion control because its roots grow downward, up to even six meters down, and not in horizontal mats like all other grasses. Because of its downward root system that digs deep into the soil, it holds the topsoil together. Thus vetiver is used as a stabilizing hedge for stream banks, terraces, and rice paddies.

With all those vetivers growing, fragrant essential oil can also be harvested, if anyone would want to. Vetiver oil is in 90 percent of all western perfumes, an entry from Wikipedia says.

What used to be a mountain of garbage is now a field of vetivers with blue PVC pipes sticking out from the ground.

As one gets a whiff of a leaking gas stove, you are reminded never to light up for a smoke.

"There was a worker here who lit a cigarette, he burned his brow," Engineer Guimbaolibot said. The reason, those blue pipes sticking out from the ground are actually releasing methane gas. Government is not utilizing the free cooking gas, these are just released to the air.

It's true, the project is 90-percent completed, but it's taking longer than it should. The reason: Davao's regular rains. There are days when they cannot work because their equipment couldn't move around. But they expect the project to be completed within two to three months.

In the meantime, the city's garbage is being thrown at a temporary dumpsite in Barangay Lacson, Calinan district.

It's a vast private property owned by the family of Cecilio "Boy" Manaois. It's around 36 hectares of rolling terrain that has a guardhouse that only allows authorized persons to enter.

Once you reach the dumpsite, it's a scene straight out of "Wall-E" and not Payatas; dump trucks rumbling down the well-graded dirt roads, the air filled with smoke from the garbage, and very few people milling sifting through the rolling terrain of garbage.

Among the men is a father of five, who maintains a shack in the clump of shacks in the dumpsite.

"That's our sleeping quarters. We don't call it a house since we have our houses outside the dumpsite," he said. His family is at New Carmen, he said, and he goes home every weekend.

Only the men who have passed background check and approval by the landowner are allowed inside. Each scavenger has a record of sorts. No one else can enter and scavenge. Also, no family member is allowed inside, no wives, no children. Only full-grown men.

It's more organized, he said, but they're earning less now.

"The garbage dumpsite owner's buying price is very low. Like scrap bronze, which we could sell at P300 per kilo in the New Carmen dumpsite before is only bought for P90-P100 per kilo here," he said. "The landowner is the one who sets the price."

Scrap cartons are bought at P0.30 a kilo down from a maximum of P0.70 per kilo before. All other recyclable trash is bought at prices way below the price they were sold before.

All garbage recycled is sold off to the landowner, he said.

The man, who asked not to be named, added that they can no longer ask for "cash advance." That's not allowed.

In New Carmen, he said, when there was free enterprise, they had "suki" buyers who would allow them to get some cash advances. Not here, he said.

But that's part of the arrangement made with the City Government when it was looking for a temporary dumpsite. The area was offered to be used for free on condition that all the recyclables go to the landowner.

Monopoly? Yes, but then, there were no takers before. No one wanted the city's tons of garbage, except this landowner. Call it entrepreneurial.

Manong, whose children's ages range from 5 to 22, said there are 30 of them in their area and 15 more in an area farther off. He also estimates that at least 90 truckloads are dumped everyday.

Data from the city environment and natural resources office shows that the city collects 1,000 cubic meters of trash everyday using 10 compactor trucks with 18 cubic meter capacity each, three open dump trucks with 7 cubic meter capacity each, 40 ten-wheeler trucks with 14 cu. m. capacity, and eight six-wheeler trucks with 7 cubic meter capacity each.

Manong has been scavenging in New Carmen for five years before the dumpsite was transferred. Now he's in Lacson doing the same, and intends to move on and follow the garbage trail once it packs up and leaves for the new landfill.

That's his livelihood he said, and he still has a five-year-old child to feed. Anyway, even the prospect of a new landfill means garbage being sorted and recycled because only residual waste should be thrown into the landfill as it will cost hundreds of millions more to build another one.

In the meantime, the sanitary landfill project is a sight to behold. The mountain breeze reminding you of what it once was before it became a garbage dump -- a rolling terrain of greens. Just make sure you don't take a deep breath where the blue pipes are sticking out from the ground.

...

