Seeing Beyond the Camera Lens

Here is the second note in the plans I wish to get done:

"Get back at those activities I want to indulge in (if my time allows it)"

Gosh! It has been more than twelve years since I last touched my unfinished cross-stitch project, my favorite pastime during my younger years. I evaluate myself if I would be able to devote much time doing it. With kids and all, I really find it difficult to complete it so after much thought, I decided to finally give it away to someone who has the luxury of time and the craving for this activity instead of leaving those materials in my drawer taking space and collecting grime.  Some things really changed and so are my yearnings for things I want to do. Now I get to enjoy reading more on days when I love doing it and I discovered the passion for writing especially when I need to relieve myself from stress, (just take the time to read my posts in this blog). I also get to indulge in activities that my kids and I will get to enjoy together like traveling, gardening, some cooking here and some decorating there and the list just keeps on growing. Oh… and did I mention photography? I really like to do that now and so are my kids. As a matter of fact, my little girl was too keen on doing it that she always seizes the camera to have her own photo op. It helps to support and nurture what your children are interested in but certainly there are drawbacks for that as my kid already broken two point and shoot cameras (thank goodness it was not DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) and thank goodness those are old models). Now I am into scouting for repair centers for Kodak EasyShare and Sony CyberShot digital camera :( and I guess that will make me busy in the coming days. Need to have them repaired as I need to return the Sony to my cousin and I will surely need my Kodak when my kids’ indulgence kicks in again.

By the way here are some pictures taken during my family's recent travel and short vacation in the countryside, just some earth images using Sony DSC-W70 before it was broken. I chose that theme for my kids and other kids to learn how climate change affected this one part of the planet. This is not just an indulgence but an advocacy that my family is willing to do for our precious earth. May we see beyond the camera lens and start to commit one part of ourselves into doing something valuable for our precious habitat before everything goes into ashes.

    intense heat and temperature ranging from 30 to 40 degrees celcius

 

   soil too dry and eroded,

    dying plants and trees

   green grass no more, nothing for the goats and cows

   Part of Sierra Madre Mountain used to teem with green flora but is now mostly rock, soil and houses

   too parched to survive....

   I hope we will not reach a day when our earth will become like this....

Grateful for the Rain in Summer

It was four o’clock in the afternoon, moderate northeasterly wind was blowing relentlessly. Cloud was overcast that suggest it was going to rain. There were studies that say that an overcast weather brings on a seasonal affective disorder for some people making them somewhat depressed but for me it really made me very happy. It’s been weeks that I was always wishing for this kind of cloud formation for the cloud seeding operation or for real rain to water the withering farmlands.



Some minutes later I heard sound as if knocking softly on my window pane. Oh, it is finally raining! That is a welcome blessing from heaven and it only signifies that the wrath of El Niño may finally come to an end. A month ago, local news was all about El Nino thus I was afraid that we might experience water shortage. This is an answered prayer I would like to believe. What really matters is that God has not forsaken us despite a blasphemous joke that a government official once thrown in one of his media hype related to electric power crisis and El Nino (I hope God forgives his ignorance).

Climate change, there is not much we can do to control it. So even if it would rain during summer season in our country, and even if I haven’t enjoyed much of the beach yet, I am still grateful for the RAIN.  The less than twenty minutes downpour is just enough to moisten the soil of my precious flora and other wilting plants around the metro.  Unpredictable weather...I am hoping it will not bring us La Niña in the coming months. 

Neither a Drop to Drink?

It’s been over a week now since I last heard tweets from my neighbor’s African lovebirds, they used to wake me up every five in the morning but it seems that they already succumbed to untimely death due to El Nino.


Aside from plants and humans, animals too have been badly affected by El Nino as there are reports of death affecting piggery and poultry farms and fish kill in many parts of the country. The situation is really getting worse since several frightful effects of this phenomenon have been evident every day and it looks like we are in for a game of survival of the fittest where the lame and the weak would be the first to go.


