On Gaia's Day

On Gaia’s Day

           

            With apologies to Senator Gaylord Nelson, it’s time to “put the environment into the political ‘limelight’ once and for all.” This is so much truer as we celebrate the 42^nd Earth Day on April 22.

We have all heard of the more popular tips for going green and Gaia-friendly like save energy, reduce/reuse/recycle, compost, proper waste disposal, and the ever popular and much effective plant-a-tree action. Here are more tips that you might not have heard, read, or known about, until now.

Bag it up. It might seem awkward but it’s better if you use your backpacks and large bags to hold your groceries and other items. People might stare at the counter, but it’s worth the try. Think about it, you don’t use plastic, plus, all your groceries are housed in one bag only, lessening the number of unwieldy plastic bags you used to carry.

Become a locavore. Love your own, as they say. To be more Gaia-friendly, this includes loving and buying your local produce. Not only does it help in your neighbors’ businesses, it also lessens the stuff we import, lessening the energy used for transportation. Plus, according to author and eco-expert Alexandra Zissu, “These small farms use their land more efficiently. And, if the food is organic, which it almost always is, no chemical pesticides will have been used.”

Check the label. It really pays to check the label, especially when using pesticides or other items containing harmful chemicals. Labels provide critical safety information for handling and use.  Read the label and use and dispose your pesticides more properly.

Cut down on the “vampire effect.” Even when not turned on, an electronic appliance that is plugged into a power source still draws energy. Even when a car is idling, it still uses energy. It’s time for austerity measures!

Eat home-cooked meals or dine in. When everyday hustle and bustle leaves us all frazzled to the bone, it’s easier to just go to the nearby drive-thru branch of your favorite fast food or restaurant and take-out than cooking your own meal. Or some of the more able just call up the restaurant and have food delivered. This might be easier for us but it’s a no-no to being Gaia-friendly. Going for take-out or having food delivered means the food establishment has to provide additional packaging for your food. And additional packaging means added garbage. If you don’t cook, then walk (to your chosen food spot and eat there).

Fix that leak. Leaky faucets or faulty tubing can waste thousands of gallons of water each year, like money down the drain. Repair or replace old or damaged fixtures. Let’s try to think of Manila and other urban areas where there is scarcity of water, and save the water supply that we have.

Flush less water. You may not know it but one-third of all water we have is used just to flush the toilet. That’s a lot of water to flush just a few spoonfuls of liquid waste. If you can’t control your enthusiasm in pressing the flush button, try using pail and dipper. It’s called portion control.

Go out. Don’t we just love going out in the open and hanging out with friends? Visiting public places which use more energy efficient lighting not only gives us more variety and action in our lives, it also conserves energy that would have otherwise been spent at home watching television or staying online.

Make it a full load. Unless it’s really important, wash only full loads of laundry either in the washing machine or your own handwash method. This lessens the 40.9 gallons or so of water that you use in the average washing machine per load and also saves detergent, effort and energy in the long run.

Refashion.  It’s a more sophisticated word for recycle. Your old clothing may not be fit for downtown strolls anymore, but they sure are still qualified as cleaning tools. If you don’t want to give them away, then consider cutting them open and using them as dust rags. (A Gaia-friendly practice that we have been unconsciously observing. Let’s keep it up!)

Scoop the poop. Even if it’s your pet, dispose of the waste properly. Leaving pet waste on the ground not only pollutes the air but also increases public health risks by allowing harmful bacteria to wash into the storm drain and eventually contaminate water bodies.

Stop buying bottled water. Did you know that it takes 26 bottles of water to produce the plastic container for a one-liter bottle of water, and that doing so pollutes 25 liters of groundwater? And since bottled water is often consumed on the go, most bottles do not actually end up getting recycled. Now that you know it, stop buying bottled water. Use reusable water bottles instead made from materials like stainless steel or aluminum that are not likely to degrade over time. If you choose a plastic water bottle, check the number on the bottom first: Plastics numbered 3, 6 and 7 could pose a health threat to you, so look for plastics numbered 1, 2, 4 or 5.

