It is our hope that the seminar participants will leave with the knowledge and a common understanding
that will enable them to provide their inputs to the deliberations of the Joint Congressional Oversight
Committee (JCOC) on the Philippine Clean Air Act (RA 8749), as the legislators deliberate and decide on the appropriate amendments to the Clean Air Act. Invited are: DENR, NGOs, Academe, Industry Association members, and the Technical Working Group (TWG) members of the JCOC.

This Seminar is limited to discussion of the Sections on Stationary Sources of the Clean Air Act. Discussion of the Sections on Mobile Sources will not be included.

Objectives

• To reach a common understanding of the definition of terms used, requirements and procedures described in the ACT,

• Similarly, for concepts such as ambient air concentration and stack emissions readings (what they mean, how emission standards per class of industry are arrived at, and how they are used),

• Identify areas of agreements and disagreements (as there inevitably will continue to be some),

• Documentation of proceedings to be submitted to the JCOC, as input from the seminar participants, as they deliberate amendments to the Clean Air Act.

Mother Earth just got healthier as twenty four eager volunteers led by AnimoSibil’s president, Jason Ongpeng, journeyed to Barangay Talisay, Calatagan, Batangas aiming to plant as many mangrove propagules as they could.

AnimoSibil, a De La Salle Alumni Association (DLSAA) – College of Engineering subchapter, donated fifteen thousand pesos to the Lasallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) and played its role in the Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond project last September 6, 2008 by successfully planting 2,000 out of the total of 10,000 propagules planted on that day.

In addition to AnimoSibil, other De La Salle Institutions (De La Salle - Lipa, De La Salle - College of St. Benilde, De La Salle - Heath & Sciences Inc., De La Salle - Zobel, and La Salle Green Hills) were present in creating a feat of working as One La Salle towards one million… and beyond.

The project was in cooperation with the Samahan ng mga Mangingisda ng Calatagan (SAMACA) and the DENR. The successful event was led by LSGH headed by Ver Antiqueno. Ms. Christy Arciaga and Bernard Lunar of DLS-LIPA coordinated with the SAMACA and DENR to make the mangrove planting possible.

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Higher energy and water costs, hurricane losses would add up; Congress to take up legislation next month.

By Bob Keefe

WEST COAST BUREAU
Friday, May 23, 2008

If the United States doesn’t do something soon to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it could cost the country $3.8 trillion annually from higher energy and water costs, real estate losses from hurricanes, rising sea levels and other problems, an environmental group predicted Thursday. Southern states could bear the highest costs.

The study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Tufts University comes as Congress is set to take up controversial global warming legislation next month.

The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008, sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. and John Warner, R-Va., would create a carbon “cap and trade” system that would force power companies, manufacturers and the transportation industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent below 2005 levels by 2012, and 71 percent by 2050.

Opponents of the bill, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and petroleum producers, say it would be disastrous for the economy.

“Any way you look at it, Lieberman-Warner will result in major disruptions of our economy, soaring energy prices and millions of lost jobs,” Keith McCoy, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement this month.

McCoy’s group estimates the Lieberman-Warner bill would reduce the nation’s economic output by as much as $669 billion annually and result in up to 4 million job losses. Other studies by government and business groups predict that such legislation would cost U.S. businesses and consumers anywhere from $444 billion to $4.8 trillion by the year 2030.

Last month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that consumers’ average annual home energy bills could rise by $30 to $723, in part because the proposed legislation would force power companies to use more expensive alternative energy sources.

Authors of the new study, however, say that not enacting the Lieberman-Warner proposal would be costlier.

“If you think it’s expensive to do something about climate change, this tells you how expensive it will be to do nothing about climate change,” said Tufts economist Frank Ackerman, who conducted the study.

Losses from Atlantic and Gulf Coast hurricanes would result in $422 billion in economic losses annually, the study predicts.

