Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Dealing with climate change

I am very happy, as so many others are too, that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law the Climate Change Act of 2009.

The Inquirer’s front page shows Sen. Loren Legarda beaming with joy after her bill was signed by the President and finally we have a law that would define and prescribe to our people and government concrete ways to protect the environment and deal with the effects of climate change.

For the past number of years, we have seen the failure of government agencies tasked to protect our environment. These agencies, in many instances, were even accused of asiding with institutions out to destroy what is left of our forests to the consternation of many honest but much maligned environmentalists.

I would like to think the anger of local government units and the public against envrionmentalists is misplaced. These green crusaders are here basically to speak in behalf of the planet that cannot protect itselft against abuse. We must be grateful for them for looking out for the protection of the public from possible ill effects of harardous elements dumped in our localities.

One thing is clear: nobody has the right to dump garbage just anywhere. There is a need for us to prepare for the impact of climate change and find ways to mitigate it. What happened in central and northern Luzon areas, which were badly hit by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, should serve as a wakeup call for the entire country.

Even weathermen are confused by the way the new typhoon, “Ramil” is behaving. These past few days it they’ve had a hard time forecasting its path and its speed. Recent typhoons are more powerful, destroying dwellings, livelihood and lives.

I could have a litany of violations of environmental laws committed by citizens and government agencies, but what’s important now is to act and act swiftly.

Source:http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/opinion/view/20091025-232180/Dealing-with-climate-change

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