Photoshopped Climate

I was with a friend last night while waiting for our jeepney ride home. We were talking about work and somehow, our talk went to the skills area. He asked me if I know how to use Adobe Photoshop and I said no. Yeah, in this digital age, I do not know how to use Photoshop. Sure, I know how to insert text to my blog pictures using the software, I know how to darken and lighten pictures, but that's about it. Other than that, nada. I don't know how to erase pimples, slash someone's body in half, use mouths-opened-wide dragons as my background and whatever more that is that you can do with Photoshop.

As I think about that conversation today, I asked myself why is it that even though we have Computer classes during college that I did not learn this software. Then I thought, oh yeah, because of the numerous class interruption, especially during the rainy season. Then I again asked myself, how come when I was in highschool, classes are seldom cut short or suspended? I was toying with a possible reason when suddenly it hit me. The rains before, were not as hard and as frequent then than during my college years. Out of nowhere, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. Climate Change. Yeah, I know it may sound overrated but when you come to think of it, it is not impossible. As time passes, so is the change in our climate. The climate change has started to make us be more aware of its presence. Remember Ondoy? And how Metro Manila was submerged into a very huge swimming pool? Where even celebrities and rich people did not manage to escape the mandatory appearance of a huge pool inside and outside their homes? That is a part of Climate Change. Have you ever experience leaving your place one very sunny and summer-y morning to go to the mall and hear slashing of raindrops against the glass doors of the mall come lunch time? Yeah, that's Climate Change.

So you see, climate change does not affect our social lives alone, it also affects our education and eventually our careers. I am not trying to impress people with this entry but I think I have something to share and ponder with the next time I come across an article or a conversation that involves Climate Change. And I hope you think about this too and analyze its impact to your life as well. If we know the effect/s of climate change in our lives, we will be convinced to avoid contributing to Climate Change.

In and Out of the Rain

It has been a rainy and dredging weekend. Our area here has never encountered flooding even during those super typhoons. I can still remember Milenyo when rooftops of some of our neighbors would fly in the air due to strong winds. The sound of the wind lashing on our window panes. But even though, it never flooded here although a creek is just nearby. Until Ondoy...

It has been raining on Friday night till Saturday. It was on Saturday afternoon, at about 2PM that when my grandmother look out at the streets that we have realized that there's flood. I went outside too to witness the scene that my grandmother was too surprised to see. When I looked down the street, I was shocked to see that right below the building people are standing knee-deep in flood waters. Cars has stopped from going on and just turned to re-route. Even big trucks are hesitant to go through the flood because even though it is only knee-deep right below the building, it is waist-deep out on the corner. The entire 7 to 8 streets of never flooding area has now been submerged to flood. The creek near our building has already overflowed. It has already been almost like a lake. A scene I will always remember.

It was this time that I cannot fail to notice that floating on flood waters are bags and bags of plastic, full of garbage, wood planks, and whatnots. Then, I understood. The never flooding area which I have been residing my entire life, was full of garbages. It is also the reason that I can think of why it has flooded here. The creek alone serves as trash can of the people residing near it and plastic bags of any colors that you can think of has decorated the creek's surface.

Now, I am not an expert, nor am I an environmentalist. But I know that these garbage, especially plastic bags are one of the main reasons why it flooded here for the first time. If only people would observe the proper way of disposal, it might not have happened here, or in any least, it may not be as bad as it had been. I am not being a hypocrite but I am proud to say that I have never spit on the street not even once. I have developed the habit of looking for trash cans to throw away candy wrappers, or if not one is in sight, I simply tuck it away on a tissue paper before putting it in my jean's pocket or bag and throwing it in a trash can later on. I believe through these simple ways of disposing your garbages properly, you can contribute to the environment's wellness. Imagine, out of thousands of people living in our area, if everybody has been disposing properly, how much plastic bags would have not ended up on creeks, and on the streets. It might not have took revenge and in turn found their way to the houses. That weekend, nobody might have gone through what they experienced. It might have been rainy but not lake-like streets.