“Fasting from Plastic” by Gabriel Lamug-Nañawa, SJ

a summary of key points from “Fasting from Plastic” 

this reminds us that fasting is not just limited on foods – fasting may actually cover.. yes, plastics.. ;)

"let us try to abstain from purchasing or using items that come packaged in disposable plastic, as our way of reducing our own harmful impact on creation.”

THINK!

• What are the things we buy?
• Why do we buy them?

!!Examine consumer values and determine what is important to us

Think about this: “Fasting from food and abstaining from meat, from other things that give us pleasure, or from our bad habits, bring many spiritual benefits if we offer our sacrifices to God.  We enter into our own desert experience with Jesus.”

What is wrong with disposable plastics?

• Not biodegradable (made from materials extracted from crude oil)
• Most common plastic bag is polyethylene (microorganisms do not recognize these as food, thus, they don’t decay like organic materials)
• Plastics photodegrade, they become brittle till the crack upon exposure to sun’s ultraviolet rays, this degradation takes a very long time (est 500-1000 yrs)
• Even if they break into smaller fragments, they remain toxic to animals and humans that eat them
• Plastics clog waterways and can cause floods in cities (‘til they make their way to the sea)
• Plastic is the most general form of ocean litter 
• They are dangerous to creatures who mistake them as food
• 1000s of animals die per yr due to swallowing or choking on plastic materials

WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO USE DISPOSABLE PLASTIC BAGS TO CARRY OUR THINGS FOR ONLY A FEW MINUTES, BUT WHICH WILL THEN BECOME A PROBLEM FOR CREATURES AND THE EARTH FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS?

What can we do?

• In a store: try not to accept the plastic bag that they will usually use to put the items that you bought.  Instead, put the purchased item in your own bag.
• Refrain from purchasing or drinking water from disposable plastic bottles.  Recycling consumes energy and just because they can be recycled does not mean that they are actually recycled.  Use your own re-useable water bottle.
• Abstain from the use of plastic straws, polystyrene lunch boxes, and other food items that come in disposable wrappers, such as noodles and candies.  These items cannot be recycled and are either thrown away or burned, both of which are not good to do.
• If you do have to buy plastic, make sure that it is recyclable, and that you dispose of it in a way that will assure that it will be recycled. Of course, exceptions are made for medicines and other important items that offer no alternatives.
• Take good care of the things you already have so that they last longer and are not easily destroyed and thrown away.

Gabriel “Gabby” Lamug-Nañawa, SJ is with the Jesuit Service-Cambodia and can be reached through his email gabbyln(at)yahoo.com.

Several reflections

Sometimes, we really have to ask ourselves, is comfort worth more than environmental protection? All we seek is a product that is easy to handle, easy to consume and easy to throw away. For instance, a correction tape. There is that tear-drop shaped correction tape (the most common). A lot of us patronize the product. it’s hip and nice to use. However, when you examine its packaging, it has lots of plastic in it, only about 20% of the composition is actually consumed – the white tape! The rest is to be thrown away! 

i was struck about the part where Mr. Gabby mentioned about the consumer’s little concern to where the garbage us gonna get to. As long as we keep ourselves and our rooms clean,  and even if our country or our community is dirty, we’re good. 

But let us go to the lighter side.. there are others who are very much cooperative when it comes to recycling and reusing materials. But let me ask you, is that the best we could give? There is the cure and the prevention. We could actually, eliminate or reduce cases of recycling and reusing garbage because we could actually reduce the wastes we produce – by properly choosing the goods we consume daily.

i’m not saying that we all have diet. Actually, having a healthy diet is good. But just try to consume less plastic. 

The article, by the way, was addressed to a Lenten fasting. “If we try to abstain from disposable plastic during this Lent, we can also reach our own deserts.” However, fasting can be extended. It starts with the habit.