[kyle@1008]

oh kimber, Kiki did not bring me inside the lab, I just waited outside so I'm not sure if it looked like a Nazi Gas chamber,....I have a clue though, Kiki's underlings are frightened of him, I met one of em outside, she was shaking with fear when kiki greeted her, and he was being very nice...

[Ph Man]

no, she wasn't frightened at all.

and it's not like a Nazi gas chamber. only that in one of the analysis we carried out, we have to use something like this:

http://www.lifeprotectors.com

and this...

http://www.queenslandsafety.com.au

they are collectively known as PPE - personal protective equipment

the mask has specific filters just for acids hydrogen cyanide. ordinary masks will not be sufficient. we have a room dedeicated for that at the 2F of the building - which we call the cyanide room. however, it should be brought downstairs for quantitation where we use acetylene flame. it was tuesday night last week and it's been hours since the analyst has left. i came into the room, and tried to read some analysis reports. that's when i felt some headache and dizziness. but that's not the only thing we do in the lab. and some people have more exposures than i do. only that i was too stupid and stubborn.

[Ph Man]

Re: dumpsites

something should be done on the methane gas generated out of the garbage. with the right technology, we can make full use of the garbage by-product.

in the mean time, i wonder where we can get the grass that the article mentioned:

http://images.teamsugar.com

[dinabaw]

you mean vertiver grass francis? AFAIK Banaue Rice Terraces already making used of the grass against soil erosion but availability i have no idea maybe DENR or DOST can provide you saplings .

[dinabaw]

Originally Posted by kyle@1008

oh kimber, Kiki did not bring me inside the lab, I just waited outside so I'm not sure if it looked like a Nazi Gas chamber,....I have a clue though, Kiki's underlings are frightened of him, I met one of em outside, she was shaking with fear when kiki greeted her, and he was being very nice...

now i know yesterday i was tmepted to ask "what the hell kyle is talking" its not eco-friendly discussion

[venntro]

Bayong production gets support of green groups
02/09/2009 | 03:19 PM

MANILA, Philippines - A government project promoting the production of the bayong, a bag made of indigenous materials, reaped the support of an environmental coalition.

If properly implemented, the bayong project under the government’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (Cleep), will help in generating sustainable jobs, particularly in the countryside, the EcoWaste Coalition and the Miss Earth foundation said in a jont statement.

Both groups issued this statement as various stakeholders met on Monday at a summit convened by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to formulate strategies that will create and preserve jobs in the middle of a global economic slowdown.

“Investments in the production of bayong using indigenous and renewable materials could spur local self-reliance with the creation of much-needed jobs amid the increasing unemployment," Ofelia Panganiban of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Task Force on Eco-Livelihood said.

Based on DTI calculations, the domestic demand for bayong can reach as much as P1.3 billion yearly if every Filipino family above the poverty threshold buys a bayong at P100 per year.

“The fact that many consumers are beginning to realize the environmental and climate effects of plastic bags and are slowly switching back to bayong and other reusable carry bags as eco-friendly shopping companions will surely guarantee market demand for the timeless bayong," Cathy Untalan, Executive Director of the Miss Earth Foundation, added.

“To complement the bayong livelihood project, we urge the DTI as well as the local government units (LGUs) to take bold steps to regulate and restrict the use of plastic bags and proactively promote the use of bayong and other eco-friendly alternatives," the EcoWaste Coalition and the Miss Earth Foundation stated.

Imposing environmental levy on plastic bags and banning their use for non-essential purposes (for example, as buntings for community fiestas and other festive occasions) are some of the concrete steps that LGUs can take to curb plastic pollution, the groups said.

The EcoWaste Coalition and the Miss Earth Foundation, which have been holding “Balik-Bayong" direct communication activities since 2006, listed several ways to boost consumer support for the handy bayong.

a. For groceries, supermarkets and department stores to offer their customers options before routinely putting goods in plastic bags, and to provide financial incentives (i.e., discount or rebate) for those who bring their own bayong or other eco-substitutes such as reusable bags and used boxes.

b. For the DTI to sponsor a creative design contest in bayong-making to upgrade the style and durability of the bayong.

c. For the DTI to carry out a year-round “Balik-Bayong" drive with the help of publicly recognized business, political, religious, sports, showbiz, and beauty personalities.

d. For the Department of Social Welfare and Development, local government units, and secular, religious and corporate charities to use bayong for all disaster relief operations and for the traditional gift-giving during Christmas.

e. For Congress to enact a comprehensive “Bayong Sustainability Act" to ensure continued support, promotion, and development for the bayong, locally and globally.