A cheaper and more convenient place for getting water would be our faucet. For most of us, water flows directly into our homes, which, is not the case in other parts of the world. So why not get a filter and get water cheaper and more convenient – use your faucet!

Take a bath using a pail and a dipper.  A five- or ten-minute shower can use up to 20 to 70 gallons of water – and a much lesser amount is enough to keep ourselves clean. It may be uncool today, but it’s worth the effort to try to conserve water for the future. (At least some of us have been doing this practice for a long time now, without even being conscious of it. Let’s stick to this!)

Considering that each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day; most families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year; we each use about 12,000 gallons of water every year; approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each year and 14 billion pounds of trash ends up in the ocean; the energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours; for every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals and 17 trees; the amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years; and that plastics take 500 years, aluminum cans take 500 years, organic materials, take 6 months,
and cotton, rags, paper take 6 months to break down, these thirteen tips may be uncool, but these tips do save Mother Earth in the long run.

Lessons from the Starboard Side

Lessons from the Starboard Side

It was my very first movie memory. Now, the only things I remember about that first time was the haunting voice that opened the film, as though lamenting the thousands whose life was then shown in the screen, waving goodbye to their families as the ship left port, for the last time. I could remember the band, gallantly playing to the death, as the waters rushed to the glass walls of the captain’s cabin and engulfed him in its arms. I could remember the old woman throwing the necklace into the water, and the downward spiral of the necklace as it was buoyed down by the gem. But I have the goose bumps, until now.

            There certainly were a lot of reasons for Titanic to take hold of my young imagination. There were the splendid clothes, the band, the ship itself, the sheer adventure, and the tragedy. I caught the fascination for epics, for ships, for places and times lost and gone with this movie based on the most famous maritime disaster in history.

            Surely there were a lot of Titanic stories that surfaced even before this 1997 blockbuster movie. A stage play was written about Titanic; a TV show was staged; but none of these took as much hold of our fancy as James Cameron’s movie did. Perhaps it was because unlike others who came before him, unlike his character Brock Lovett who remarks that he never really understood Titanic, James Cameron did let Titanic in.  It was "not because I particularly wanted to make the movie," Cameron said. "I wanted to dive to the shipwreck." And when they actually did, he and the crew wanted "to live up to that level of reality.... But there was another level of reaction coming away from the real wreck, which was that it wasn't just a story, it wasn't just a drama," he said. "It was an event that happened to real people who really died. Working around the wreck for so much time, you get such a strong sense of the profound sadness and injustice of it, and the message of it."

            To me, Titanic’s message is not just about human and folly. Titanic is much more than the error that led to the iceberg grazing the ship on the starboard side. It’s about the lessons I learned from that very first screen exposure that to me, makes the ship’s sinking not without reason.

Titanic was my first concrete lesson on social equality. I remember the night Jack joined Rose for a dinner in the first class section of the ship, and Rose told him some first-class gossip about the people they met. I could clearly see that the wealthiest man on the ship, JJ Astor, suffered from the same controversies as the people on the third class section down below. And if they had a luxurious dinner upstairs, then the downstairs people also knew how to hold a party, and a more exciting one, if I might add. That even though Cal’s ominous comment to Jack, “I always win, Jack, one way or another” underscored the fact that there were still such things as ‘first class seats’ in such a lifeboat and that the rich, by virtue of their wealth, can still profit from their little business propositions – in the same ship, in the same tragedy, all were on an equal footing.

Unwittingly also, Titanic was my very first lesson on gender equality. I remember feeling relieved that when Captain EJ Smith decided who were to go on the boats, he chose women and children first. It seemed only logical to me, then. After all, they were the more vulnerable of the species, and perhaps something of the little lady in me thought it only proper for the boys and the men, if they were indeed gentle, to give way and secure the women and children first. But as the unsinkable Molly Brown said to the women with nervous anger, “I don’t understand a one of you! What’s the matter with you? It’s your men out there!!” Really, with this ‘women and children first policy’, what happened to the men? Weren’t they important too?

