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Book Review: Discipling Nations by Darrow Miller

I read Darrow Miller's book, Discipling Nations yesterday. I found it engaging that I finished it in about 3 hours ( thanks to Tony Buzan's speed reading). In this work, Miller states that developmental strategies are based on worldviews taken on by agencies. The book clearly compares between the materialistic view of the secular west, the animistic view of the mystical east and the theistic view of the Christians. An stirring example was when a Christian aid worker encountered a dying baby in Africa. The worker took the baby but the mother wanted it to die. The worker had the view that God loves this little child. The mother thought that it was the will of the spirits that he would die. The book also highlights the Malthusian view on population and how it differs with Biblical truth.

As I was reading, I was reflecting on my work as an advocate for sustainable living. I used to swallow American Evangelical thought, hook, line and sinker. It was when I was made aware of the Climate Crisis that I began to question this world view. The Bible says we ought to be like the Bereans and test what we hear. We are also told that we shall know them by their fruits. It is against my conscience to ignore the Climate phenomenon, demonstrated by numerical models, empirical observations and anecdotal experiences of specific individuals. It is against my conscience to ignore a call to live a simple, consciencious, content lifestyle and reject a lifestyle of consumerism, indulgence and hedonism. It is against my conscience to ignore the families affected in Bicol and Panay because of extreme weather.

Miller drives the point that a key difference between theism and materialism is that the former assumes an open resource system while the later a closed one. This just means one considers unlimited resources (open) the other having a "when its gone, its gone mentality" (closed). As a physicist, I'd say the law of conservation of matter remains but what can change is our attitude about it. An open system mentality would think " Land is running out but we can grow food in the ocean or we can use hydroponics" . A closed system mentality thinks "Land is running out lets reduce the number of people". While I'm for responsible parenthood, a mind set like this may lead you away from a culture of life. An open system encourages the evolution of technology to meet a growing population and ensure harmony with the planet.

The Bible says a righteous man avoids all extremes. A lot of folks think its a choice between Liberal or Conservative. Or Saducee or Pharisee. I chose neither...I follow JESUS!

Reforestation Efforts of Napocor

Our whole family went to Caliraya,Laguna today to plant trees in denuded portions of the Napocor's (National Power Corp of the Philippines) Watershed. Caliraya is a man-made lake, home to about 600MW of hydro-electric power. A couple of decades ago, Napocor started selling lands in the lake area which have become the location of popular resorts in this locale. It was a fresh look at Caliraya, coming here not to enjoy ourselves but to do our part in fulfilling the Edenic mandate. With about 600 volunteers, we were able to plant 7000 trees in about 2 hours. WOW!!! Can't wait to see happens when the other planting sessions in October and Novemer are done.

Napocor, has been very active in conserving watersheds in their areas because of their direct relationship to hydro power output. In Angat dam (Norzagaray, Bulacan), we saw Napocor's well maintained secondary growth forest, having an 84% cover and sightings of the Philippine Eagle. This is a stark and ironic contrast to the neighboring Ipo dam managed by the DENR (Dept of Natural Resources) and the MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System). The Angat watershed was the source of all the seedlings we used in today's session. A couple of months back, our whole family helped out in preparing seedlings by bagging saplings in Angat. There was some fulfilment to see our seedlings finally put to the ground.

It is very important that each one of us realize the importance of the water cycle. Only ~2% of the world's water supply is potable and accessible. The advent of climate change, makes forests vulnerable to fires and heat damage. If the forests die, the ability of watersheds to collect and retain water will be destroyed. This means water will be come more inaccessible, leading to problems such as rice production drops and digestive tract diseases. (If you live in Paranaque or Las Pinas, you may have an idea of what this means.) It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that unnecessary forest damage is avoided.

To end today's blog, I would like to congratulate Noel Umali, Head of Napocor's Watershed Mgmt group, for consistently doing a great job in maintaining Napocor's forests. I would aslo congratulate Liesl Lim and Garrie David, of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC), for the successful tree planting activity they organized today. Thanks guys!!!

If anyone wants to join the next tree planting activies on October 11 and November 8, send a mail to ptfcc.mail@gmail.com to express your interest.

The Sustainability of Ubuntu

I recently converted by laptop from an XP machine to one double booting with Ubuntu (Linux). I initially intended to make Ubuntu my back-up OS in case I had problems with XP. When I finally got to boot and install, I fell in love with look. I had the "hardy heron" desktop and the nice font to match it. As I was setting it up (i.e. getting my wireless card to work,etc.) I came across a video file of Nelson Mandela talking about the essence of Ubuntu.