“Balik-Bayong, we believe, is truly a sustainable solution that we should embrace as our country deal with swelling unemployment and the adverse impacts of wasteful consumption, climate change and chemical pollution," the EcoWaste Coalition and the Miss Earth Foundation said. - GMANews.TV

[venntro]

Maynilad to put up water treatment plant

By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 15:25:00 02/09/2009


MANILA, Philippines – Maynilad Water Services Inc., which holds the concession contract for the west zone of Metro Manila, is putting up a water treatment plant in Muntinlupa City, one of the controlling firms told the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which controls Maynilad together with DMCI Consunji Inc., disclosed to the PSE that Maynilad undertook a ground breaking ceremony in Putatan, Muntinlupa, for its new water treatment plant, on February 6.

Maynilad president Rogelio Singson said that some 105,000 households would benefit from the plant, which could produce 100 million liters per day of water.

It is expected to become fully operational in 2010, said Singson.

The new water treatment plant will source its water from Laguna Lake, and water purification will be done through microfiltration and reverse osmosis, he said.

Pall Corporation, the global leader in filtration, separation, and purification solutions, will be the project's water treatment technology provider, he said

[venntro]

Solon: Nuke power just a glorified stove
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:47:00 02/10/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Talk about a higher power to fire up a “glorified stove.”

With three Catholic bishops arrayed against him, Rep. Mark Cojuangco yesterday invoked Pope Benedict XVI and the Bible in his campaign to have the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) up and running.

Cojuangco told Philippine Daily Inquirer editors and staff that while some Filipino bishops were opposed to the BNPP, the Pope and Renato Cardinal Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, supported the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The author of a bill calling for the reopening of the BNPP said Benedict, on the 50th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency in July 2007, said that the Vatican fully approved and supported the IAEA’s mandate “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world.”

Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas and Manila Auxiliary Broderick Pabillo have voiced opposition to the BNPP.

Cojuangco quoted Martino as saying that “nuclear power could be part of a balanced energy mix alongside forms of clean energy” and that “excluding nuclear energy because of a preconceived principle or for fears of disasters could be a mistake.”

The Pangasinan congressman said that he had recently talked with Cruz and Villegas and that after being told about the Vatican’s stance, they were now open to the possibility of having the plant checked if it could become operational.

“He said he was OK with using nuclear energy but he was concerned about waste disposal,” Cojuangco said of his conversation with Cruz.

He said he would see Cruz again and was hopeful he would be able to convince him not only to be “passively supportive but actively supportive.”

Cojuangco said that a big source of nuclear fuel in the United States and Russia was the dismantling of nuclear weapons.

Beating swords

“In the Bible, there’s something mentioned about beating swords into plowshares. This is the ultimate form of doing that. This is the ultimate form of beating swords into plowshares,” he said.

He dismissed concerns that there were not enough qualified Filipinos to run the BNPP, saying that it was just a “glorified kalan,” or stove.

“They say it’s too complicated a technology,” Cojuangco said. “In a traditional power plant, the kalan is heated by coal or gas. In a nuclear power plant, the kalan is heated up by nuclear material that gets hot.”

“There are no moving parts inside a reactor. It’s a big stove. We Filipinos cannot run a stove? I can’t believe that,” he added.

Cojuangco said that Filipino mechanical engineers could easily study nuclear energy either here or abroad. He said South Korea had simulators so that trainees would be ready for any emergency.

Korean study

Following the oil crisis of 1973, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos ordered the construction of the Westinghouse plant in 1976. The 621-megawatt project was completed in 1984 at a staggering cost of $2.3 billion from an original estimate of $500 million.

With Marcos’ ouster in the 1986 People Power Revolution and the subsequent Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet Union, President Corazon Aquino ordered the plant mothballed. It never generated a single watt of electricity.

The massive debt taken on the plant was finally repaid in April 2007.

But with looming power shortages, the Arroyo administration has begun considering operating the mothballed plant whose nuclear reactor remains intact and continues to be maintained.

