earth day 2008

april 22nd of this year will mark the celebration of earth day which reminded me to search for that article i happen to have scanned on the front page of the philippine star a couple of weeks ago. it was a worrying headline for every filipino who hasn't left the country or for every filipino who has always dreamt of settling back in the country. that headline stated that the philippines is the 38th most polluted country in the world. i tried searching for that article in the philippine star's database but to no avail. i might not have searched well enough but interestingly i stumbled into some interesting facts along the way. for one i stumbled upon this fact of the 50 most populous countries in the world. coincidentally, population is one of the biggest factor of climate change and global warming. it's that spike in the world's human population that has propelled us into the critical levels of pollution and global warming. to take a closer look in the list, the philippines is the 12th on the list, for such a small country to have so many people for sure it has had its toll environmentally. our government should re-think their policies on population control and for once think sensibly minus the pressure of the catholic church against contraception and sex education. to discuss further on this issue is entirely another blog entry.

World's 50 Most Populous Countries: 2007
Rank
Country
Population

1.
China
1,321,851,888

2.
India
1,129,866,154

3.
United States
301,139,947

4.
Indonesia
234,693,997

5.
Brazil
190,010,647

6.
Pakistan
169,270,617

7.
Bangladesh
150,448,339

8.
Russia
141,377,752

9.
Nigeria
135,031,164

10.
Japan
127,467,972

11.
Mexico
108,700,891

12.
Philippines
91,077,287

13.
Vietnam
85,262,356

14.
Germany
82,400,996

15.
Egypt
80,264,543

16.
Ethiopia
76,511,887

17.
Turkey
71,158,647

18.
Iran
65,397,521

19.
Thailand
65,068,149

20.
Congo, Dem. Rep.
64,606,759

21.
France
61,083,916

22.
United Kingdom
60,776,238

23.
Italy
58,147,733

24.
Korea, South
49,044,790

25.
Myanmar
(Burma)
47,373,958

26.
Ukraine
46,299,862

27.
Colombia
44,227,550

28.
South Africa
43,997,828

29.
Sudan
42,292,929

30.
Spain
40,448,191

31.
Argentina
40,301,927

32.
Poland
38,518,241

33.
Tanzania
38,139,640

34.
Kenya
36,913,721

35.
Morocco
33,757,175

36.
Canada
33,390,141

37.
Algeria
33,333,216

38.
Afghanistan
31,889,923

39.
Uganda
30,262,610

40.
Nepal
28,901,790

41.
Peru
28,674,757

42.
Uzbekistan
27,780,059

43.
Saudi Arabia
27,601,038

44.
Iraq
27,499,638

45.
Venezuela
26,084,662

46.
Malaysia
24,821,286

47.
Korea, North
23,301,725

48.
Taiwan
23,174,294

49.
Ghana
22,931,299

50.
Romania
22,276,056

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.

still looking for that philippine star article, i clicked on this study done by the blacksmith institute which has sparked not just headlines but strong contradictions from politicians some time back. on its list is meycuayan, bulacan and involving a river on its municipal territory. it also has marilao as another municipality in this country which is primarily polluted by SME clusters on its areas.

it really is worrying, i think my only consolation is that the philippines isn't on the top 10 or even top 20, but still out of about 200 countries the philippines being a small country has managed to be in the 25% of the dirtiest and most polluted. what's sad is that unlike some countries, the philippines won't have the resources to help it's environment to heal and to repair. it can't even deal with social services, road building, and education because the whole country has been focused on its politics and the politicians are busy trying their best to stay in power and to pocket more money from every opportunity they can.

since pollution has already been always equated to the looming problem of global warming, on a personal note, i have taken steps to at least lower my carbon footprint. at home we have switched to energy efficient light bulbs and more than helping the environment, it has greatly helped lower the electricity bill by almost 15%-20%, i also always unplug everytime i go out, or am done with the tv, pc, or whatever appliance it is. trash at home is carefully segregated to minimize what ends up in the dumpsite and what gets sent out for recycling. most of the time i take public transportion, it's not so bad as long as you know the area quite well. even in my shopping habits i have applied eco-friendly principles into it, i would only buy if i need it and the want to have is so strong it has made me sleepless, because whatever purchases that ends up to be useless could later end up in the trash that could very well end up in the dumpsite. i also like the concept of ukay-ukay since it is a great way to recycle things that don't easily biodegrade and it's such a haven for great bargains and high fashion stuff in most times. of course i have things in my wishlist that i wish to be able to do and have to be more eco-friendly, maybe when i could afford a greener lifestyle, hopefully soon.