To read a full copy of the article, please visit, ecojesuit

**some statements are quoted directly from the article

God bless you! :)

TSADA field trip!!!! :D

Our educational trip itinerary

c/o Reiner Travel and Tours!

And again.. just like any other trip i've been into.. the departure from Davao did not excite me.. it could not make me look forward to whatever it is i am about to experience. However, they asked me to lead the tour prayer. and i tried to pray as sincerely as i can.. what struck me about my prayer was that i asked God for humility - humility to be able to accept that i am so much ignorant and that i should seek knowledge and make the most out of the trip. i thought about my prayer a bit, but it did not make me feel any better about the trip though.

on the trip to Cagayan de Oro (City of Golden Friendships), i felt very uncomfortable inside the van. i wanted to sleep and i'm adopting a very uneasy position. i felt like i'm going to have a stiff neck upon arrival. 

i don't actually know how this educational, 3-day tour would change me. i even doubted the schedule!! how could we follow the tight schedule of activities? For sure, this would be a time disaster! That is why i was pretty impressed when we came to the first plant 15 minutes before the time. i was excited then because some of my classmates who had been there before said that it was a cool plant because the atmosphere was so vintage. i was crushed, however, to know that we were not allowed to tour in the production area. WHAT?!?!?! we were only allowed into the conference room. i was in a pretty bad mood then. Could anything be worse? Anyhow, i remembered my prayer. so i tried to focus on learning something new. :) i learned that iron ores are sent to the plant to be processed so that they become lumpy and suitable for further processing. This further processing, however, is done in Japan. The Philippine Sinter Corporation, therefore, has only one customer, and that's their mother company in Japan. This made me remember something. Philippines is usually so good in producing just raw materials. These are low cost raw materials that are bought by other countries to be manufactured and processed to produce high cost products. This is why Philippines, compared to other countries, are earning so low. Besides, lots of companies in the Philippines are owned by outsiders. It's time that Filipinos should step up. 

Philippine Sinter Corporation

Courtesy of Adventures of Life blog

~ooOoo~

We directly went to Pilipinas Kao Incorporated. The company utilizes coconuts to produce oleochemicals which would be used further to produce numerous products like shampoos, lotions, etc. Again, they are supplying to their mother/sister company in Japan. i like this company because they have this crescent moon near in their company name. Also, this was an interesting visit because one electrical engineering student asked just one simple question and it was like everything about electrical connections was shared to us. it was amazing how everything was monitored by machine. They would know whether there was a very slight increase or decrease in their energy consumption, or whether there is some deviation to some operation temperatures. Fortunately, we were toured around the plant via the company bus. it was a really large plant, and very cool too. :D

Pilipinas Kao Jasaan Misamis Oriental 

Courtesy of Gly

~ooOoo~

The next day, we visited Tanduay Distillers Inc. They were the only company who required us to wear hairnets. We were toured around the plant and i learned the difference about distilled and demineralized water. i have realized really the beauty here of wood, specifically oak, essence, and aging. There really is so much deep and magical about nature. 

Tanduay Distillers Inc.

50 mL Giveaway! ;)

~ooOoo~

Next stop in the afternoon is the beautiful Maria Cristina Falls! :D Then, i was excited as can be! We were heading towards one of the most magical places in Mindanao! :D 

The concept of this plant was basically related to the electrical engineers. i just noticed that a lot of the employees who received us are quite old. i just hope that they pass on to younger ones the wisdom behind the plant's power generation. But that is basically what they're doing - receiving and teaching students who visit them. :) it was a very enlightening and refreshing tour. i learned that the turbines aren't really found at the foot of the falls. Water from the falls are sent into a big pipe, decreasing the surface area of flow, thereby increasing the velocity of flow and causing the turbines to run faster leading to the generation of more electricity. That's genius!! this is just pure renewable energy converted to electricity and making homes alight! It was just sad because i think and somebody said that the efficiency of the plant has gone lower over the years because of low maintenance. i hope the government would do something about it. 

i learned that the water from the falls are actually from Lake Lanao. As water travels, potential energy of the water is utilized to produce mechanical energy which is converted to electrical energy. The river is named Agus (which means flow) and along it are seven stops, Agus I to Agus VII. these seven stops are seven generators, each designed according to the location and water flow/current.