In December 2008, the 0National Power Corp. signed an agreement with Korea Electric Power Corp., allowing the South Korean firm to undertake studies on the possible revival of the BNPP.

Not an atomic bomb

Cojuangco sought to dispel fears that terrorists might attack the plant with devastating consequences.

“A plant cannot explode like an atomic bomb. Why? It’s simple. The fuel is kulang sa anghang (needs to be spiced up). You see, natural uranium has .7 percent U-235, which is the fissionable part of uranium; while 99.3 percent is U-238, which is nonfissionable. When you make it into nuclear fuel, you enrich it to 1.5 percent U-235 so you double the natural abundance,” Cojuangco said.

“To make a bomb, you need 80 percent U-235 so even if the fuel melts down and it mixes inside the reactor, it will never explode,” he said.

While there are geological fault lines near the plant, the nearest being 64 kilometers away, the BNPP would be safe since it automatically shuts down when there is an intensity four earthquake, Cojuangco said.

He said the BNPP also had a built-in facility for its nuclear waste for 20 years.

Cojuangco said that should his bill pass, there would still be a “validation” process to ensure that it is safe to operate the BNPP. The process would take three years and cost $1 billion, according to his bill.

He denied that he wanted the BNPP reopened because San Miguel Corp., which is headed by his father Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, was investing in the power sector. He said the plant would be run by the government.

The congressman said the BNPP would produce energy at P2.5/kilowatthour or P2 cheaper that the P4.5/kilowatthour rate offered by National Power Corp.

“How can this not be a good deal for the Filipino? We’ve been spending P40 million pesos a year. Since Cory, we’ve already spent P800 million to maintain it and we will continue spending that without anything coming out of it,” Cojuangco added.

[venntro]

RP-US sign environment, energy pact
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:39:00 02/10/2009

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and the United States signed on Tuesday an agreement for continued cooperation on environment and energy projects, that will see as much as $73 million in grants to Manila over a six-year period.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto and United States Agency for International Development Director Jon Lindborg, signed for the Philippine and US governments in ceremonies at the Palace.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and US Ambassador Kristie Kenney witnessed the signing.

Kenney said the Philippines has been recognized as an "environment superpower" because of its rich natural resources.

But the US envoy said that "with this great richness, comes great responsibility."

Recto said the grants would be used to develop clean energy resources and maintain biodiversity, among others.

[venntro]

UP Professors push Geothermal as better and cheaper option to Nuclear Power
Leilani Chavez, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/10/2009 11:38 AM

Instead of re-opening the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) the government should focus on enhancing geothermal power capacity in Visayas and Mindanao as a way to fill the projected 2012 energy shortage, professors at the University of the Philippines said at a recent forum on the pros and cons of nuclear energy.

Geothermal power is not only cheaper, speakers at the forum pointed out that it also does not require expensive decommissioning costs that nuclear power plants entail.

The forum was the second in a series of discussions to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of House Bill 4631 or the Bataan Nuclear Powerplant Commissioning Act of 2008, a bill that aims to re-open and rehabilitate what became known as the country’s “white elephant.”

The bill was authored by Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo.

Marcos Era relic

The BNPP was a brainchild of the Marcos administration and was built to solve the dwindling energy source of the time. Built with a US$1.2 billion budget acquired thorough loans that eventually ballooned to US$2.4 billion, it is the largest debt the country has occurred for a single unit.

Although completed, the plant became nothing more than a white elephant as it never produced a single watt and was never put to good use. Various “defects” found during the Aquino administration and strong resistance from various civil groups led to the eventual closure of the plant.

Recently, however, the energy department raised the possibility of rehabilitating the mothballed plant once again as a way to address a projected energy shortage come 2012.

Figures stipulated in the 2006 to 2012 Energy Plan from the Energy department showed that there will be an estimated 1,495 megawatt shortage, according to Giovanni Tapang, chair of AGHAM and assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines’ National Institute for Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS).

The Energy department projects that 2534 to 3400 megawatts of power is needed by 2012 to supply the anticipated demands of the country. Luzon will be needing 1750 megawatts, Visayas requires 390 megawatts, and Mindanao, 394 megawatts of energy.

