By ELMINA FABON FALLAR
Passing around different countries is exciting and enjoyable. Journeying near bookstore satisfied my penchant for reading. I was able to buy great books and magazines now displayed in my library. I learned lots of things from these books.
In the end, relief from ecological aches and pains will come from simple cures derived from practical wisdom. “Keep it simple” will be the active ingredient of workable solutions to problems ranging from balding mountains to pollution.
Some Filipino scientists offer a strikingly simple antidote to forest denudation; plant bamboo. The tallest grass on earth, the bamboo grows wild and fast. Like any grass, the bamboo needs no tender, loving, and costly care, Unlike most trees, the bamboo matures fast, is easy to plant, and is available everywhere.
Upland bamboo as now forest cover could very well be the simplest, fast acting and cheapest cure for forest denudation.
One of the most unfriendly gases is the Freon (refrigerant) in your ref. Ecology experts accuse it of causing mayhem on the earth’s ozone layer. The damage to the ozone layer has led to serious complications like global warming.
The Germans have found a simple answer in some dusty old files; an obsolete but ecology-friendly mixture of butane and propane in place of Freon. Recycling junk technology is a simple, common sense response to global warming. It makes much sense as recycling plastic junk, which likewise stands accuse of depleting the ozone layer.
How come urban greening projects often wilt? The kinds of trees and shrubs so painstakingly planted need painstaking maintenance fertilizer, water, pruning. That’s why.
That’s what Singapore figured out to be problem. And that’s how Singapore’s urban planners came up with a simple, straightforward answer: low maintenance trees and plants, many of which they buy from the Philippines.
Eventually, our cities will learn this simple lesson: keep it simple. it will be the quickest, easiest way to turn clean and green from a slogan to a sure thing.
The ecological monster called pollution thrives on ignorance. If not enough people know the nature of the beast and the threat it passes to life itself, pollution will be a wolf among unknowing sheep. And if we lack trained specialists with the know-how to stop the beast on its track, nothing will stop or stand in its way.
Once again, simple common sense will come to the rescue. Schools will spend more class hours on environmental concerns. Media will allot more space and airtime to expose this ecological beast and its crimes against society. Universities, with some help from the First World, will open new courses on how to prevent and stop pollution.
There are many ways to make this country clean and green. But there’s only one way to make this work: keep it simple.
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