Agus River Power Plants

Courtesy of Meet the X-plorers Blog

NAPOCOR Hydro Power Plant (Agus VII)

behind us is a koi pond with really fat kois!

courtesy of photographer Val

i was so glad to have seen kois in the Agus VII power plant. They remind me of yin and yang in Avatar: the Last Airbender. They remind me of Zuko and Katara!! ♥ Unfortunately, the kois are not seen in the picture. But with us is Mr. Insightful (i don't know what his name is) who explained to us patiently the concept of the plant's electricity generation.

NAPOCOR Hydro Power Plant (Agus VII)

my classmates with the turbine behind us

Courtesy of photographer and tour guide sir Nilo

Maria Cristina Falls

NAPOCOR Hydro Power Plant (Agus VI)

Courtesy of photographer Gly   :)

Going to Agus VI plant, we were greatly dumbfounded at the falls' power. i later learned that the amount of water falling could actually be adjusted based on the amount of water in the reservoir in Agus VII. i was just sad because humans greatly modified the flow of nature. Anyhow, at least they modified it for good. And this energy source is renewable. :)

~ooOoo~

Our fifth plant visit was in Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company. It was a hot day, but i know it's gonna be worth it. The concept of this power generation is the capture of light energy from the sun via solar panels. These light energies are converted to direct current electricity. Then, through inverters, direct current electricity is converted into low alternating current electricity. Low voltage is stepped up to high voltage power through power transformer. Then high voltage power is fed into distribution network, and so consumers can use electricity.

Solar panels are composed of silica, the second most abundant element on Earth. But instead of using monocrystalline which are more efficient, they were using polycrystalline cells which are cheaper. The company had operated for 9 years now. And sir Oliver, the one entertaining us, said that this plant really requires a large investment. 80% of the initial cost of the plant was covered by the grant they received from GEF, making this plant feasible and possible. Solar power plants are really costly. They require a large capital and yet they contribute only a small percentage of the total electricity produced in the Philippines. Even all over the world, to invest in renewable energy is discouraging, yet it is what we must invest our money on. 

Could you imagine the world without money? Everybody works and does research for the sake of common good. What a wonderful world it would be!

CEPALCO Solar Power Plant Facility (in Brgy Macasandig)

in the pic is Engr. Oliver Labares with the solar panels

Courtesy of MindaNews

By the way, in the pic is Engr Oliver, he's jolly and a joker! He told us that the most easy way to produce electricity is via wind energy. He explained that we just need to hire windy/boastful (hanginon in Cebuano dialect, hangin = wind) and we would just let them talk and boast about anything to produce wind. << And that joke was quite corny.. and a little funny. :D

~ooOoo~

last night, by the way, we ate dinner at Thai Me Up restaurant (at Centrio). They serve foods with a Thailand-ish taste. i so, so love the spices! They are so lovely to the taste. we also had a glass of lemon grass tea - not so super nice.. but i felt like i am havin' a healthy livin' because of that tea. Hahahaha!

And again, we went to Thai Me Up (Capistrano Branch) for a lunch buffet . And they never failed us. :)

Thai Me Up tissue ;)

~ooOoo~

Everyone was saving up for the visit in STEAG Coal Power Plant. Ma'am Rein/Ren (our tour director) said that we were so blessed, because for a long time, the company did not accept plant visitors until this year or perhaps til this batch. She also said that we would be amazed. So, i was personally looking forward to this visit.

