Environment

The relatively warmer air temperature felt the past few days in Luzon is only temporary, meteorologists of the state-run Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Sunday.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) yesterday urged the labor and management sectors to adjust work standards to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change not only on workers but also on business and economy.

MANILA, Philippines – Is there lead in the paint of your house? A local waste and pollution watchdog yesterday sought the elimination of lead in paints, as it warned the public against the high lead content in household paints being sold in the Philippine market based on a recent worldwide study conducted by the International…

LOS BAÑOS—Asian rice farmers typically do not fly around the world on holiday or own big-engine cars but scientists say they have an important role to play nevertheless in helping cut the world’s output of greenhouse gases. While much of the globe’s focus in the climate change fight is on the burning of fossil fuels…

Air pollution costs the Philippines billions of dollars a year and kills thousands of people annually, according to the World Bank report released Monday. The World Bank, in its report “The Philippines: Country Environmental Analysis,” said that outdoor air pollution has cost the Philippines more than 1 percent of gross national product (GNP).

SYDNEY – Eco-friendly managers and staff are the key to making a retailer go green, according to a study listing 15 of the world’s top eco-friendly retailers in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The House of Representatives has no plans of passing a bill proposing the banning of aerial spray in the country within its term and opposing parties would have to wait for the next Congress to push for it.

LONDON – The battle against global warming could be helped if the world slowed population growth by making free condoms and family planning advice more widely available, the UN Population Fund said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – After consulting with local and international health experts, the Department of Health yesterday recommended the banning of aerial spraying of pesticides, saying that this is harmful to humans and the environment.

MANILA, Philippines – The League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) has pledged to support the zero-waste management campaign and transform garbage dumps into eco-parks to control climate change that results into natural calamities.

The respected and world-renowned scientific agency has spoken on a controversy regarding research data, methodology and analysis. Quick, bring in some Catholic bishops to refute it on “moral” grounds.

A landfill that will take in about 40 percent of Metro Manila’s garbage has qualified to receive cash under the carbon finance program of rich countries.

DO you want to know what’s wrong with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs? I’ll tell you right away—some companies are using it only for tax avoidance, if not for public relations.

MANILA, Philippines – Environmentalists yesterday vowed to get to the bottom of the toxic pollution incidents that downed residents of a village in Silang, Cavite, demanding that a hazardous waste treatment company there make a “full disclosure” of what chemicals, and in what quantities, have spilled out to the environment.

SINGAPORE – While intensifying weather disturbances due to climate change hound various parts of Asia, carbon market promoters here see escalated carbon trading in the region to boost global undertaking to reduce carbon emissions.

Vegetarianism as means of saving the planet Want to save the Earth? Think twice about what you put on your plate. The recent devastation brought by Typhoon Ondoy (international name Ketsana) has pushed the climate change issue once more to the forefront—this time, with added gravity to Filipinos than before. With effects of humanity’s ecological…

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US experts warn that rules governing biofuel production encourage deforestation and mean the technology is therefore a “false” method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

AN environment group on Monday blamed the government for the “miserable implementation” of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, making the country vulnerable to serious problems brought about by perennial flooding during heavy rains as what Metro Manila experienced when Typhoon Ondoy hit the country last month.

The Supreme Court has been asked to put a stop to aerial spraying of pesticides and fungicides in banana plantations in Davao City.

Residents of Davao City have filed a petition before the Supreme Court urging the high tribunal to order a stop to aerial spraying of pesticides and fungicides in banana plantations which they say pose a danger to their health.

Zero-waste advocates scored the dumping of 80,000 metric tons of garbage from storm-hit cities even as the Metro Manila Development Authority assures residents of enough suitable sites to prevent a crisis.

Floodwaters have barely subsided in the eastern part of the metropolis and nearby localities but a garbage crisis already waits around the corner.

You’ve heard about “midnight” deals surreptitiously signed to land juicy government contracts and other such anomalies. How about an attempt, spearheaded by so-called environmental activists, to cripple an entire agricultural industry by railroading a controversial ban on the basis of a study that the prohibition’s proponents can’t even wait to be reviewed?

CEBU, Philippines – To erase the impression that the mining industry does nothing but pollute the environment and dislocate people, the Regional Minerals Development Council is spearheading reforms that are expected to “cleanse” the industry, one of which is to disallow projects that do not absorb social and environmental costs to operate.

MANILA, Philippines—Two water concessionaires in Metro Manila owe the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) billions of pesos in fines for contributing to the pollution in Manila Bay due to their continued failure to put up waste water treatment plants.

The good news from Davao is that a peer review of a controversial study commissioned in part by the Department of Health condemning the aerial spraying of fungicides in local banana plantations has been completed. The not-so-good news is that no one seems in a real hurry to release the review—possibly because it confirms serious…

Sewer coverage in the East Zone is only about 16 percent at the end of 2008 while the rest of the concession area of Manila Water Co. is heavily dependent on individual or communal septic tanks that collect wastewater from households. Reports claim that untreated domestic wastewater has been a major cause in the pollution…

The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) is moving heaven and earth to ensure compliance with environmental laws by creating a new squad that will run after, arrest and prosecute environmental violators.

Porac residents vow to file class suit against piggery owners of Barangay Santa Cruz, Manibaug Paralaya ANGELES CITY: The Environment and Management Bureau (EMB) has affirmed the studies on Porac piggeries made by the Pinoy Gumising ka Movement (PGKM) that establishes its alleged “adverse effects” on humans.