It has been over a month now and to this day, nothing striking has been reported on the MV Princess of the Stars tragedy that occurred in Romblon, Philippines. With thousands of lives that perished no thanks to Typhoon Franks, relatives had to console themselves with P200,000.00 in exchange for the lives of their loved ones that sank with this vessel.
The thing you have to hate about this is that the vessel, the MV Princess of the Stars is still out there overturned with bodies floating all over perhaps decaying by now. Apparently there are further issues to resolve such as the celebrated chemicals that were on board the ship that can lead to an outbreak of diseases and contamination if the rescuers are not careful.
Already affected are the fish and sea creatures that are being sold in the area as the increasing fear of contaminated fish or sea shell food is a possibility. With that in mind, one can just imagine the impact that this tragedy has given to the local folks of Romblon and how the livelihood of nearby towns are being affected as well.
Rather than focusing on how to resolve the issue, the people behind the vessel, Sulpicio Lines continues to face the raps being hurled their way. Political parties in the Philippines are having a heyday frying the vessel owners and while they are doing that, family members of the victims on board continue to wait.
Even worse, it is the rainy season. While the vessel has not been completely taken out, there are more storms headed the way of the Philippines. More delays are sure to ensue and perhaps make the situation grow worse.
Categories: Disaster Relief, Events, News | Tags: ferry, MV princess of the stars, philippines, romblon, sulpicio lines, tragedy
Breast cancer kills millions all over the world and like most killer diseases, early detection is the key. New treatments and diagnostic procedures aim to cut off the disease as early as possible to allow the best approach and combination of treatments that may result in reduction or prevention of the disease taking hold in the first place. The Keep-a-Breast Organization aims to raise awareness of the disease through one of the most innovative and wacky methods I’ve ever seen in quite sometime, taking plaster casts of breasts (the whole torso actually) and having prominent artists working with them, turning them into works of art for all to enjoy.
With tie-ups in media and other organizations, they hope to bring the message of prevention and care to all women they come across through exhibitions of their art (torso casts) along with mini-versions they offer at events such as concerts and exhibits of their collection.
The life-casts are made, painted and auctioned off to fund other awareness programs they hope to reach more of the younger generation with. From tee’s to other items, they do auctions and sell merchandise for the benefit of breast cancer awareness. Breast cancer is considered to be the the sixth most lethal disease that afflicts women from all ages which makes the call for better diagnosis and treatment all the more urgent. Support Keep-a-breast.Org and help women become aware of the risks and methods by which they can stay healthy and safe for the rest of their lives.
Categories: Activities, Charities, Events, Fundraising, Organizations, Products, Women | Tags: Breast Cancer Awareness, breast-cancer-fundraiser, Wacky Charities, Youth Awareness
The term denotes the slow influx of aid and donations form countries that used to be generous enough to send billions of dollars to countries that have been devastated by disasters like the recent catastrophes in Myanmar and China. The government has sent aid but for most of the private individuals who used to give a buck or two to help people rebuild their lives, donations are relatively small compared to other disasters on record. Maybe its the recent financial crunch that has many either fearing the loss of their jobs in the coming months or maybe just that they are quite fed up with the situation as in Myanmar with the government committing crimes against humanity by refusing to help their own residents. They initially refused to accept aid from Western nations saying they had the capacity to do it on their own, but as the obvious became apparent and they finally let some aid in the officials of the Military Junta began to stockpile imported aid for their own sending rotten stores to their citizens.
This is a sad yet true story for even the most generous people do have to deal with their own financial woes. China, which has spent billions of dollars in developing and constructing new structures (airport, athletic venues and other such Olympic aimed infrastructures), has appealed for aid from the outside world countering their previous denial for aid. Myanmar which showcases everything as normal even with the rest of the world saying and knowing it isn’t is truly hypocrisy in the highest levels. With thousands of corpses lining rivers and villages, and with no immediate sanitary way of dealing with them the threat of epidemics is high and possible.
