Blog Action Day on Climate Change: Little Steps, Big Fight

Great things come from small beginnings — we’ve heard this a million times before that we’re no longer even sure who said it to us. Nevertheless, the more important thing is that we put it into heart.

We, as Filipinos, have recently seen our fellowmen in Luzon suffer from the catastrophic effects of climate change. We’ve encountered heavy rains before, but not this much. We’ve witnessed floods in the past years, but not this disastrous. The tandem of Ondoy (typhoon Ketsana) and Pepeng (typhoon Parma) has claimed the lives of more than 700 people and damaged P18 billion (approx $390 million) worth of infrastructure and agriculture.

While we may have helped the victims by sending cash, clothes, food and other relief goods, there is another thing that we can do, and that is to help prevent further damage due to climate change in the future. We’re not prominent world leaders nor high ranking officials in environmental groups, but we are citizens of the Earth. We need to take action, even in our own little ways. After all, great things come from small beginnings, right?

Here are some of the ways we can help:

1. Turn off the lights, especially in the office. Many of us are careful about this in our homes, because we pay the bills. However, most do not really bother to turn power off when leaving the office. We may not be paying for energy in the office, but we could be paying for the consequences of inefficient and irresponsible use of energy in the future.

2. Unplug. A lot of home and office equipment still use up energy even if turned off. Unplug them and make sure you only use energy when you need it.

3. Cut fuel consumption due to travel. As it is, transportation produces more greenhouse gases than most other sources. How do we reduce our fuel consumption? Live close to work, or work at home. Since that may not be an option for everyone, the next best thing to do is use public transport or carpool. That would mean less fuel consumption for every person travelling.

Of course, we also need to call on our country’s leaders to pass policies on clean energy and develop technologies to achieve more efficient energy use. Write letters, join campaigns, post a blog entry and let our voices be heard. In the name of Blog Action Day 2009, DavaoBase calls on every Dabawenyo, every Filipino, every person who reads this to join the discussion and take action.