What is Ubuntu anyway? This is a Zulu word meaning "a person is a person through other people" It involves an open community sharing resources. When asked about ubuntu, Mandela says for him, it is about people entertaining passing travellers even if they don't ask for it. It is the value of community and sharing. It is so much close to our Filipino concept of Bayanihan, where you care for others in your community. It somehow also reflects, the sense of community of heartland America.

It is quite ironic that modern software technology could be used to advocate a traditional human value. Ubuntu Linux claims it is "Linux for humans". Why? Because somehow it goes against the dehumanization of our man resulting from industrialization and urbanization. Ubuntu also makes software accessible. I see it as an enabling tool for the sustainable development of indigenous people. Where they can keep their culture yet be in touch with the world. With wider access of software, we can also reduce the need for transportation and be more efficient in our fossil fuel use.

Using open source software, catalyzes development, that is economically, socially and ecologically balanced.

Mandela talking about ubuntu

The Role of IT in Climate Change

Apart from all the sophisticated modeling of the climate, IT plays a key role in mitigating the crisis. I was talking today to a friend about his connectivity problems. He was still using dial up because he could'nt get cable internet or DSL. I suggested that he use get a USB cable for this phone and get an Edge or GPRS connection. (With your SMART Buddy prepaid phone, you can get a connection for PHP10/ 30mins. ) Later that day, I asked him if all the remote mission stations he was serving had cell phones. When he said yes, I said that we can connect them to the Web. I also realised that my work in participative energy planning could be made more efficient with collaborative technologies like gtalk or skype.

The importance of collaborative technologies is the possibility of avoiding travel, thus reducing cost and carbon of any endeavor. At Intel, we greatly reduced cost by having frequent teleconferences supported by filesharing and chatting. We even had worldwide training sessions using netmeeting. At Sunpower, we aslo used video conferencing and skype. Using these technologies we could pass files if the connection bandwidth permitted. Otherwise, we could post files on web locations for retrieval by anyone in the group interested.

With the emergence of the open source movement more technology options are accessible to developing countries. We improve the lives of the rural folk by linking them to the world and by reducing their need to travel. We can also equip them with real time tools for adaptation and emergency response. IT is indeed a comprehensive strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Of Crashed PCs, Surplus and Sustainability

In my previous blog, I mentioned my PC crashing.   My Dell Latitude D600 died on me.  Hopefully I get it to run again but in the meantime I need a computer to work on.  Thanks to my wife, who offered the use of her credit card (mine is quite loaded), I went off to search for another virtual world workhorse.   We go to HMR Envirocycle in Daystar Industrial Park, Santa Rosa, Laguna.  If don't know where that is, that's right in front of  Toyota Gate 1 along the Tagaytay-Sta.Rosa road.  If you still don't know where that is, then look it up in google earth.  Anyway,  we enter the showroom, suddenly my wife's face begins to brighten! She tells me its like doing garage sales in Arizona...WOW! So like a kid( with 2 kids behind her) she explores the store. She looks at desktops, flat screen panels, laptops, toys, furniture.   She ends up buying an ACER LCD display for PHP5990 and a scrapbooking tote for PHP990.   Together we look at the laptops, it was a choice between an IBM Thinkpad T30 and a Compaq EVO N610c.   We compared features, price, leading to our purchase of the Compaq for PHP17900.00 It should have been PHP15900 but this unit had an 80GB HDD! 

When we got home, I started installing xp.  At first it was quite frustrating because the pc would shutdown with every installation.  Then I remembered stuff when I used to work for Intel.  This laptop ran on a 2.4GHz P4m, a hot engine for a laptop as opposed to the 1.4 GHz centrinos.  So I started doing my installation in a cooler room,  with nothing obstructing the fan inlet/ outlet.  Hallelujah!  My PC was alive!  

Later I discover my PC didn't have an 80GB HDD.  It was showing only 28GB!  So I went to HMR and let them know of my problem.  Turns out, the sales people mistakenly thought the unit had 80GB. They replace my unit with one that had 40GB.  As for the extra PHP2000  I paid. They gave me a receipt acknowledging my overpayment.  They will be crediting this to my next purchase.

I'm now using my laptop to write this blog and so far so good...It is important that we use surplus items when we can considering the natural resources that were used in making these.  If we don't all these PCs, TVs, etc. end up in landfills. The heavy metals and toxic pollutants would then contaminate our water supply.  We then ingest these things one way or the other.  Either by us drinking these or by the seafood we eat.   So the next time you buy surplus, you are making sure that the next generation has a healthier life.

