Hoping for a Safer Metro Manila for Non-Smokers

See that signage below?  Does it look familiar?  You can usually see this posted in public vehicles.

If you will read what LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2009 – 036 is all about, you will see what this policy wants to achieve:
“This policy aims to promote a healthful environment and to protect the public from second-hand smoke, to which there is no safe level of exposure.”

This is a good way to protect people who do not smoke.  I was actually relieved the first time I saw this posted in a jeepney.  This relief, however, did not last long.

I get to experience the same problem with the one who wrote this blog post.  I do commute going to work and going home.  Every time I ride a public vehicle, I see the same “no smoking” signage.  Apparently, even if this has already been posted inside public vehicles, people still do not comply.  The sad reality is that the primary violators are the drivers themselves.  They are just posting the signage for the sake of complying with the law but not really taking them into action.

Last Sunday, I read an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer regarding another attempt of the government to protect non-smokers.  People will not anymore be allowed to smoke in public places.  These public places are bus and jeepney terminals, loading and unloading bays, pedestrian passes, schools, hospitals, youth recreation centers, government offices and those within the perimeter of Metro Manila’s major and secondary roads.  Violators will be fined Php500.00.  For those who cannot afford to pay, they will render eight hours of community service.

I am not so sure if this would turn out well since a lot of people would get annoyed due to having lesser options of places where they could smoke.  However, since I am a non-smoker, I am really hoping that this could be a good and simple start of having a cleaner air in Metro Manila.  In addition to that, there would be lesser cigarette butts being thrown around. 

The Light from the Sun through a Bottle

Light is an important part of our daily lives.  Count how many light bulbs you have at home.  You will realize how crucial it is to have lights in every room of your home.  You even replace those light bulbs that get busted.  Common scenario is that you get so uneasy whenever there is brownout/blackout in your area.  But for those who are less fortunate, light is a very scarce resource.

In the case of those people living in the shanties, daytime and nighttime could not be distinguished since the small houses are cramped together.  There is just a narrow alley wherein you could go from one house to another.  Light could barely pass through so the whole area remains dark inside.  If you are watching Philippine noontime variety shows (wherein the hosts would visit some random house to give gifts and money to those living in the shanties), you will get what I mean.  There are few residents who have electric lights installed in their houses.

Good thing a 1.5 liter soft drink plastic bottle filled with a simple formulation (water and bleach) could now give a solution to this problem.  How?  I read an article, written by Kara Santos, in Inquirer Sunday Magazine regarding the project of My Shelter Foundation called Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light).  It aims to provide eco-friendly solar bottle bulbs to people living in depressed areas.

The bulb is placed in the roof and when the sun hits the formulation inside the bottle, it gives a bright white light that is equivalent to 55 watts of electric light.  Aside from that, the formulation could last up to five years before it needs to be replaced.  This amazing invention was done by students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  The bulbs are also being used in Brazil and Mexico and it is now being applied as well here in the Philippines.

To know more about the Isang Litrong Liwanag project, visit their website:  http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/.

Here is a picture of how the bottle is placed in the roof (photo courtesy of lifestyle.inquirer.net):

Here is another picture showing that the solar bottle bulb really works (photo courtesy of lifestyle.inquirer.net):

The Fairy has been Revealed

I don’t know in your case but whenever I try to write about myself, my mind just goes blank.  It seems like nothing comes out of my mind.  It is easier for me to write about someone or something else rather than describing myself.

If you have a blog, you are familiar with the counters of your blog statistics.  You will see there what links people visit in your blog and how many times they have been clicked.  I have noticed that once in a while, people click the link of my blog entitled, “Who is Ecologyfairy?“  Apparently, I have not written any information in it since I cannot really come up with my own personal write-up.

For this blog post, I would like to announce that you may now take a peek in the said page.  Somehow, you would know who I am.  Writing this page has been a challenge for me so don’t expect much.  Haha!

I, Ecologyfairy, would like to thank you, my readers, for taking the time to visit my blog.  It means so much knowing that people read what I write.  Again, thank you!

Maude’s Avenue of Thoughts Blog Anniversary Giveaway

My friend, Maude Maxine Rolle, is having a giveaway for her blog’s (Maude’s Avenue of Thoughts) anniversary.  I have been following her blog ever since she started her first ever post!  Right, Maude? Haha!

I could still remember when she was still thinking of a title for her blog.  She keeps on asking me for suggestions.  We were office seatmates back then.  Now that we belong to different projects, I rarely see her and I haven’t got the chance to tell her how good her stories are.  Her stories are very inspiring and they are definitely a good read! Keep it up, Maude!

Visit Maude’s Avenue of Thoughts for a chance to win a chic Celine bag!

By the way, here is a picture of her giveaway!

A Satirical Website against a Big Coal Company

Yesterday, a friend of mine gave me a link that leads to a website called Coal Cares.  This website is supposed to be a health and environmental campaign initiated by Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company based in the US.

