ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANTING NATIVE TREE SPECIES

In the words of Mr. David Ples:

“The main goal should be forest restoration and not just reforestation. Reforestation can mean just achieving more forest cover (more tree canopy) without regard for which species are planted. Forest restoration means to help a forest go back to the way it originally and naturally was. That means using the appropriate species native to an area. These species have evolved unique relationships with the surrounding fauna and other flora, and we want to bring back that high level of diversity that allows forests to function as they should - neat little ecosystems where the interdependence of native plants and animals allows the forest to perform services like oxygen production, carbon cycling, nutrient cycling, water drainage, etc. Using exotics is basically the equivalent of using a puzzle piece that doesn't fit the original picture. It disrupts that interconnectivity and may introduce undesirable negative effects, like exotics outcompeting native species or changing soil chemistry. We may be doing more harm than good by planting exotics, even if these exotics themselves thrive. Forest restoration can be a long and difficult process which requires us to take care of the seedlings and saplings we plant, so yes, sometimes their survival rate may not seem as good as exotics, but we have to put in the effort to choose species carefully and see their growth through, because it's better for us and our forests in the long run.”

Some examples of native/indigenous species:

Narra

Yakal

Apitong

Talisay

Kalumpit

Palosapis

Bitaog

Mangkono

Almaciga

Molave

Banaba

Acacia Confusa (Ayangile , Small Philippine Acacia, Native, Rare)

Some exotic species:

Gemelina

Mahogany

Acacia Mangium (Mangium, Exotic)

Acacia Auriculiformis ( Auri, Exotic)

Firetree (Delonix Regia)

India Rubber (Ficus elastica)

Makopa

Mangium

Mulberry

Panama rubber

Let us spread the love for Philippine Native Trees! 🌳🌿💚

Join Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts FB group  🌳🌱🕊

#PhilippineNativeTreeEnthusiasts 

#ForTheLoveOfNativeTrees 

#WeGrowNativeTrees

#SoilSealing #UrbanErosion #UrbanRunoff

Runoff refers to water that falls on the soil but fails to be absorbed. Urban runoff creates problems. According to E.J. Plaster, "It [urban runoff] increases downstream flooding, introduces pollutants such as phosphates and herbicides into surface water (such as lakes and rivers) and reduces the amount of water available to recharge groundwater supplies."

Clearly, a huge percentage of our urban soils are cemented. Thus, the capacity of soil to store water, specifically rainwater, is hampered. No matter how huge we build our drainage systems to be, they just cannot absorb as much water as vegetative soils can! (Not to mention that climate change is taking its toll on us!) This problem can be referred to as one of the effects of "soil sealing". Not only can soil sealing cause flooding, it could also degrade soil quality and disrupt life cycles in the Earth's biosphere.

So what can we do about it? we can try:

• Using permeable pavements
• Adapting roof water harvesting
• Incorporating green roofing into our homes
• Desealing of areas which are already soil-sealed

"Permeable pavements allow water to infiltrate into the soil– so those important interactions between soil, water and air can happen - at least to some degree." << better than totally sealing soil, right?

"Roof water harvesting is collecting and discharging rain water from building roofs - and also compensates for sealing. "

"Green or living roofs are building roofs that are partially or completely covered with a growing medium and vegetation. Green roofs put a new living ecosystem on top of the buildings and can be a great way to partly compensate for the negative effects of soil sealing. "

"Green roofs offer many benefits such as reduced roof temperature (thus lowering cooling loads in the building), and absorption of rainwater that would otherwise enter the storm sewer system."

"De-sealing of areas is also possible. However, the restoration of soil functions takes a lot of time."

P.S. I am not against development, I am advocating for sustainable development.

References:
Sustainable Soil Management: Soil for life | WageningenX -  Soilx
Soil Science and Management, 5th Edition, Plaster, Edward J.


Image sources:
> DengodaJorden.Se
http://www.dengodajorden.se/2016/12/05/world-soil-day/
> Sustainable Soil Management: Soil for life | WageningenX -  Soilx
> Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council
https://www.watershedcouncil.org/permeable-pavers.html
> Kortright
https://tour.kortright.org/tech/permeable-pavements
> RainManSpeaks from Bangalore
http://rainmanspeaks.blogspot.com/2014/07/go-ahead-hit-roof.html
> Urban Gardens
http://www.urbangardensweb.com/2013/01/19/will-detroit-get-worlds-largest-urban-farm/

[Links subject to change because of the volatile nature of websites]

Blue Economy Webinar Series: Measuring Ocean Health for Sustainability

Healthy Oceans. Healthy People.