Above all, Titanic gave me my first lesson on humanity. Until 2010 it was the movie in terms of box office gains, and to me, this is not just because of ‘the love story [that] stole the world’s hearts’. Yes, the love story helped me digest the three-hour film a lot, and personally, in more romantic moments, it is what appeals to me more than the tragedy. But I believe that Titanic wouldn’t have achieved its top perch as the planet’s favourite film if it was just about love, however powerful this emotion is. The sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ ship is no secret, but in Titanic, you get to see how it was like, how grand the ship, how equally devastating the tragedy. Titanic struck a chord, in me, in every one, and I’d like to believe it is because we are as close to equal as we can ever be when we face tragedy; the love story just helped.

            Maybe it wasn’t too much of a coincidence that at half-past eleven of April 14, 2012 I was scanning my computer for movies to watch and my eyes alighted on Titanic, without being intentionally aware of the date. Maybe it wasn’t just timing that at 2:30 am of the next day I was still awake. Maybe we ought to go back in times like this, and remember what others have lived through or died of, even those dating exactly a century ago, and what we can still learn from it, even now.

            And this is what I call, a movie experience.

Semana Santa

Semana Santa

            Duduha nga grupo an gumawas tikang ha simbahan, an babaye nga grupo nagdadara han andas ni Birhen Maria, samtang an mga lalaki an andas han nabanhaw nga Kristo an gindadara. Katima maglibot ha ira parte han bungto (kay natutunga man an bungto tungod han pag-agi ha bulag nga dalan), magtatapo ini nga duha nga grupo ha may plaza ha gawas han singbahan. Amo ini an pagsugat han nabanhaw nga Kristo ngan han iya Mahal nga Iroy, an Birhen Maria.

            Hi Birhen Maria nagdudugnit hin itom tigaman han iya pagbakho. Usa nga bata nga babaye, komo usa nga anghel, in nasakay liwat han karro ngan magsasaburak hin mga bukad ha Birhen samtang nakanta han Regina Coeli, “Reyna han langit paglipay…”Katima, kukuhaon niya an itom nga pandong han Birhen, nagpapakita nga human na an panahon han kasubo – nabanhaw na an Ginoo. Ha akon paghinumdom, samtang nakanta an bata, may-ada parte nga mabaton an mga tawo: Ig-ampo mo, kami sa Dios. Alleluia, alleluia! Pero han yana nga naglabay nga Domingo, pipira la an bumaton bisan damo an nakadto han Sugat. Nahingain na ba an tingog han mga tawo?

            Amo na ini it nahitatabo yana. Tungod han nagbabag-o naton nga panahon, kaurogan nga mga tawo diri na mag-aram han mga tradisyon ha pagsalin-urog han aton mga sagrado nga adlaw sugad han Semana Santa. Damo na nga mga buruhaton an binabalyoan hin mas moderno, di ngani, diri na gin-aapi hit mga aktibidad.

            An amon bungto api gihap hini nga pagbag-o. Pananglitan, kun hadto nga panahon nira Nanay ngan nira Lolo ngan Lola, damo it nasingba, yana, ha panahon na la han Semana Santa, labi na hit Biyernes Santo, napupuno it singbahan. Kahuman hini, bisan ngani hit misa hit Domingo han Pagkabanhaw, nagkakawagra na it mga tawo, balik na liwat han dati nga pamaagi. Imbes nga ha Semana Santa la pinanahuban hin itom nga dugnit an mga santos tigaman han pagkamatay ni Kristo ngan pagdulom han kalibutan, nagdudulom it simbahan ha bug-os nga tuig kay kulang hin naninimba. Nabalik la kun Biyernes Santo, di ngani Pasko ngan Bag-o nga Tuig, mga dagko la nga okasyon.

            Ha Huwebes Santo, kun diin nabatasan na nga ginbabantayan ngan ginpapangadian an Santisimo Sakramento nga amo an simbolo han pagtukod ni Kristo han Eukaristiya, nagtitikaguti nala it bantay ngan danay ngani, waray tawo ha singbahan. Kun an hadto, nagtuturo-turno an mga kofradiya pagbantay tubtob hit katutnga kun diin an mga apostoles na an nagbabantay, samtang nagtitikahalarum it gab-i, nagtitika-iban gihapon an mga tawo nga nangangadi.