Another record was set at about three PM today to be the hottest temperature for the year at 35.5 degrees centigrade and I hope it will not get any hotter than that or we will sure to suffer the consequences of drought considering that summer season is just starting and is expected to last until the months of April and May. Cloud seeding operation to produce rain artificially has not been successful. Most dams are fast approaching critical level and rivers have started to dry up which are the sources of household and irrigation waters thus adding more burden to the agriculture, power and business sector.


Some weeks ago I was only wishing to escape the city for some refreshing time at the beach but I think I need more than that, the whole country needs hope and earnest prayer for rainwater that will be enough to fill up the water reservoir. It will be a big question whether we will have enough safe water to drink in the coming days, I just hope we will not reach a time when we have to struggle for a drop of water. The situation is not only a test of our tolerance but also a test of our faith.

El Nino on its way to its peak

The heat is becoming unbearable these days though my temperature reading hasn't changed much since last week at 86 degrees.  I am at 40 feet above ground thus my temperature reading was a little lower than the actual weather forecast.  In case you haven’t heard the news, the Philippines is currently experiencing dry spells due to the onset of the El Nino phenomenon which started since December of 2009.

According to reports, the below normal rainfall condition were noted in most of Luzon and Visayas and drier surroundings in parts of  eastern, central and  western Mindanao.  It is currently causing damage in the water sector as most of the rivers, which are the sources of irrigation waters, have started to dry up.  The same condition was observed in major dams that supply water for household and industrial uses as these dams hit alarming level.   The dry spell has also caused damage to agriculture amounting to billions of pesos.  The public has been warned about heat-related illness such as heat stroke and accidents such as fire that may become prevalent.  The government has already issued advisories and carried out plans to counter the effects of El Niño.  We have been through the same problems time and again and lucky for us we are well assimilated being in a calamity-prone country, nevertheless, we should not push our luck too far. Time to be reminded....

Anyways, it only says one thing, the heat is really on, better be prepared for any incident that might happen.  The more I feel the heat, the more I like to escape from the city for a while and hit one of those beautiful beaches or island cove in Boracay, Bohol, Bicol or Palawan. I just can't wait....

Time to be Reminded (While we Still Have a Chance)

It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and my room temperature reading was at 30C. In the past years during this time of the month, it seems to be the coolest time of the season because of the melting snow from the other parts of the world but I heard in the news the other day that summer time is setting in very early this year. In other countries, excessive snow, torrential rain and flash flood has been the latest news while in the local scene, water shortage due to El Nino phenomenon has been the concern this very hour. It was only some months ago when the country suffered from flash flood and now we must brace ourselves for another imminent possibility of calamitous event.



A lot has been said about this changing weather pattern and most studies point to global warming as the reason for this. Many great plans have already been under discussion, relevant laws have already been enacted and then WHAT? Is there really a way for us to stop or reverse the condition that our planet has been going through? I guess the answer lies in these simple passages…





What have we done?



"I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination." (Jeremiah 2:7)



"Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?" (Ezekiel 34:17-18)



What happens if we never stop defiling the land?



"Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The LORD almighty has declared in my hearing: 'Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants. A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine, a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.'" (Isaiah 5:8-10)



"The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish together with the earth. The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth; its inhabitants suffer for their guilt." (Isaiah 24:4-6)





"You have polluted the land with your whoring and wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come." (Jeremiah 3:2-3)



"He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there." (Psalm 107:33-34)



What can we do now?



"'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.” (Leviticus 25:23-24)



"When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?" (Deuteronomy 20:19)



"The land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and garner their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord.... The land is to have a year of rest." (Leviticus 25:2-5)



"If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." (Leviticus 26:3-4)



Maybe just a while ago you tended your crop in your Farmville, but when was the last time you cared to cultivate a piece of real land for a tree or a plant? Or should we just wait for this earth to become like this?



"It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares." (Jeremiah 12:11)



The time and the chance is still in our hands, let us not wait until there is no more hope left for us.