I was browsing magazines at the Wellington City Library awhile ago when this news article on the cover page of Canada's ThisMagazine caught my eye. It was a story on the open pit mining at Mt. Canatuan in southern Mindanao. Taking on the disaster at Marinduque's Marcopper which was operated by Placer Dome, it is disheartening to learn that it is happening all over again at Mindanao. The health of people in the area are in danger due to poisoning, the effect of which not only affects this generation but in the next as well as mothers pass on dangerous minerals to their unborn child.

And to add insult to injury, the supposed employment possibilities for the local folk are not happening. Open pit mining is really work for heavy machinery, and not a lot of people are needed for such an operation. And so, as the profits are carted off Philippine shores, the local fishing and farming industry takes a hit, and the poor becomes even poorer, if that is even possible.

Read more about this in Alex Felipe's All that Glitters article at ThisMagazine.

This month's Do the Green Thing "challenge" is to stay grounded. That means no boarding the plane for the holidays. Planes can churn out loads of C02 in the atmosphere. Sure, lots of cars also do. But in this case, the C02 is dumped high up in the atmosphere, giving it a lot of adverse effects. If you avoid that plane trip, you save as much C02 as a year's worth of heating and electricity.

So head on over to Do the Green Thing and make your C02 savings count!

One of the nice things here in New Zealand is that gardening seems to be a popular pasttime, with many areas green with trees, lawns and abuzz with colours from flowers. Access to seedlings and gardening materials are readily accessible through gardening specialty stores and shop sections.

We saw this worm farm in Bunnings Warehouse in Porirua. Kits such as these make recycling even more interesting, educational, and engaging.

This news is already a wee bit late, but the biggest full moon of the year was spotted last 12 December, as reported by NASA. Were you able to see it? Apparently, it was best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Sadly I was not able to see it as well. :-(

But a good friend shared his photos in our mailing list and I was amazed by the detail he was able to capture of the lunar surface using a Nikon D90 with 18-200 VR lens. I asked permission to post it here. The moon was no longer at its fullest but it's still an aswesome sight. Enjoy!


Photos courtesy of John Paras. Check out his photography work at zenfolio.


[cross-posted at www.nickballesteros.com]

One of the first things we learned about living in New Zealand is their rubbish collection. Rubbish is more commonly known in our country as garbage. So if you're having a conversation and you hear them declare that what you're saying is a load of rubbish, it's not a compliment. Bwahuhuhu!

For an orderly rubbish collection, you need two things: a council bag and a kiwi bin. Council bags are huge, yellow plastic bags where you place your non-recyclables in. It costs around $9.00 for 5 pieces, and can be bought at grocery stores (ask for it at the counter). You are allowed to load up to 15kg per bag. More guidelines are printed on the bag itself.


Next is the kiwi bin. If you're renting a flat, your landlord should give you one. But if it's not available, you can buy this for $10 at the Library. It's a green, plastic container into which you place your recyclables such as paper and bottles (plastic and glass).


There is a schedule for rubbish collection; you need to ask about this from your landlord, neighbor, or from information centers such as the library. In our case, it's on Mondays at around 8:30AM. We bring out our rubbish after 5:30PM on Sunday. The collection team for general rubbish collection is different from the recyclables team.

I believe that this method of rubbish segregation works because you have a visual of where to put your recyclables and non-recyclables. And since collection is once a week, people are motivated to dispose properly of their refuse or else they'd have a smelly kitchen or backyard.

Supporting the rubbish collection scheme are campaigns to make your own compost out of biodegradable stuff from the kitchen. Some gardening stores even offer tutorials and you can buy your supplies from them to start and sustain a worm farm of a compost heap.

The council bag and kiwi bin concept may not work in our country, but we can still follow a similar theme in garbage segregation and actively support backyard composting.

[cross-posted in watson.online/]