Increased energy and water costs related to droughts and higher air conditioning costs in Georgia, Florida, Texas and other Southern states could take another $1 trillion annually out of the economy, the study also predicts.
source:http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/05/23/0523warming.html

Giving Back What has Given Us
Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond
For the past several decades, the world has been a witness to the wanton destruction of the environment brought about by man’s greed and pride. Many a time, reports hog the broadsheets and newscasts about floods, landslides, global warming, and the like due to the progression of the imbalance of the earth’s ecosystem. In the Philippines alone, less than a quarter remains of our old-growth forests. Deforestation seems to have taken its toll and Filipinos at large are faced with a tall order of saving whatever is left and of reviving the existing, haply depleting, terrestrial and coastal ecosystems.

Faced with these environmental issues, the Philippine Lasallian Family has identified the need to respond to the calling as stewards of the earth. One of the concrete responses to the Lasallian Ministry Action Plan (LS MAP) #7 of Stewardship of God’s Creation, and to the Philippine Lasallian Family Convocation Resolution 2.4 on Environmental Concerns and Advocacy is the birth of Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond under the auspices of the Lasallian Institute For the Environment (LIFE). With the Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond Project, De La Salle Philippines, with the eventual collaboration of the 18 different schools in the District, endeavors to plant One Million trees by the year 2011 in celebration of 100 years of Lasallian presence in the Philippines.

Mount Palay-palay was a fitting choice to launch this noteworthy venture on 23 September 2006. The sprawling view of lush greenery can still house seedlings to benefit the next generation of Filipinos. Br. Armin Luistro FSC, President of the De La Salle Philippines, led the entire delegation which numbered close to 400 volunteers consisting of students, employees, family and friends of La Salle schools in Luzon. Very notable was the participation of non-Lasallian volunteers. Indeed, the gathering was a definite proof that every good motive partnered with good deeds produces good results.

The Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond Project serves to provide a venue for more pro-active responses to environmental issues through tree-planting activities and reforestation programs that promote the propagation and caring for indigenous species. It also draws out mechanisms that will systematically involve the Lasallian Family in sustainable reforestation and greening efforts in close partnership and coordination with local communities. The project likewise aims to educate and raise the awareness of the Lasallian community as well as the members of their partner communities on the importance of natural ecosystems through a more practical learning-by-doing approach. Hence, the movers of this project make it a point to underscore the need to care for every single seedling planted to ensure its growth into a tree of life, both literally and figuratively. This concern is always echoed to the local partner communities by way of drafting and signing a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the host community and the team of OMT.

Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond has successfully identified several campus sites for this project to be carried out. These are De La Salle Canlubang, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas, De La Salle Araneta University, De La Salle Lipa and the other Lasallian schools in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. Off-campus sites are also eyed, such as: Mt. Palay-palay, Calatagan Mangrove in Batangas, LSVP mission areas, Agos River in Quezon, Angat Watershed in Bulacan and Pagsanjan sub-basins.

As envisioned by Mr. Jorge Buenaventura, OMT Project Director, LIFE hopes to form a team for the development of educational materials, map out identified sites, and develop GIS layering to better identify the area in the sites where planting is conducive. In addition, LIFE aims to design monitoring and tracking procedures that will allow the Institute to serve as a hub to all the data concerning tree planting and reforestation activities. To achieve this, digitized forms will have to be utilized to keep a record of essential aspects, like tree code, name of planter, when and where the tree was planted, and the like in carrying out related activities and programs.

As stated in the project’s mission-vision, LIFE endeavors to see one million trees planted by the year 2011. A big project to many, but LIFE believes that through sheer dedicated service and the strong will to preserve and safeguard God’s creation, they know that this project is worth all the time and effort unceasingly shared by people of the same firm conviction and faith.

The work has commenced. A tall order to the pessimist but a flicker of light to the optimist. The Founder had done the same – given back what his community needed that time, an education for the poor. This time, as part of the need to educate the marginalized, the Philippine Lasallian Family saw the need to give back what Mother Earth has been entrusted to our care. May the flicker of light turn into a blazing flame of celebration. A resounding YES! to take part in this advocacy to give back what we have so long enjoyed, albeit abused and taken for granted.