People will continue to give like they have always done in the human tragedies of past but world wide economic slowdown may make it more difficult for those who give and receive aid. People are also frustrated that even with the billions in aid being sent to areas and people in need, their government’s themselves fail to take up the cause of helping their own. The world is filled with compassionate and caring individuals that allow us to remain human, compassionate and ever helpful.
A reality that has to be accepted is that these people will have to do the healing by themselves and that is by far the only certainty in this disaster plagued world. The resilience of humans has amazed us in all of the world’s disasters from then till now, let us just hope we as a part of the human race continue to help each other in spite of political, ideological and other differences.
Categories: Analysis, Disaster Relief, Environmental, Events, News | Tags: aid, charity, China, Myanmar, natural-disasters
The Day is barely in and preparations have already begun in preparation for Earth Day 2008 when the world celebrates old Mother Earth as the promotion of environmental awareness expands into our lives. Similar to Earth Hour which happened a few months ago, the move is to promote an earth-friendly approach in all of us. The amount of damage we have done to this earth has amounted to so much damage that we have changed it, literally. The Earth Day Network is committed to enacting change which is to be done in order to halt further degradation of our planet which if not controlled, would end up in us in the losing end. TV networks have been showcasing the day for a week with most search engines doing the same. Earth Day is the time to think, talk and enact change in our daily lives where simple things can have bigger impacts. Lowering your carbon footprint is one way of helping the earth and many have taken up the call. In the US and other major Western nations, the switch to Biodiesel opposed to more traditional types of fuels is one of many alternative fuel technologies that have been in effect. True to this, in the far off land of Africa, one of the first commercial Biodiesel generation plants has been put up to cater to biodiesel needs that has been growing steadily. Alternative fuel cars for private and commercial use have also been growing in their numbers as more and more people shift towards the earth friendly approach to driving in their everyday forays into the urban concrete jungle.
Much has been gained by the raising of awareness but the areas which would have the most impact are also the hardest to reach, the parts of the earth where environmental awareness takes second seat to existence. Much of the world which belongs to the under developed world are the ones who have heavy reliance on earth-impacting technology, technology that came from the developed world and have been making money on. Developed countries can afford to tax their people for using plastic bags but in other countries that would be like telling people to bring home their grocery in their clothes. That is why much has to be done to get these people on the same level as those who live in developed countries so they can focus more on protecting the earth rather than using it for their short-term needs - existence.
Categories: Activities, Campaigns, Environmental, Events, Organizations, Programs, Websites, Wildlife | Tags: earth Day 2008, Environmental Awareness
The move started out as a local civic move in Sydney, Australia, to raise awareness about global warming and climate change by enjoining people to turn off the lights to their homes for a full hour. The program was started by the WWF in Australia as a move to bring the attention of the world to one of the greatest polluters in the world over, coal fired power generators. The move is expected to lessen the demand for power which comes from these dirty powerhouses that if accumulated, would amount to a sizeable amount of lost revenue from these power generation firms.
This year, the event went global and people, businesses, civic groups and governments observed a full hour of darkness which is spreading like wildfire lowering the demand on a global scale. The pollution these coal-fired electricity plants produce is one of the greatest sources of greenhouse gasses that have already caused the formation of a hole on the earth’s ozone layer. The ozone layer is responsible for the screening out of the more harmful UV-C rays which is known to be the most damaging form of UV. The hole allows the harmful radiation to get through thus making the earth warm up to the point that the ice caps on the poles are melting which can lead to rising seas.
Glaciers and mountains that used to be covered with snow are now bare rock void of their white crowns. If current trends continue, the seas will rise and most of the ice in the poles would melt. If that happens, low lying areas like Manhattan and LA can become submerged disrupting life as we know it. Scientific research also indicates that this cycle of warming may give rise to a new ice-age which would devastate many countries who’s citizens are not adapted to deal with such climate changes. Do your part, support the Earth Hour movement and send a statement that you care for mother earth, even for an hour this March 29th, 2008 at 8:00pm. Reduce your carbon footprint for a better earth and tomorrow.
Categories: Activities, Campaigns, Environmental, Events, Organizations, Programs | Tags: Global Movement, WWF Earth Hour