To this effect, the DOE is targeting to build 7,200 megawatts in new power generating capacity for Luzon from 2008 to 2014, 600 megawatts in Visayas from 2008 to 2014, and 850 megawatts in Mindanao from 2005 to 2014.

Shortage in Visayas, Mindanao

“At the moment, we don’t feel the shortage because we have lots of extra power,” said Tapang. He explained that power generation is basically concentrated in Luzon and the grid is currently experiencing an oversupply of energy.

Despite this excess, the energy cannot be distributed to Visayas and Mindanao for lack of transmission lines. “If you generate power in Luzon and send it to Visayas and Mindanao, you get line cost,” said Kelvin Rodolfo, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and adjunct Professor at the University of the Philippines’ National Institute for Geological Sciences UP-NIGS.

The BNPP is within the Luzon grid. Even if it is revived, it cannot address the power needs of Visayas and Mindanao if there are no transmission lines, Tapang said.

Further, Tapang added that, “The shortage can be addressed even without the operation of a nuclear plant” as even the Energy Plan made no mention of using BNPP to augment its energy resources.

Included in the potential sources is the construction of different plants in various strategic locations in the country. According to Tapang, the energy plan identified Mindanao as a potential spot for numerous hydro plants.

Although the geothermal potentials left were small-scale and can only produce a maximum of 100 megawatts of energy, majority were in Visayas and Mindanao and could be used to boost their respective energy grids.

Cheaper option

“Small localized plants” will cut the cost of power in the regions as it will require less cost in power transmission, according to Rodolfo.

Moreover, Tapang adds that geothermal power is a cheaper and better option compared to nuclear. He states that investing on a geothermal power plant, which can create 750 megawatts of energy, costs US$1.43 billion.

The BNPP, which has the capacity to produce 650 megawatts of energy, already cost the Philippines US$2.3 billion. The bill indicates that another US$1.4 billion is needed to re-open the nuclear plant.

Comparatively, a geothermal power plant, which can create 750 megawatts of energy, costs US$1.43 billion, according to Tapang.

Likewise, geothermal plants have low levelized costs, this includes the operation, maintenance, and the capital cost of the plant. Lower levelized costs mean cheaper energy.

According to Tapang, the levelized cost of nuclear energy range from US$97 to US$141 per megawatt. It is in the same price range as coal (US$67 to US$144) and solar (US$90 to US$145). Geothermal only has a levelized cost that ranges from US$42 to US$69.

Aside from these amounts, the bill also provides that one centavo per kilowatt hour will have to be deposited by the National Power Corporation to the national treasury for use in decommissioning the plant. This will amount to US$168 million over 30 years of operation.

But this number is small, Tapang quips. “Typical decommissioning in the United States costs US$325 million per reactor. Compared to typical rates, these are going to be small. We’re going to have to pay more.”

A computation of the direct costs of rehabilitating the plant shows that there will be 10 centavos per kilowatt hour charge for the total power generation, according to Tapang. For an average home that uses 300 kilowatt per hour of electricity every month, an additional 30 pesos, or nuclear tax, will be added on top of the original electricity bill.

The price does not include value-added tax and was based on the 48,000 gigawatts total consumption in 2007. Using this number as a basis, Tapang explains that consumers will need to pay 1,800 pesos for the first five years.

“If you look at the bill closely, there is still an additional US$500 million balance that needed to be taken up as loans,” Tapang points out. The idea of borrowing might cause additional problems since there is another possibility of paying for interests.

The money used to construct the BNPP also came from loans. “Delays and interest payments which drag the original price tag twice its original price can also drive this US$500 million loan higher,” Tapang warns.

If decommissioning costs are added, each household would have to pay 14 pesos monthly, or a total of 2,640 annually on top of the ordinary bill for the first five years. Costs are still to be collected as the plant is being used, says Tapang.

[Dante_Tagle]

Last year, an anxious, depressed 17-year-old boy was admitted to the psychiatric unit at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. He was refusing to drink water. Worried about drought related to climate change, the young man was convinced that if he drank, millions of people would die. The Australian doctors wrote the case up as the first known instance of "climate change delusion."

