Babe's Eye View article

Having spent last weekend in Hawaii for the inaugural flight of Hawaiian Airlines from Manila to Honolulu, those of us who are afflicted with allergic rhinitis found the trip a heaven-sent opportunity to give our sensitive nostrils a much needed respite. It was truly "Blue Hawaii"—a tropical paradise with its clear blue skies and crystal clear waters made even more attractive by the smog-free, cool environment.

Completely surrounded by water, Hawaii is made up of hundreds of islands that offer a variety of activities which have made the islands such a big tourism draw. As a matter of fact, tourists who visit the islands—estimated between seven to eight million—far outnumber Hawaii's population of 1.3 million. Knowing how important tourism is to their economy, they have made it a point to keep the waters pristine and maintain a pollution-free environment through strict environmental laws, zoning regulations and sustainability policies.

Government and the business sector work hand-in-hand to promote environment-friendly practices to reduce hazardous waste and prevent pollution, like the Hawaii State Department of Health's pollution prevention and waste minimization program that teaches specific techniques in minimizing waste generation by substituting hazardous materials with less- or non-hazardous substances, product redesigns, better operating procedures and recycling.

In Oahu, they have a "curbside recycling" program that turns trash into reusable materials, like beer bottles becoming asphalt aggregates. Residents toss recyclable materials into blue recycling bins which are then brought to a recycling facility, loaded on a conveyor and manually sorted by workers armed with safety gloves. The sorted waste materials are then shipped to the US Mainland or China where they are turned into new products.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann says they will expand the curbside recycling program to include more homes on the North Shore and in Honolulu neighborhoods. There are also plans to buy a $43-million H-Power garbage-to-energy facility to give them more control of their solid waste stream. The curbside recycling project has become so successful that people are calling it a "new cycle of life" for waste—which also brings in additional revenue to the island.

No doubt, all these are important environmental initiatives which come at a critical time when the island's landfill has almost reached capacity level. Of course, Hawaii can afford all these initiatives and projects, but the bottom line is that the people themselves do their part to keep their place pollution free.

As we were coming in to Manila, even those who have no problem with rhinitis were starting to sneeze, an indication of the poor air quality. The pollution level of late has become one of the worst in Metro Manila, in spite of the fact that we're supposed to have a Clean Air Act—a law which majority of Filipinos never even follow.

According to a study by an international group, pollution is a major cause in increased lung diseases in the Philippines, among them Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Of the 10 leading causes of death among Filipinos, pneumonia and tuberculosis are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. The sad part is, children have become major victims of pollution.

All over the world, four million children below five years old die yearly due to pollution. Asthma, bronchitis and other lung diseases have become serious health concerns for children—notably in Mexico, China, India, Brazil and the Philippines because of "degraded air quality."

Older people with respiratory problems also find their condition aggravated by other ailments. What is worse is that a doctor friend of mine said complications are likely to arise as you grow older, since the body tries to protect you from the adverse effects of pollution. As a consequence, the other systems are neglected and start to break down with all kinds of complications.

Research by physicians from the University of Kentucky and Maastricht University revealed that COPD gets worse with age. Among the 12 countries included in their study, the highest rate of incidence of the disease was in the Philippines at 46.6 percent, while the lowest was in the US at 19.2 percent.

Loren Legarda is probably right—the time may just come when people will be forced to buy oxygen the way they buy bottled water today if we don't do something about the worsening air pollution. A 2007 estimate by the Philippine Environment Monitor claims that respiratory and cardiovascular diseases kill 4,968 people in Metro Manila every year because of exposure to polluted air. This is exacerbated by sewage and garbage problems caused by an overflowing population of 12 million in a city made for five million people.

Metro Manila is slowly dying and all of us will die with it unless we start doing our share to save it from turning into an uninhabitable and unlivable metropolis where the very air you breathe is the same one that could kill you.

A Fil-American whom I met recently told me what this country really needs is a true-blue, honest-to-goodness moral revolution to change the people's way of life. And to my surprise, he mentioned El Shaddai leader Brother Mike Velarde as the person who could most likely lead this moral revolution.

I have only had the pleasure of meeting Brother Mike once, but in that meeting, l was very much impressed by his charismatic appeal. And now, I understand why he can actually enthrall his followers. I am told he has a solid following of three million people who will most likely abide by whatever decision he makes. Multiply that number by five and you easily have 15 million people rallying behind Brother Mike if he decides to lead this country into a "new moral order."