STEAG State Power Corp (Coal Power Plant, PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate, Misamis Oriental)

Courtesy of GearX from SkyscraperCity.com

The company was really so cool and rich! Each of us received our visitor IDs with barcodes per ID. There was also a brown K9 dog. it was so large yet so cuddly. :) and it barked at us! Hahahahaha! When we entered the conference room, i heard the sweet music of What a Wonderful World! it was a unique version. Was it reggae? Anyhow, i just felt like i was in an island looking at the sunset and having a good time. i actually thought they're gonna give us island refreshments to go along with the music. :) Then i realized that Somewhere Over the Rainbow was also playing! Hahahaha! COOL! We were also given a mini magazine/info book about frequently asked questions on their company and its operations.

Sir Jerome, the company spokesperson, introduced himself to us. The way the introduction and overview was made, i sensed that this really was a special plant visit. He explained that it had already been 3 years since they last received visitors from our school. He tried his best to make us feel welcome and to make this meeting an interactive one. He encouraged us to ask questions, though he said that we might be more interested in asking questions related to social issues and concerns, because, as he reminded us, we were supposed to be men and women for others. :)

Process Diagram as shown in the company mini info mag

The company basically produces electricity by burning coal. Burning coal produces heat which boils up preheated water to produce steam. Steam at a high pressure and temperature causes the turbines to swiftly turn and eventually generate electricity. The company needed to consider the plant operations' environmental effects and other hazards produced during operation.

i was pretty impressed at the way the electrical engineering 4th yr students asked questions. i couldn't actually ask sir Jerome anything. i felt silly about myself and i felt like he already said everything. [but now, as i am doing this, i just wanted to ask how they take care of their turbines. Because these turbines are subject to easy wearing and tearing as they are exposed to gas and liquid in the form of steam. In addition to that, i now wanted to ask what good questions we're supposed to ask him. Pft!] 

He also shared to us the Mindanao Power Generation mix. About 53% of our electricity is supplied by the hydroelectric power plants, 20% by coal, 17% diesel, and 10% by geothermal power plants (Perhaps solar energy really contributes so little it wasn't included in the list). He said that the easiest way to generate electricity is through the use of diesel fuel or via burning coal. That is because they are already given to us, all we need to do is collect them below the ground and burn them. Renewable energy sources, however, requires deeper thinking and big costs with somehow very low return rates. In other words, renewable energy is expensive and effortful! He did not say this as something against the company he was in. He told this to inform us, to make us understand that people very rarely want to sponsor and invest money on renewable energy power plants. However, these coal power plants and other nonrenewable energy power plants should serve as transitory stages towards fully using renewable energies. Because we cannot deny the fact that oil and coal are rapidly depleting, yet electricity is ever in demand.

He shared to us, by the way, the legend of why humans kept using nonrenewable energy sources instead of renewable ones. 

"The sun is the source of all energy. 

People knew that. 

However, because looking at the sun hurts people's eyes, they started looking down. 

By looking down, they found oil, petroleum, coal and other more.

They did not realize soon enough that these resources from down under are hastily depleting.

They forgot that the sun is the source of all energy.

Even oil and coal from below took all their energy from pressure under and from the sun above."

This story reminds me again of Avatar: the Last Airbender when Aang and Zuko were searching for firebending masters. In their search for a master, they learned that fire is energy and life. Just like the sun. :)

Another interesting thing sir Jerome shared to us is that nothing here is really free. Even salvation is not free. It just seems free because Somebody paid it for us. Everything has a cost. We want to use renewable energy sources? If yes, are we willing to pay the price to prevent the world from self-destructing?

STEAG State Power Corp bay

as featured in the company mini info magazine

Sir Jerome shared to us his favorite part of the presentation. He showed us the Earth with the sun covered. He said that it was also shared to him by a priest. He pointed out the most lighted parts in the world - America, Europe, Japan, India and some parts of China. He shared how Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is so strict in implementing restrictions in plant operations to preserve the environment. And yet, if these big countries who are big electricity consumers and highly industrialized would not move a finger for climate change mitigation, all of Philippines' efforts would still be put to nothing. Yet, even the knowledge of their behavior (if that's the case) shall not stop Filipinos in seeking awareness and continuing to advocate for the salvation of the environment, not only for environment's sake, but also for all people affected and to be affected.