Robert Salo, the psychiatrist who runs the inpatient unit where the boy was treated, has now seen several more patients with psychosis or anxiety disorders focused on climate change, as well as children who are having nightmares about global-warming-related natural disasters.

Such anxiety over current events is not a new phenomenon. Worries about contemporary threats, such as nuclear war or AIDS, have historically been woven into the mental illnesses of each generation. But global warming could have a broader and deeper effect on mental health, even if indirectly.

"Climate change could have a real impact on our psyches," says Paul Epstein, the associate director for the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.

Over this century, the average global temperature is expected to rise between 1 degrees and 6 degrees Celsius. Glaciers will melt, seas will rise, extremes in precipitation will occur, according to scientists' predictions.

There is evidence that extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, cyclones, and hurricanes, can lead to emotional distress, which can trigger such things as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, in which the body's fear and arousal system kicks into overdrive.

After Hurricane Katrina, rates of severe mental illness - including depression, PTSD, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and a variety of phobias - doubled, from 6.1 percent to 11.3 percent, among those who lived in affected regions, a 2006 study by the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group said.

Rates of mild-to-moderate mental illness also doubled, from 9.7 percent to 19.9 percent.

"After a disaster, people can feel inadequate, like outside forces are taking control of their lives," said Joshua Miller, a professor at the Smith College School for Social Work who responds to disasters worldwide. "They can't see a positive future. They tend to lose hope or become depressed."

Severe disasters also destroy the infrastructure needed to provide mental health care, and forcibly displace people, severing social connections when people need them most, Miller said.

Climate change is expected to create about 200 million environmental refugees by 2050, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the international body established within the United Nations to evaluate causes and consequences of global warming.

Of course, no one can predict what effect warming will have on our psyches. The links between mental illness and the weather can be tenuous or even downright contradictory. Depending on which studies you read, suicide is more common, less common, or equally common in hot weather. Ditto dry weather.

But even in the face of uncertainty, specialists say the indirect effects of global warming could be substantial.

Though much of the anxiety centers on the possibility of extreme weather events, global warming will also transform the natural environment in a more gradual way, they say. These changes could have their own effect on mental health.

"It's not all trauma," said Carol North, a psychiatrist who runs the trauma and disaster program at the Dallas VA Medical Center. "Some of it's a quiet decline of quality of life."

Indeed, climate change may eventually deplete natural resources, make it more difficult for people to live off the land, and disrupt the global food supply.

"That will mean declining socioeconomic status and quality of life across the world," North said, and "depression, demoralization, disillusionment."

In India and Australia, where severe droughts have already taken a toll on agriculture, researchers have noted an uptick in suicides among farmers.

On the other side of the globe, the changing Arctic climate is expected to make hunting and fishing far more difficult for the people who live there. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment says that such changes threaten Inuit culture, and that increases in domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide may result.

Glenn Albrecht, director of the Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy at Australia's Murdoch University, has examined the psychological distress people experience in the face of this kind of slow, but chronic, change in their environments. His work with Australian communities living in areas changed by strip mining or drought revealed that people felt disconnected from nature, were no longer able to find solace in it, and they felt helpless.

"Climate change is a massive driver of change in people's home environment," Albrecht said. "These changes become sources of chronic stress."

Albrecht and his colleagues developed and verified an Environmental Distress Scale, designed to identify stresses related to the degradation of external environments.

"We tend to consider ourselves highly mobile global citizens, but we have a very profound connection to our environment," Albrecht says. "We tend to take that for granted."

So what's to be done? We need to train people to administer "psychological first aid," Smith's Miller said. That means making sure people feel safe after a natural disaster, and educating them about the kinds of psychological responses they might experience.

In the long term, we may also derive some psychological benefit from banding together with other citizens to mitigate the effects of global warming. Taking action might not only give us back a sense of our own sense of efficacy against a powerful outside force, but also help us build community and social ties that offset stress, said Epstein and other specialists.

"Getting involved can be an antidote to the depression that can come from the overwhelming realizations that we have to face . . . ," Epstein said. "It can be empowering to realize that what you do is effective."

