This is the woods that is threatened by destruction because of enterprising, greedy humans wanting to build more and more buildings in the city.

The trees here are only slightly older than I am. I remember back in grade school when the young pine trees were planted. Then year after year, I saw them grow together into what it is now: a beautiful piece of greenery near the city. It is relatively untouched because a wall surrounds it. But now, it is in danger of being converted into another cemented area. Won't the Department of Environment and Natural Resources do something about it? Mr. Atienza, is this going to be another Arroceros Forest Park?

A small tourism office occupies a portion of the woods.

This photo was taken near the UP Baguio entrance. The Convention Center can be seen beyond the trees.

MANILA, Philippines -- The international environmentalist group Greenpeace warned of a potential “deluge” of electronic waste or “E-waste” as companies and individual users replace their computers to achieve compatibility with Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.

Greenpeace cited a study conducted by US technology marketer SoftChoice Corporation of inventory data representing 112,000 PCs from more than 472 organizations, which showed that “50% of the PCs inventoried are below Windows Vista's basic system requirements” and “94% are not ready for Windows Vista Premium edition.”

Read on at Inquirer online

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET—Watersheds in the Cordillera Administrative Region are courting an environmental disaster and the government is being urged to launch a major rescue operation to stop the further decline in the region’s forest cover and water resources.

Read on at the Inquirer.net

The race is on to determine the New 7 Wonders of Nature! The exciting part here is that we have three candidates for this prestigious recognition.



It is undeniable that our country is rich with natural resources. The downside is, we are consuming these at a rate faster than it can ever replenish itself. Rainforests are dwindling, and a lot of species of water, land, and air are either threatened or endangered due to poverty.

But with international attention accorded to our natural resources, we may be able to get help elsewhere in generating sustainable livelihoods and save our nature because in the end, it is us and our children's future that we are actually saving.

Visit the New 7 Wonders of the World website and you get to vote for 7 candidates. Don't forget our three nominees! These are:

Chocolate Hills

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park

Tubbataha Reef

In order to vote, you need to input your e-mail address, then vote for your 7 Wonders. You can vote for a nominee only once! Voting ends on 31 Dec 2008. I will wait for a little longer to get more Philippine sites listed in there. I wonder why the Hundred Islands is not listed there... what to do? Nominate! Request for nomination of the Hundred Islands too!

Thanks and let us support our nominees!

When the bitter gourd (ampalaya) sprouted at the corner of our small plot of land, we were surprised. In that corner, we throw kitchen biodegradable stuff and the bitter gourd must have been one tough veggie to have started to grow.

I was following its growth for the first couple of weekends, coaxing it to climb the nearby coffee tree. Soon my mother-in-law had strategically placed some wires to help it along. I saw the stage where the small, yellow flowers were turning into the vegetable.


I was not able to check it out for one weekend and so I was truly surprised when I was told that they were already able to harvest two good-sized ampalaya and had it for dinner! We initially thought these were the baby bitter gourds but they were actually the regular ones. Nice!

Last weekend, I was able to see the plant. It's growing rather well! And the leaves are even bigger than the regular ones. A couple of gourds were healthily growing along.

I was amazed. I was actually spotted by the neighbor just standing there, staring at the growth. She commented on how the ampalaya was nicely growing along. They also tried to plant this, but did not have much success.

Just standing there, looking at the plant, made me realize how amazing the packaging of these veggies are. You pick the fruit, throw the stuff that's not edible, and these things return to the soil, and the seeds even grow. No wastage. How incredible is that!

Our next experiment: plant baby eggplants! I bought these from the local market. The seller said I should just have these dried, harvest the seeds, and plant them. But my mother-in-law said that these were not yet ripe when picked, so the seeds are useless. But still, I took some to Manila and have it dried there for experiment purposes.

Technorati tags: Baguio, vegetables
cross-posted at baguio-city.net

Just last night, I was able to watch Discovery Channel's Planet Green, a TV show on our impact on the environment, what scientists are doing about it, and how we can be more green in our lives.

Last night's episode was about renewable sources of energy. The sun is still by far a powerful source of energy that we are not utilizing much of. I should get a pen and paper next time I catch the next episode. The facts and figures presented are simply amazing!


Then there's the use of hydrogen as an alternative versus fossil fuels. Did you know that the sun is one big hydrogen ball? Well, that's one of the concerns with hydrogen ... containing it and making it safe. Well, one scientist in the US just discovered a way to do this. It was by accident... he mixed aluminum with gallium to form an alloy. Aluminum, when exposed to air, creates a film of aluminum oxide on its surface which prevents it from corroding. Gallium strips off the protective layer. The scientist then accidentally dropped the aluminum rod into water. This contact immediately resulted in a chemical reaction... the metal aggresively released bubbles: bubbles of hydrogen! What a simple solution! Tests are underway for this alloy to be mass-produced as pellets and then we can have hydrogen on demand! All one needs is water to get to the hydrogen. By end of 2008, we can see golf carts using this technology for starters.

And then there was also a section on ethanol. Here is a more complex story, because ethanol was being produced from corn kernels in Mexico whose people also use it extensively for tacos. With the demand for ethanol came a price increase of corn, prompting the concern for sustaining both the environment and the basic needs of people: food. And so scientist tried out ways to generate ethanol from biological waste products instead (wood shavings, vegetable and lawn matter). What they came up with is a genetically-manipulated lacto bacilli that will turn these organic waste into ethanol. Now, here is another issue in place, especially in our country where Catholicism has a strong influence and it totally disagrees with genetic manipulation. But that is a different story altogether...

Tune in to Planet Green on the Discovery Channel every Tuesday at 10PM for more mind-boggling green wonders!

Related links (didn't read these though):
Cleantech: Gallium and aluminum tigers in your tank?
Physorg.com: New process generates hydrogen from aluminum alloy to run engines, fuel cells

We went back to the Orchidarium just last weekend top buy additional compost and herbs. The pathway from the biking area entrance actually goes left and right; we usually take the right path which goes to the main entrance and the stores which we frequent. But this time around, we tried the other path.

We were delighted by what we saw. Landscaped areas!