“OHI is a gateway for countries to determine priorities and knowledge gaps; develop integrated and strategic management plans; and track progress towards meeting global mandates, such as SDGs. Looking forward, I hope to create a community of practice that we can transfer our management skills, knowledge, technologies, and tools to that results in widespread use and recognition of OHI as a framework to assess ocean health and management efforts.”
           - Erich Pacheco, CI Ocean Health Index Director

Learn about how the health of our oceans is being measured.

- What is the Ocean Health Index (OHI)?

- Key elements of the OHI framework

- What are the practical uses of the OHI framework?

Speaker:  Erich J. Pacheco

What is Ocean Health Index?

- a quantitative, repeatable, transparent and comprehensive tool that measures, tracks sustainable ocean use with a common language to inform decision-making

Why do we need an Ocean Health Index?

-- Because we need a heathy ocean. A healthy ocean - sustainably delivers a range of benefits both now and in the future.

What is the optimal sum of outputs the ocean can deliver understanding that these resources are fixed?

Objective: Change business as usual:

1. Integrating various indicators

2. Evaluating cumulative pressures and resilience

3. Identifying interactions between components

How do we compare economic information to ecological information?

-- So we synthesized all these information in a single language and provide ten different goals.

10 human goals: and Ocean Dashboard

1. Food provision (harvesting and producing seafood sustinably)

2. Artisanal Fishing Opportunities (Ensuring food for local communities)

3. Natural Products (Harvesting non-food ocean resources sustinably)

4. Carbon Storage (Preserving habitats that absorb carbon)

5. Coastal Protection (Preserving habitats that safeguard shores)

6. Livelihood and Economies (Sustaining jobs, wages, and revenues of coastal economies)

7. Tourism and Recreation (Maintaining the attraction of coastal destinations)

8. Sense of Place (Protecting iconic species and special places)

9. Clean Waters (Minimizing pollution)

10. Biodiversity (Supporting the health of marine ecosystems and species)

> Pollution

chemical pollution

nutrient pollution

pathogen pollution

trash

--- Artisanal definition, pertaining to or noting a person skilled in an applied art: ----

Use lots of data to analyze each of these components we give it a score form 0-100. 100 meaning you reached a reference point

Components of Goal Scores

Present Status (50%)

Likely future status (50%)

 Initially they made global assessments.. but not all criteria are applicable to every coastal region soooo they made independent assessments.

OHI+ of my beloved country:

While final OHI scores are valuable information, the process of conducting an OHI assessment can be as valuable as the final results. This is because during an OHI assessment you will bring together meaningful ocean health information from many disciplines. In doing so, you will have a census of existing information and will also identify knowledge and data gaps. Further, conducting an OHI+ assessment can engage many different groups, including research institutions, government agencies, policy groups, non-governmental organizations, and both the civil and private sectors.

Blue Economy Webinar Series: Measuring Ocean Health for Sustainability from PEMSEA on Vimeo.
Sources:
http://www.oceanhealthindex.org/
https://ohi-science.org/
pemsea.org
http://pemsea.org/publications/manuals-guides-and-webinars/blue-economy-webinar-series-measuring-ocean-health

Blue Economy Webinar: Tackling Ocean Plastic Waste in the Seas of East Asia

FREE Webinar brought to us by PEMSEA!!!
<3 p="">Blue Economy Webinar: Tackling Ocean Plastic Waste in the Seas of East Asia
(60 minutes worth our time)

Learn from Dr. Jenna Jambeck as she talks about addressing the challenge of ocean plastic waste:
- Estimated plastic waste flows and current status of policies
- The challenge and opportunity of ocean plastic waste
- How the region fits into the global context of this issue
- Recommended actions for stemming the tide of ocean plastic

Notes from the webinar:

Plastics basically have a very short term use but they exist in the environment practically forever!
^ This alone requires of us urgent action!

Fact: Our trashes are ending up in seas and oceans.

Most common impacts of plastic in sea creatures:
Plastics fill their belly but provide no nutrition and plastics lacerate their internal organs. Sea creatures get entangled into larger plastic debris where they are trapped for the rest of their lives.