Earth lights: "With great power comes great responsibility" (Spiderman 1)

Courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory

~ooOoo~

i had fun. it was much more than i deserved. i don't even know how to put good use of this knowledge. i wish more students and wisdom-seekers would get a chance to experience what i have experienced. Education, after all, is a right!

Got to go back to Davao! :)

hey!! it's Ira Glass! :D

from Zen Pencils

Is there a good reason to believe in God?

You can't help having a crush on somebody the way that you can't help admitting to yourself that there is a God. Whether you impose on to yourself that you are an atheist, there is a gap inside of you, a void, a space that can never be filled, an ignorance. Something is missing and no matter how much you try to fill in that gap, you will never find the missing piece until you accept your defeat, until you give up the search and let One give meaning to that space.

People, undenyingly, have different beliefs, let alone people all over the world belong to different religions. Lots of us even identify ourselves based on the kind of "god" that we worship. Some worship, Allah, others the Holy Trinity, some Jehovah, some Jesus Christ, while some identify themselves as a god. Yet there are others who have identified money, careers, jewelries, institutions, nature, animals, food, gadgets, etc. as their gods. Consciously or not, we have someone or something that governs our ideas and selves, directs our intentions and actions, and leads us into our identity. We identify ourselves with a god. Yet this case of identification becomes problematic when our beliefs lead us to become who we're not supposed to be - lead us to become less than human. So, what god molds us to become truly human? The answer i have found in St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, a God "that than which nothing greater can be meant" -  a God above all others - a God who caused all others to exist. This God, i have further learned and realized, is an unmoved Mover, a necessary Being, the Source of all goodness, an omnipotent, omniscient, cosmic Lover. You could not even define Him nor understand Him.

In this short series of discussion, therefore, i would not argue on the existence of one God. Yet, knowing that there is a God doesn't seem to affect everyone believing in God. As i've mentioned we acknowledge different gods in our lives, despite the fact that there is one God. Some might argue that there is no point believing in one omniscient Being when there are a lot of perks in believing in other cooler gods. However, i'd like to direct the reader towards the realization of the beauty of identifying oneself as an effect, a product, of an unbounded and an unlimited love of the true God.

Belief in God Gives One a Purpose for Living

Bertrand Russel, an atheist, once quoted, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." Indeed, what on Earth am i here for? To make the most out of everything i have? For what? i mean,  if i efficiently use up all my resources for my personal wholesome development, what would become of me and all i have worked for when i die? Well, you could tell me that i could simply pass them on to my descendants or to the people i have left behind. But after that, you would realize that as the cycle of generations goes on and on, i would eventually be forgotten along with all the labor i have done in my lifetime of existence. You would realize at this point the contingency of human life and all his works. It may be correct to say that he had been successful in life but what is all this success for?  Indeed, the songwriter was right in describing himself as "a flower quickly fading - here today and gone tomorrow; a wave tossed in the ocean; vapor in the wind" So, if all this is bothering me, why don't i assume that there is a God and be able to answer my life's purpose - to prepare myself on Earth for an eternity of being with God? But of all assumptions you could choose to  assume, why choose this assumption, existence of God, as a presumption to finding one's purpose in life? The answer, i believe, is that it is the most obvious answer, there is a God, and that this belief brings about goodness and purpose of our existence. One illustration of the effect of believing in God is back in the primitive ages in Philippine history. People at that time, lived a simple life yet there are some events which bothered them a lot - storms and bad weather. Because of this, they assumed that the sun is a god and offered their harvests to this god, thinking that it would please the sun and thereby provide them with pleasant weather conditions. Their belief in their god changed their way of living. They had been more careful of their actions and quite aware that somebody/something is watching over them. They had been mindful of their deeds, afraid of triggering the sun to become angry. In a way, they had been morally aware, and that was really some improvement. In relation to our generation today, belief in God presents us a deeper understanding of life and shows to us a more profound purpose for living. We become aware that there is more to what we can seen now, there is more to human life.