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/gree...oll/?page=full

[venntro]

Senator wants stranding of dolphins probed
02/11/2009 | 05:33 AM

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate’s recent drift into doing probes on a wide range of anomalies may not spare the stranding off Bataan of hundreds of melon-headed whales – also known as many-toothed blackfish, or electra dolphin.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday asked experts to investigate the cause of the sudden appearance of more than 300 electra dolphins near the shores of Pilar town in Bataan province Tuesday morning.

Zubiri said the small whales must have acted abnormally for swimming in shallow water, as these are known to be deep-sea species.

The senator suspected the dolphins’ habitat must have been disrupted, forcing them to flee and seek refuge in shallow waters.

Zubiri wanted the experts to look into the possibility that an earthquake study in the South China Sea by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO) - a collaborator of Columbia University in the US - caused the abnormal behavior of the small whales.

He said that the L-DEO undersea experiment involves blasting, which might have annoyed the dolphins.

“The earthquake study is a sea floor investigation project in the exclusive economic zone that includes Taiwan, China, Japan and the Philippines for its earthquake research," he said.

Washington-based animal rights group Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association (WaH) had been reported protesting to halt the L-DEO study as it is destructive to marine ecosystem.

Based on a statement of Robin Winkler, founder of WaH, the multi-beam echo sounder air gun, which will be used in the experiment, could produce a noise equivalent to 265 decibels (dB), almost as deafening as the atomic-bomb blast that could scale up to 300 dB.

Zubiri also cited an International Union for Conservation of Nature study saying that the melon-headed whales may have been distracted by the South China Sea study, forcing the dolphins to wander in the shallow waters.

“On top of saving stranded dolphins, we should find the cause for the tragedy in order to avoid them in the future and to be prepared when it occurs again," Zubiri said.

According to Wikipedia, the Melon-headed Whale [Peponocephala electra; other names are many-toothed blackfish and electra dolphin] is a cetacean of the oceanic dolphin family [Delphinidae]. It is closely related to the Pygmy Killer Whale and Pilot Whale, and collectively these dolphin species are known by the common name blackfish. The Melon-headed Whale is widespread throughout the world's tropical waters, although not often seen by humans on account of its preference for deep water. - GMANews.TV

[Dante_Tagle]

The following are based on Nicholas Stern’s report regarding the potential long term environmental and social impacts of climate change:


More extreme weather events (floods, droughts and more powerful storms)

Access to water will be affected (water shortages, salt water intrusion of aquifers, etc.)

Coastal flooding

Increase in food prices due to declining food production (increase hunger, malnutrition, diseases, etc.)

Millions of ‘climate refugees’

Social unrest (the most affected countries will be prone to political instability)

Damage to infrastructures


Climate change threatens the security and cohesiveness of families, communities and nations. Stern stated: ‘ Greater resource scarcity, desertification, risks of droughts and floods, and rising sea levels could drive many millions of people to migrate – a last-resort adaptation for individuals, but one that could be very costly to them and the world.’ (Stern 2007, p.128)

The effects of climate change threatens the existing cohesiveness of families (if others try to migrate and others choose to stay for example) and communities as well as having the potential to re-ignite past conflicts, spark new ones and exacerbate existing ones on a national level. As was the case in many parts of Africa and Asia, drought and access over water was the primary cause of violence and conflict (cross border conflicts between Senegal and Mauritania; Uganda and Kenya; Bangladesh and North India).

In my opinion, if such scenarios would take place, a less democratic form of government (ex. military juntas) would take hold in many developing countries as lawlessness increases and a stronger hand is used as a justification to contain it. There would also be a rapid growth in religious, social, political and other movements as people seek protection, support and solutions amid growing uncertainty.

The growing social unrest would probably give rise to 'gated cities'. At the moment, gated communities for the rich already exists (ex. Forbes Park in the Philippines). The gated cities will be a place where the rich can live, work and play with a 'secured' supply of food and water. It will have high security borders and an army of security guards to ‘protect’ them from the climate change victims outside the walls. I wouldn't be surprise if in the Philippines, such gated cities take place in areas like Makati and the Fort section of Taguig.

It is imperative therefore that governments all over the world urgently take action on climate change to prevent such catastrophe. Time is running out and while we are busy negotiating with each other regarding the course of action to take; it is worth remembering that the laws of climate change physics and chemistry can not be negotiated with.



Source:
http://dantetagle.blogspot.com/

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