Agonizing Spectacle of Waste

By the title of this blog I am reffering to the waste of the enviroment, not the waste of so many peoples black gold.

This past weekend, off the coast of Guimaras (a small island located just next to the one I am located), occurred the largest oil spill in the history of the Philippines and one of the largest ever in Asia. This island is a short two-hour trip from my home here, and you can see it from the beach located in my Barangay. The very same area I took my family and friend Jen too to enjoy the natural beauty of the Philippines is now considered a National Disaster Site. For this small island, that only recently crawled out of the category of one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines, this a tragedy of epic proportions. The number one livelihood, for over 30 percent of the people, is fishing. Followed closely by tourism of its beautiful wide sand beaches, diving its coral reefs, and enjoying its rugged beauty. As you can imagine, after over 530,000 gallons (2 million liters) of oil are spilled into the sea, these are not very profitable livelihoods. It is already estimated that the economy of Guimaras will fall quick and hard, just as it's environment so suddenly has, and will continue to. The current estimated time for clean up of this oil spill is over 3 years, assuming that the Philippines can avail the proper assistance and needed amount of funds.

Why am I telling all of you this? I don't know. It’s so devastating to see. It makes me stomach go in knots when I see the pictures. Since it occurred last Friday, during one of 3 typhoons that hit the Philippines in 2 weeks, I have been searching, calling, emailing agencies to find out how I can asset. If anything, just donate my labor. My counterpart and I have already gathered a large group of people who are interested in donateing their time to assist in anyway. However there is yet a well-collaborated effort. I have friends living on the island and through them have contacted the local Municipalities and Provincial Capital. Its so frustrating calling and calling and every time getting a "waay ko kabalu," I don't know. Greenpeace is now taking note, but I don't yet know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. This next weekend, I'm going to see the result of this tragedy for myself. Also I will go to the Provencal Capital and Local Municipalities and ask in person about coordinating efforts.

The Philippines is requesting technical assistance from Japan, and financial assistance from both Japan and Malaysia. I have written my Congresswoman, Gwen Moore, to ask her to take note of this and see about America donating any kind of assistance to this disaster. I'm not soliciting any of you to do the same, however I wouldn't complain if you did.

Needless to say its so hard to see this, specially so close to where I live. I'm sure upon my arrival home I'll have more information to share with all of you. I hope it is good news; however on the topic at hand I highly doubt much good can come of this. It’s only another example of how devastating oil is to our environment. Whether it makes it into our cars and homes or not. I assure you all that during my time at home not one of you will hear me once complain about the high price of gas. It may be a bit extreme but I think, and thought before this disaster, that it should be higher still. It's the only way to change consumer habit, and the world is in desperate need of that change regarding its oil use. If your sighing and saying something profane under your breath at me right now because of how much you currently spend on gas at the moment, than search Philippines Oil Spill. Read the articles and take a look at the pictures and tell me if you can put a price on preventing that or other similar atrocities?