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[ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS : OUR COMMITMENT TO

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Environment

Conservation

Raquel E. Lizardo Page 1 of 3

We only have ONE Earth to live on. Earths resources and processes are what

satisfy our needs and sustain us humans. It is then our responsibility to do

everything to protect and preserve the Earth.

Over the years, man has both misused and abused the Earths resources in

keeping up with the demands of the 21stcentury livingair, water and land

pollution, illegal logging, destruction of forests and wildlife, illegal fishing,

incessant mineral mining Man will do anything to best meet his personal

needs and wants so he could live a more enjoyable and comfortable life. He

has become unmindful and guilt-free of the daily acts of destruction he

commits against the environment in order to achieve such a life

Unfortunately, not all of the natural environments resources are renewable,

not all of the physical processes that maintain life on Earth operate in perpetual

perfection. We have to realize the fact that we now live at a time where some

of the earths primary resources dwindle at a rate we have never imagined

and that certain geological processes dramatically change in ways which

bring more harm than benefits (e.g., climate change as brought about by

increasing amount of greenhouse gases trapped in the Earths atmosphere).

With this realization, we should then come up with means and measures to

regain and maintain the Earths wealth of resources and life-giving processes.

Laws, therefore, have to be enacted and strictly implemented to always

remind us that as Earth inhabitants we are committed to do all things we can

to protect and preserve our environment, and that we are likewise open to

receive penalty in circumstances where we would fail to fulfill such

commitment.

To date, in the Philippines, environment protection/conservation laws cover air

quality management, water quality management, solid waste management,

control of toxic substances and hazardous waste, as well as natural resources

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Environment

Conservation

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conservation. Simple daily acts and practices could reflect ones genuine

commitment to abide by these laws. These are given as follows:

Air quality management avoiding the use of products which emit

CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) into the earths atmosphere, e.g., hair

sprays, freon in

refrigerators; reducing ones carbon footprint (activities that result to

the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, e.g., too much

use of fossil fuel-based electricity and automobiles)

Water quality managementinstalling proper domestic drainage system

to insure that sewage produced at home would not reach and

contaminate bodies of water, avoiding dumping or disposing of trash in

bodies of water

Solid waste managementpracticing the 3 Rsof waste management,

i.e., Reduce (minimizing the volume of daily waste produced), Reuse

(reusing non-biodegradable materials such as plastic bottles, spoon and

fork, cups, etc.), and Recycle (transforming non-biodegradable

materials into other products, e.g., hand bags made of tetra packs,

decorative items made of glass bottles)

Control of toxic substances and hazardous wastesproperly disposing

of used cellphone and car batteries, rundown home appliance andelectronic gadgets, empty containers of l iquid disinfectants, insecticide,

toilet bowl cleaners (muriatic acid), as well as expired medicines and

used wound dressing or bandage

Natural resources conservationparticipating in tree planting activities

and/or clean-up drives, becoming an active member of environment

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Conservation

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cause-oriented NGOs (non-government organizations), e.g., World

Wildlife Fund (WWF), Greenpeace

The essence for which environmental laws have been made must be

deeply engrained in us as environment-loving and -caring Filipinos. We

should always exert conscious effort to strictly abide by these laws in all

places, at all times, under any circumstances, until we reach a point where

we no longer see the demand or the specification of each law as an

orderto follow but, rather, a manifestationof both our genuine personal

and concerted commitment to protect and preserve the Earth, the one

and only homethat all of us have.