Ecology

(excerpted from my journal entries dated October 16 and October 26, 2010)

I had already told Tatay what doctors say about stroke. Sabi, pag na-stroke ka, six months lang ang natitira mong panahon to get back (or regain) your “lost” abilities. Bakit? Kasi, pag namatay na daw ang brain cells, nerves, etc., hindi na daw kayang buhayin uli. With Herbalife naman, pwede naman daw i-reverse yun, as in pwede pa daw gumaling.

Isa sa mga doctors ng Herbalife (Louie Ignarro) won the Nobel Prize for proving just that, with nitric oxide. I got excited about this kasi naalala ko noong nagpapagamot si Nanay ng gangrene nya as a result of diabetes complication. There was this doctor who was trying to revive the nerves in her legs. “Namatay” na daw kasi. Or was it atherosclerosis? Basically, occlusion lang naman daw iyon. So, pag natanggal na yung bara, then pwede pala ma-revive yung tissues in the affected area? Tapos gagaling na din yung pagkabulok ng tissue (gangrene)? Wow.

Para palang halaman o vegetation ang mga nerves and tissues natin. Nare-revive kahit “naputol” na, or muling tumutubo kahit namatay na kunwari. Parang halaman nga. Pag di mo diniligan, nalalanta o di kaya, “nagtatampo.” Pero pag nadiligan naman at inalagaan mo sa dilig, pwede palang ma-revive at muling sumibol.

Minsan, pumasok sa isip ko: Kung ang mga tao parang puno lang, this would be a very well-sustained planet. Bakit?  Kasi trees can survive on small plots of land with just very little water, plenty of sunlight and recycled nutrients from the soil. In short, trees maximize their resources to sustain themselves. Ang galing talaga ni God. Unfortunately sa ngayon, we humans have filled up our living spaces with so much concrete structures—roads, buildings, etc.—with very little vegetation around. Para tayong cancer cells on the face of the planet. This is not a good practice, ecology wise.

Dapat kasi, energy should not remain in one state for long periods of time. It should be efficiently stored, used up (transformed), and then conveyed to other “energy containers.” Just like with the leaves of plants: sunlight hits the leaves, leaves make use of sunlight to “cook” the plant’s “food” (which is conveyed and stored in the plant’s fruit), which in turn provides “energy” (in a different form) for creatures who get to eat the fruit.

But in the case of sunlight hitting a concrete structure, say, a cemented sidewalk, walang nangyayaring ganung process. Umiinit lang yung semento, nag-e-evaporate yung natitirang moisture sa semento, what else? The next day, the sun rises up again, the same thing happens. Unless you fry eggs on the heated up sidewalk, or magkula ka ng damit mo dun gaya ng mga ginagawa ng mga labandera noon. Ahehe. They’re built for our comfort mainly. But the inefficiency that characterizes this process not only does not do anything in support of life on the planet, it also contributes to the planet’s imbalance.

May mga theories na nagsasabi na global warming is just the beginning of a global cataclysmic event. Pero may mga nagsasabi rin na cycle lang naman daw ito and that it’s bound to happen anyway—only to subside when things have reached the (upper or lower?) limits. Ewan.

Kung cycle nga lang ito, still it doesn’t take out the fact (or observation?) that the world we live in now is imbalanced in so many ways, and that the intensified phenomena we’re experiencing at the moment are the earth’s ways to self-regulate or regain its balance. Sabi nga ng napanood ko sa National Geographic, typhoons and hurricanes (may difference ba?) are like the planet’s airconditioning system. Through them, the planet vents the high temperatures that it contains (or has been containing for long periods of time).

Again, ang energy hindi dapat nananatili sa isang estado, or “contained” sa isang material lang, for a long time. It should be transformed, it should be conveyed. Kung hindi mangyari ito, then it causes changes to happen to the containing material (or “clashes” with it in extreme cases) or is vented into another channel with “unpleasant” effects. There should be balance among the elements, otherwise the elements will clash with one another and will continue to do so until balance is regained. In the meantime, creatures such as ourselves can’t do anything about these “clashes” (in the form of super typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.) except to weather them. And while doing that, just how do we preserve ourselves from the devastation?

P.S. I'm not against concrete structures. Naisip ko lang, in developing our living spaces, maybe it's time we employ materials that would let energy "flow" unimpeded, as much as possible. We Filipinos are known for our ingenuity. Other than boxing and singing and standing out in beauty pageants, can't we showcase this time around more of our ingenuity in the realm of science and technology?