Global Plastic Production Estimates
1950: 2M metric tons
2017: 8.3B metric tons
2050 (projection): 34B metric tons --- VERY ALARMING!

Plastics once they enter the ocean - can be transported around the world

9% Recycled Plastics
12% Incinerated Plastics
79% Accumulated in landfills

SOLUTIONS presented by Dr. Jambeck:
1. Reduce plastic production (industry-led) coupled with reduction of plastic demand (Consumers)
2. Innovate materials and product design (Green engineering, circular economy)
3. Reduce waste generation (Consumers, Sharing/ collaborative economy)
4. Improve global waste management (Context-sensitive solid waste management infrastructure)
5. Improve litter capture and clean-up

No proper segregation makes recycling much more challenging.

Small choices seem like not much (like bringing your own water bottle every single day).. but it actually adds to a lot (the number of plastic cups you didn't have to use) over time.

Solid waste management is a shared responsibility of policy-makers/government leaders, manufacturers and consumers.

Added notes:

Microbeads in personal cleansers and other beauty products are actually polluting our oceans!! They're microplastics!! Ughh!

Garments made of synthetic material shed microplastic fibers that eventually escape into the oceans.

Oxo-degradable is NOT biodegradable! Causes more harm than good.

There is a depolymerization process to "decompose" plastics -- though it is not a very popular method to deal with low-value plastics because it is an costly process.


Blue Economy Webinar Series: Tackling Ocean Plastic Waste in the Seas of East Asia from PEMSEA on Vimeo.

One of the best things i have worn in my entire life: my gi.
One of the best things i have learned in life: jiu jitsu.
It is my 1 year anniversary today since i started training in jiu jitsu!!!
I couldn't thank You more, Papa God!
Looking forward to better days ahead!

Bucketlist: Climb a tree!!!!!

My heart broke seeing this... but we cannot lose hope...
https://youtu.be/hP6ycqZmYc4

Basketball reunion 2.8.2020

With Dayan & Cas

Spur of the moment composition

Nikuha kog lamaw
Gihimong lugaw
Gikaon sa opaw
Tibuok adlaw

These are the days
We dance in place
Come on everybody
Keep up the pace

We sing..
We will..we will ROCK YOU!!

#Queen
Hahahaha! Peace yo!

24 Education Units

Bawat Daan - Zephanie x Ebe Dancel (Lyrics) | "The Killer Bride" OST

Bihag ako ng pagtataka.
May saysay ba ang paglalakbay? 
Ngunit nahanap din kita (kay tagal kong naghintay)
Nahanap kita.

BBB This  part of the lyrics i can feel the agony of song writer/singer/composer in waiting... but when the one he/she was waiting for finally arrived, the joy was so incomparable to that agony. In the end, the wait was so worth it.

Whoever he is, i am one day closer to meeting him. So exciting and frightening at the same time. ♡

Dear self,

Wag ka lagi mafall agad.

Yan tuloy brokenhearted.

Life's like that.

- Self

I realized that it is not degrading to any human being to be humble, admit his/her mistakes and correct oneself. So starting tomorrow i will do my best to come way earlier than 8am. - Not for my critics at work, but for people who believe in me and love me...and in the end, i will also benefit from this discipline of punctuality. So help me, Lord. 💖
Thank YOU!!!!!!

OneRepublic - Secrets (AOL Sessions)

Tell me what you want to hear
Something that will light those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time
Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics ever jumped in line
I'm gonna give all my secrets away

So.... here's the thing you have to remember about life:
Fact number 1: The world does not revolve around you. But when when you do 1 mistake, it now does.

So among about 90 employees in QA, i was ranked top 4 late  for the months July to December 2019. I really did not expect it. But when you study my data, I actually have improved and decreased my incidents of tardiness for those months. But then yes, I'm in top 4. There is no penalty, yet. But people are always talking to me (and to others) about late-coming and all that jazz! Gosh! Please look at my data again. I was not late anymore in December and up to now! So yeah I've improved but my workmates are talking about it over and over again! Haaays. Anyways, Lord, help me to really maintain zero tardiness this year.

P.S. I actually love coming 5-10 minutes before 8am. Haha! I love spending a little more time at home and i just love the thrill of it . So I guess I must adjust my schedule. So help me God.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!!!!!! Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...