Belief in God Calls for Conformity of Beliefs

Observe the world and tell yourself what you can see. We are a dynamic people. Times and lifestyles constantly change. Compared to the primitive people long ago, we think and act differently as much as we value different ideals uniquely. People all over the world watch one another for the other's misconduct, and some would just love to stress out to the world that they are "right" and in the "light of truth". However, we could never really judge who's correct and who's awfully mistaken! Euthanasia, for example - we are never fully sure what righteous stand we could present here; to kill or not to kill? Some kill the other anyway. Illegal drugs: to be used or not to use? Some use lots of it anyway. To legally defy marriage or not? Some would legally divorce anyway. As much as certain situations spring up and confuse us, our way of thinking confuses us as well. According to Pope Pius XII, "the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin." Perhaps this is the most ridiculous lie we tell ourselves, because the world is changing and cultures are changing, our values and beliefs would need to adapt to these changes as well. This is seriously poisonous and our methods could actually make us lose our identities. We argue over some issue and tell the peoples that "this belief presents justice", or "this norm is the new norm". However, the belief of the existence of God calls us to treat each other as brothers and sisters. In John 13:35, Jesus said, "...love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples." This call and command gives us the idea that we should bound our decisions in love, faith, and concern for the common good. In the midst of social debates and arguments, one could actually choose to confuse oneself and the other further, or one could choose to love. The world will continue to change, and we should look forward to that. But to keep our values rooted in God would give us a sense of unity amidst the diversity of our cultures and personalities. Believing in God gives us the enlightenment that morality is universal and that it should never be compromised, and truth and faith is never apart from the each other. 

Belief in God Opens Oneself to the Encounter of God

You could either say to the glass of half-filled water that it is half empty or it is half full. Amidst all suffering and animosity on Earth, you could either choose to believe that there is a God or there is not. i wasn't exactly a hundred-percent-believer. Let us just say that i had only been commanded by my parents to believe in God. However, along the stages of growth and development, God manifested Himself through. Now this sounds so personal and so not bounded on facts, but it's the same as you, not opening yourself up to the world outside your room, would never experience the world outside. Well, there might have been some cases where encounter comes first before belief, as what Paul in the book of Acts experienced. But given the chance to encounter Him by slightly believing in Him is a very big leap towards finding Him. It is as if you allow losing your lost self to find your whole being restored in the end. C.S. Lewis could affirm to this idea when he said that "You don't have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body." Our spiritual dimension or nature will never be attracted things that are physical or worldly or fleshly, because it is not our nature. Yet, because we have a body, we exist in the physical world. We are able to relate with inanimate objects; we are able to relate with one another. In this relation, we have the tendency to lose our true nature and forget who we really are. It is once again in losing who we are in this world that we find out who we truly are. Losing our grip in the world would give a leeway for an encounter of a higher Being. Letting go and surrendering our "identity in the world" would allow us to find our "identity in the infinity of God". Somehow, this letting go is actually God's first move of calling us. 

So, is there a good reason to believe in God? Go figure. ☺

Marcus Aurelius bronze fragment, Louvre, Paris: "To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness."

Schopenhauer considered that the good conscience we experience after an unselfish act verifies that our true self exists outside our physical person

fill my life..
now i know how it feels to be set free... 
♥ 

birds fly

i've drawn this about a year ago.. i don't exactly understand myself why on that day i chose birds as my subject.. Perhaps i was fascinated by their wings and their structure.. They actually have an interesting form, each kind different from the other, yet at the same time, there is a sense of uniformity among these creatures.. and who wouldn't agree with me when i say that God is a COOL Architect!! B)