It is stated in the Coal Cares website that coal is a clean and safe source of energy.  It even boasted that coal is way much better than solar and wind energy by citing how the two latter sources of energy are harmful to use.

Also, this campaign states that Peabody Energy is giving out free inhalers to any family living within 200 miles of the coal plant.  This is to boost the confidence of children who have asthma.  It is even said in the Coal Cares website that “the real problem with asthma isn’t a mere inability to breathe: it’s the taunting, berating, mockery, and abuse that so often accompanies this infirmity.  Asthmatic kids are mocked, roughed up, chosen last for team sports, deprived of medication, and otherwise forced to bear more than their fair share of childhood’s intrinsic difficulties.”  This is why they come up with the idea to give free inhalers to these children.  The inhalers even have different designs to choose from.

Here are some of the things I have noticed when I read the website’s contents:

1. I checked over the Peabody Energy website and no links exist about the dissemination of the campaign about Coal Cares.  No links proving that Peabody Energy is organizing this kind of campaign shows that Coal Cares is not a credible website.
2. There is this contradicting statement that the use of coal is safe whereas they are giving out free asthma inhalers to those living within the coal plant area.  If coal is a safe source of energy, there should not be any problem when it comes to the air being inhaled by the people living near the plant area.  Thus, the case of kids having asthma should not be an issue.
3. There are a number of questionable statements in the “Clean” Energy page of the Coal Cares website.  An example is that if people use solar energy, everyone can collect energy.  Thus, there is no quality control over the power being used.  Another one is about the possibility that wind turbines can cause a massive tornado.

Troubled by this website, I researched more whether this is true or not.  Good thing this campaign is not true.  It is just a spoof attempting to boost up coal companies.  In reality, it does not work that way because there is no such thing as coal being a clean source of energy.  Here is the website of grist.org elaborating more on this.  With regards to the inhalers, Peabody Energy already announced that this is not true (news source is from treehugger and blogs.forbes.com).

Save Some Paper this Next School Year

Next month would be the start of another school year and this is why this post is particularly dedicated to elementary and high school students.  Saving some clean sheets of paper would not only help you save money but it would also help in saving trees used for the production of paper.

Before the start of regular classes, teachers require one or two notebooks exclusively for their subject.  Considering you have eight subjects this coming school year, let us assume you need ten notebooks.  There might be a possibility that instead of buying ten brand new notebooks, you would only need to buy six or seven new ones.  How?  Gather your used notebooks from the previous school year.  Check if they have remaining clean sheets of paper that you can still use.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Carefully remove the spring binder from the notebook itself.
2. Set aside the notebook covers and sort out the clean sheets of paper and those that have written notes in it.
3. Secure the clean sheets of paper together along with the notebook covers.  Rebind them using the spring binder you removed a while ago.

That’s it!  You have “new” notebooks you can use this coming school year.  You don’t need to buy an entirely new set of notebooks and this could help your parents in lessening their budget for your school supplies. 

Practical Tips to do at Home – Save on Electricity Consumption

For quite some time now, this blog has been telling you to do your part in taking care of our environment.  However, this statement might go vague for other people as they just won’t do their part if they do not know how to do it.  I guess this is the right time for me to make way for a new segment in my blog regarding practical tips that we could all follow.  Besides, an environmentalist blog would not be complete without its practical tips for green living, right?

For this post, I will share with you some of the things we could do in our own homes to save too much use of electricity.

1. During daytime, prefer to use natural lighting as much as possible.  Open the windows so that more light could enter the rooms.
2. Do not forget to turn off your electric lights when not in use.
3. Prevent the use of a dryer after washing your clothes especially if the weather is enough to dry them.
4. Prefer to have a schedule in ironing your clothes.  It is ideal to iron clothes in bulk rather than doing it daily for the clothes that you will just use for the day.
5. Anticipate your eating time so as to prevent using the “Keep Warm” function of your rice cooker for too long.
6. Do not place hot or warm food inside the refrigerator.  Your refrigerator would tend to increase its power usage so as to keep its temperature low.
7. If you are going to use the air conditioner when you sleep, set the timer to turn it off at least two hours before you wake up.
8. Shut down your computer when not in use.  If you need to get back to your task immediately after a short while, change the power settings of your computer to automatically switch it to sleep mode.  In case you need to leave it open, turn off the monitor.
9. As much as possible, opt to just have one television set in your home.  Aside from preventing too much electricity consumption of several television sets, this will also help in keeping the whole family intact by just having to watch one show altogether.
10. The very basic tip of them all:  Unplug your home appliances when not in use.

The tips listed above are just some of the ways on how my family and I save on electricity.  Following them would not only help in your contribution to save the environment from too much consumption of electricity but it would also help you save a good sum of money.  It is definitely a win-win situation!