Vegetarianism to End Global Climate Change?

A new global strategy that seeks to end global warming has been recently launched which leaves more questions than answers and has left meat lovers to environmentalists or just plain observers like me still perplexed and intimately curious. I have had the opportunity to partake in what is now known as World Meal program when I was in the Netherlands for the Development Summer School and so this is not the first time I heard of such reports and advocacy.

The main argument of the World Meal program essentially goes along the same way – that if people eat less meat and more vegetables, it is not only good for eradicating poverty and world hunger, but also good for mother earth. But are we ready to give up on our hamburgers and steaks? And as a friend curiously noted, strict vegetarian diet actually increases the incidence of flatulence. There goes the methane argument of the report…

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Change is Coming: Kaya Natin@Lyceum

There is hope after all. For over a month now, those in the Philippine movement clamoring for alternative politics and governance have been talking about the four “Islands of Hope” for the country. The wind of change is coming. And Lyceum is to be a part of this change.

Torch Bearers for Ethical Governance: Governors Panlilio and Padaca with Mayors Robredo and Lorenzo in this file Photo from PDI.

The movement for good and ethical governance launched a few weeks ago known as Kaya Natin has agreed to do their next campus stop at Lyceum Philippines University on October 2, 2008 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Courtesy of the College of International Relations, students of Lyceum and other universities and colleges in the Intramuros area will have the chance to hear the stories on how Filipinos can change their country for the better – as told by the leaders who swam against the tide of old-style Philippine politics to deliver quality governance to their constituents.

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Wither SK, Hello Youth Empowerment

Ever since its creation more than a decade ago, I have always had mixed feelings about the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK or Philippine Youth Councils). It was a breakthrough idea that aimed to produce breakthrough leaders who can break the political and moral barriers of corruption and patronage politics. More recently however, my stand has been unequivocal. Either the law is completely overhauled or we junk the SK system once and for all. Now, lawmakers seeking the latter have filed proposed laws in Congress.

These moves alone are good signs of changes that should come. Not so much because they are all calling for the abolition of the SK but more than that, they put the public lenses of scrutiny on the issue of youth empowerment and calls the attention of the general public to a system we had put so much promise on but ended up being corrupted by the system it was aimed to monitor and cleanse. With these initiatives in Congress, the nation must truly and collectively reflect just how we can help prepare our youths for genuine democratic good governance.

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Tragedy of the Commons

When will we learn? Why is it so hard for us to learn our lessons? When do we start trusting ourselves and not place our fate in our politicians? How can we overcome the backward mentality that continues to drag us down to the pit of no return? When will we redeem ourselves from the mistakes we continue to commit in the name of democracy? And I thought Noli De Castro is more than enough problem for those wanting change to come in 2010. Until Erap came…

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