As of this writing, over 240 people have perished in the Philippines, after terrible floods swept the capital city of Manila and surrounding neighborhoods this past weekend, leaving over 80 percent of the capital underwater.
If you are able to, please support one or more of the relief efforts.
On another note, I received an e-mail update from my uncle with the status of my family (all is well) and a description of the event, but what caught my eye was this part of the e-mail:
The truth is that we got almost one year's equivalent of rainwater in two hours. That coupled with the plastic garbage in our canals was what cause the massive flooding which up to now has not completely subsided.
This is a wake-up call. We have to start thinking green. No more plastic bags! No more non-biodegradable stuff. No more deliberate dumping of garbage into esteros and drainage canals. Most of the floods were caused by plastic garbage blocking drainage canals.
Then we must reduce our carbon emissions. Nature is starting to turn on us. Let us not wait for a larger catastrophe before we start doing something.
This is a wake-up call. We have to start thinking green. No more plastic bags! No more non-biodegradable stuff. No more deliberate dumping of garbage into esteros and drainage canals. Most of the floods were caused by plastic garbage blocking drainage canals.
Then we must reduce our carbon emissions. Nature is starting to turn on us. Let us not wait for a larger catastrophe before we start doing something.
In those short words, I learned my lesson of the moment...one which I'd already heard, but this was definitely a poignant reminder.
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