Drought

In one way, this title can well describe the recent state of my blog. At the surface, there is no new entry to quench the thirst of the handful of readers out there. Yet like the country's recent drought scare, in my mind clouds of thoughts have been gathering, building strength to inundate my blog with my usual kilometric posts.

Speaking of this recent drought scare in Northern Luzon, I can't help but twit with the responses of the nation's leaders to the crisis.

It was already July, yet this year's rainy season hadn't officially kicked in, at least in Northern Luzon. Sure, there were some rains in Metro Manila, but they were too few in the places that matter. Consequently, the water levels in the dams up north of the capital continued their descent, even breaching their respective critical levels. This in turn threatened both the irrigation of vast agricultural areas in the region, which is a great contributor (40% if I'm not mistaken) to the agri-economy, and the energy output of hydro-electric power plants, which were churning out electricity to power the fans and aircon of city-dwellers still inconvenienced by the extended sunny weather.

The government then began sending out emergency funds to mitigate the farmers' losses, step up cloud seeding operations as well as ordering extra coal so that the expensive and polluting coal power plants could shoulder the energy production, which the dams had been rendered incapable of generating. Officials also mouthed reminders to conserve water so that there would be no interruption of its supply for general consumption. The problem appeared to be compelling enough that Church leaders issued out an oratio imperata, a call to prayers for more rain (made more profound because of the Latin, ah but of course: "quid, quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur").

As if on cue, starting just mere days later, three successive typhoons passed by the Philippines. They did not hit the country directly, but instead strengthened the monsoon and brought in more rain. Too much rain in fact for the places that did not need it. It was as if God decided to humor the prayers of the flock when he sent in the typhoons. It was as if the reason He delayed the rains was because the people were not yet ready for the flooding, the disease, the potholes and the falling billboards, among others.

It makes me wonder what would happen if the typhoons started coming only after more than a month since the call to prayers. Or maybe the bishops had been assured, after a long hard look at Pagasa weather data, that a storm may form in a few days, thus they issued the call ad majorem Dei gloriam.

Pathetic. My first impression of the bishops' response is that it is medieval (not surprising though). The government's call for water conservation was a lot better, but considering the other things it can do, I deem as feeble the overall government response (also not surprising).

I would be impressed if the government would use this crisis to push for long term measures to counteract water shortages, boost food security and ensure uninterrupted energy production. I'm not knowledgeable on what exactly are the measures are most fitting for the Northern Luzon area, but I'm sure reforestation and logging control are included. Buried in the news, but also vital would be the DOST/UPLB research for an irrigation system with minimal water usage. Instead, the government focused more in reactive moves like cloud seeding, emergency purchases and emergency funds. Oh well, as I've learned long ago, I shouldn't expect nor depend much from the government. If they push for those long term measures, they would be stepping on the toes of those with vested interests, and for an administration concerned with its survival, this could be a disaster that will impact them much more than natural disasters of which they think they are insulated.

On the other hand, I would be even more impressed, if, in a very simple move, a move as easy as creating daily homilies, a move that would only be opposed by those with vested interests at their own risk, the clergy starts mouthing off that caring for the environment is a moral duty for every devout Christian, that this is backed by a number of Bible passages from the Book of Genesis up to the Book of Revelations. They actually had the chance one Sunday during the height of the water crisis when the Sunday Gospel was an admonition against greed: Jesus told a parable about a rich landlord who decided to build bigger warehouses to amass more harvest only to be told that he will cease to live the next day. It was the perfect opportunity to impose upon the consciences of the faithful that the human penchant to consume more than is needed is a sure way to strain and eventually deplete natural resources, leading to a collapse of the society wherein its members would suffer gruesome deaths from starvation, warfare, disease, crime, natural disaster, etc, take your pick.

I've intimated about these things in my previous entries here and here, but this time I am more sure of where I'm coming from after reading Collapse by Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Because in this book I find some of my armchair speculations and conclusions about humans and the environment validated and backed by the 70-plus-year-old author's lifetime of research and experience.

More on the book in my next entry ;)