Sustainability and Assembly Toy Kits

Was offline for a few days because my PC crashed.  While it was frustrating not to work and blog, it gave me time to finish work on my son's robot arm kit. I purchased the kit at Alexan, 5F SM Megamall Bldg A, for PHP1500.  I got this for his birthday to support his drive to build things.  We assembled the motor modules, put together the sections of the arm/gripper and finally the control box.  After 3 days, we are playing with it.  

How does the assembly of a robot arm have anything to do with sustainability? A whole lot. For one, it reminds us of the hard work of putting things together. It teaches us that resources and effort were put in making one toy.  It also opens our minds to the idea that anything built can be repaired. If you can build it, you can fix it.  Ultimately, it ushers in a mindset of sustainable consumerism replacing our "everything disposable" mentality.  The bonus of a sense of accomplishment of building your own toy comes with it.

I threw my son the idea of building his own toys.  He now wants to build his own remote controlled car.  I told that we can possibly build our own computer.  My daughter wants us to build a Barbie Lifter (i.e. Whatever that is..) for her birthday.  

With all this things, I hope and pray that the next generation becomes a better steward of God's planet.

Robot Arm kit from Alexan

Manila Ocean Park

My family and I went to the Manila Ocean Park today as part of celebrating my son's birthday.  We had to wait for a few moments in the parking lot because it was raining hard and we couldn't walk to the building.   When we finally got to the entrance were we paid PhP1500 ( about USD40) for 2 adults and 2 kids.  

      The exhibits starts off with river fish. The notable resident here are the river Arapaimas, giant fish about a meter long.  You then go up some steps, to a water fall and down were you can look at some reef fish and touch some starfishes. At this point you enter into the reef fish exhibit.  Here you see nemo, dory, a giant spider crab and some small rays. The next section ("laot") you find bigger fish swimming in tanks with makeshift wrecks.  Here you find meter long groupers, pampano and the like.  Theres also an overhanging circular screen showing underwater footages and WWF-Philippines Vice Chair Lory Tan talking about reefs and climate change.  Manila Ocean Park supports WWFs conservation efforts in various Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines.   Regularly, Obel Resurrection, education officer of WWF-Philippines stays at the park to support educational activities with guests.

     We then go to the exciting part...The "Buhay Karagatan" section is where you go through a "sea tunnel".  You see all this big fish, rays and sharks swimming around above you. This is the best place to take pictures because of the adequate lighting ( no flash photography allowed in the complex).   I took pictures of my family with rays and talakitok swimming behind.  After the tunnel, the next room leads to an overhead tank of rays and a tank of sharks on the side. You also get to some kiosks where you can play games.  In this section, you find another view of the tunnel tank. Here we took pictures of lazy, people-shy rays that wouldn't go near the tunnel earlier. 

   After this section, we went up to the second floor.  Here you find a "fish spa", where you can have fish nibble on your feet ( didn't find any floating despite the stink).  You also find an area to do crafts and a clear bottom both ride.  In this section, you will have to pay extra so we didn't do anything here.   You the exit through the Ozeano restaurant (yeah...they kinda want you to dine here) and the souvenir shop (kinda like other theme parks in the US).  When we were out we played some games in an arcade and went out of the building for picture taking in Luneta and dinner at Harbour View. 

 Overall the experience was fun.  My son and daughter loved it very much.  Pictures to be posted in the site soon...

Cebu Pacific: Bright Skies for Every Juan

I recently talked to my friend and former co-worker in WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Yeb Sano. He has recently been tasked to run the Apo Reef Adaptation project. Funding will be coming from the "Bright Skies" program of Cebu Pacific. The program actually allows sustainability conscious users help alleviate damage to the planet resulting from their travel. Specifically, a fee is charged per kg CO2 emitted by each passenger's travel. (Was a bit nostalgic, because I did the calculations for determine the fees when I was in WWF.) The money collected is donated to the WWF-Philippines for building the capabilities of specific ecosystems to adapt to climate change impacts. 

The 1st project to get this fund will be the Apo Reef - Sablayan area in Mindoro Occidental. In the past, temperature spikes have resulted in massive bleaching in areas like Apo Reef. Recently, typhoon-less storm surges have hit the area. As the impacts of Climate Change become more pronounced, the damage to this area would become irreversible. It is therefore critical that parts of the reef that have the best nutrient flow and biodiversity, regardless of past climate events be protected from human intervention. It is also critical that the community of Sablayan, be assisted to develop systems to minimize human and economic loss. Later on,  more adaptation sites will be beneficiaries for this fund.   More information at www.cebupacificair.com and at www.wwf.org.ph.