            Hit gab-i hit Biyernes Santo, katima pagprusisyon han Sto. Entierro o an paglubong han namatay nga Kristo, may-ada sinisiring nga Soledad, kun diin an mga babaye naglilibot han bungto, nangangadi, ngan nagbibiling han lubnganan. Yana, an mga babaye iba na it ginlilibot, iba na it ginbibiling; sugad man liwat hit nahitatabo ha iba nga lugar.

            Ha Sabado de Gloria, nagkakaada hin Estasyon han Krus kun diin naglalakat an mga tawo o naluhod nga waray mga tsinelas, alagid-agid han pagsakit han Ginoo. An kaibahan la kay an hadto, nahinunumdom ako nga halaba ini nga estasyon ngan damo nga mga tawo an nabulig hini, danay ngani baga nag-aaragaw pa kun kan kanay mga balay an mahiaapi ha aragian han estasyon. Yana, ginpapasa-pasa nala ini nga obligasyon, waray na sukot mag-tag-iya.

            Ha Domingo han Pagkabanhaw, nagkakaada hin pamulay pag-agda han mga kabataan, an tinatawag nga Easter egg hunt, kun diin may-ada premyo an kada bata nga makakabiling han mga de-kolor nga bunay, labot la hadto’n mga busag la. An mga bunay igintatago ha hardin o kun diin la para bilngon han kabataan. Ini nga Easter egg hunt natikang hin pagano nga pagtoo nga an bunay in simbolo hin bag-o ngan waray pagkapapas nga kinabuhi, bag-o nga pagtikang, sugad han Pagkabanhaw han Ginoo. (Ini nga pagtoo napabilin la gihap bisan maaram na kita nga madali man ngani mabugok it bunay.) Usa liwat nga gintikangan hini amo in alamat nga hi Maria Magdalena in nagdara hin linuto na nga bunay nga pagsasaroan nira upod han iba nga babaye didto han lubnganan ni Kristo. Pagkita kuno ni Maria Magdalena han Ginoo, nahimo nga pula an kolor han mga bunay nga nakada han iya basket. Sanglit, an ungod nga karuyag sidngon daw han pagkolor han Easter eggs in pagpakita han milagroso nga pagbag-o han bug-os nga kalibutan pinaagi han pagkabanhaw ni Kristo. Diri man sidngon nga it mga kabataan nagpapakaintindi han misteryo han pagsakit, kamatay ngan kabanhaw ni Kristo, sanglit amo nala ini it ginhuhugay ha ira.            

            Ha Triduum (tulo ka adlaw nga pangadi tikang han gab-i han Huwebes Santo tubtub hit Sabado de Gloria sano mag-Easter Vigil), nalulukop ha kamingaw it simbahan. Diri nagbabagting, lugod it gingagamit pagpasabot hit misa amo an matraka nga gindadara han mga sakristan palibot han bungto. Katima hit alas tres hit Biyernes Santo, gindidiri na it pag-aringasa, nagsasara it mga tindahan ngan establisimyento, it iba nga mga estasyon hit radyo ngan telebisyon nagsa-sign off, di ngani nagpapakita hin makarelihiyon nga program,. An mga magtinuohon gin-aaghat hin pamalandong ngan pangadi tubtob hit pag-abot han Domingo han Pagkabanhaw. Pero han yana pala nga Lunes san-o an Lunes Santo, nabati ako ha DZMM, dodoblehon daw an kita han mga empleyado nga magtratrabaho ha Huwebes ngan Biyernes Santo bisan igindeklara na ini nga holiday. Naaano na balitaw kita?

            Nasiring nga it mga Easter eggs, parehas hit mga holiday cards ha bis ano nala nga okasyon in produkto la hin komersyalismo, hin mga negosyante nga naghihimo hin gimik para makabenta. Pero sugad ngani hini nga mga panahon, mga tradisyon ha pagsalin-urog han Semana Santa o han iba pa man nga mga mag-upay naton nga tradisyon, kun diin hinay-hinay nga napapara ngan nahingangalimtan an aton mga nabatasanan, diri man ada maraot nga ipahinumdom ini ha aton ngatanan, bisan pinaagi la hini nga mga gimik.