State of our environment vital to our future

Environment has several levels of meaning. It means our physical surroundings. That is what the British poet, John Betjeman, was referring to when he wrote: "One cannot assess in terms of cash or exports an imponderable thing like the turn of a lane or an inn or a church tower or a familiar skyline." The skyline of New York City will never be the same again after the September 11 tragedy. That also explains why many people got upset when someone suggested that the Bonifacio monument in Caloocan be transferred elsewhere.

Ecologically, environment means the external conditions affecting the growth of plants and animals and, of course, man. That is what U.S. journalist, Clifford D. Simak, was denouncing when he said, "The emergence of intelligence, I am convinced, tends to unbalance the ecology. In other words, intelligence is the great polluter, it is not until a creator begins to manage its environment that nature is thrown into disorder."

In the Philippines, the greatest enemy of our environment is graft and corruption, and believe it or not, there are billions involved in garbage. Undoubtedly, our garbage problem to this day remains unresolved. And if some people have their way, it will not only remain unresolved, it will get much worse and it will be because some people stand to gain with government contracts that violate all the basic rules for proper garbage disposal.

Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez has, for instance, publicly charged former Director Peter Anthony Abaya of DENR’s Environment Management Bureau of having given six questionable firms the permit to import ozone-depleting substances (ODS). According to Alvarez, one of the involved firms is a trading firm, another an importer of women’s garments while the third has a paid-up capital of only P65,000. What he wanted clarified was why fly-by-night firms are permitted to import substances deleterious to our environment. Under the Montreal Protocol, the Philippines was obliged to reduce its importation of ODS. ODS sells at $1.20 a kilo in the world market. The above firms paid $6 a kilo for their ODS. And after EDSA II, Abaya also tried to import 1,400 tons of ODS. What will be the effect of all these to our environment?

Metro Manila is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Most of it, of course, is due to the motor vehicles and the industries in the metropolis. But it is common knowledge that this pollution, not only has dire effects on the health of its residents, but worse, very detrimental to the intelligence of the children. If we cannot rely on the government agencies in charge of the problem to enforce our laws and regulations, what hope is there for the future of our environment? The quality of our lives is only as good as the quality of our environment.