One institution started it. The rest will follow. One tree. One person. One LIFE.

Guided by the Lasallian Family’s tradition of service to God and nation, LIFE has started to define its future plans, programs, roles, and responsibilities. The Institute will work with the various environmental programs of the different La Salle schools and their affiliates to provide technical assistance and draw on available experience and expertise from the Lasallian family, as needed.

LIFE is supervised by the La Salle Provincialate, Central House of the De La Salle Brothers in the Philippines.

Operation Watershed

For its flagship project, LIFE has chosen the large and complex watershed which contains the 21 sub-basins surrounding Laguna the Bay, the lake, the Pasig River and its significant tributaries, and the areas impacted by the Pasig River discharge into Manila Bay. LIFE will partner with the residents of communities and NGOs in the watershed.

It will collaborate with government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Laguna Lake Development Agency, academic institutions, and private organizations.

With the hope of protecting and promoting the biodiversity in the area, LIFE will tap various Lasallian institutions, organizations and individuals. This project is expected to identify and raise many environmental concerns, from watershed management to area development. The Institute hopes to integrate these various concerns with the La Salle schools’ curriculum development, research thrust, and values formation program.

But the flagship watershed management project is just the start of LIFE’s long line of anticipated short-medium-and long-term environmental and natural resources management projects. By 2011, the centenary of Lasallian education in the country, LIFE hopes to find all La Salle schools having made significant contributions to environmental education and the improvement of sub-basins in the flagship watershed project.

LIFE People and Support

LIFE is headed by La Salle alumnus Bienvenido Eusebio, who is also the director of the Natural Resources Management Program of De La Salle University-Manado in Indonesia. In its initial phase, LIFE will tap the support of volunteer faculty members and researchers of the various Lasallian institutions. Alumni and friends here and abroad who are experts in the field of environmental management as well as those from other disciplines are welcome to extend assistance. The Institute will seek the help of, among others, agriculturists, foresters, soil and ground water experts, economists, legal experts, sociologists, and communication specialists. It will also require the support of its partner community and the local government.

SO MANY people ask a lot of questions and still end up without answers. One man, a Filipino-American, asked one question and found the path to life.

All Bienvenido Eusebio, 70, wanted to know three years ago was, “Are we being good stewards of God’s creation?”

That one question brought him back home to the Philippines after 10 years in Indonesia and 30 years in the United States to launch the Lasallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE).

LIFE, an institute with only five staff members, is now all set to plant a million trees that could spell the difference for the country’s rapidly disappearing forests.

Eusebio, LIFE’s volunteer executive director, offered up a certificate bearing LIFE’s pledge during a Mass said by Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales to launch the Earth Day celebration at the former Smokey Mountain dump in Manila’s Tondo district.

De La Salle Philippines, through LIFE, has committed to plant a million trees by 2011, the educational institution’s centennial anniversary in the country. The planting season starts in June.

“This can’t happen overnight … but we think this is possible if everyone plants,” said Eusebio, citing La Salle’s more than 100,000 alumni and 50,000 students.

200,000 trees a year

LIFE is aiming for 200,000 trees a year.

A backyard, a subdivision, a park, a private resort, a mountain, denuded forest land - any open space not prone to logging or commercial use of timber - are sites being considered by LIFE.

The group is also seeking communities that are sincerely interested in saving their natural resources, Eusebio said.

La Salle intends to transfer responsibility over the project to the communities after three years.

“We need more than a million trees. For our part, we just want to be able to look back and say we planted a million and we did it for Mother Earth,” Eusebio said.

The man carries the burden of doing something for the planet right in his homeland.

US environment agency

“I worked for a polluter for 10 years,” said Eusebio, recalling his stint in the chemical industry in the United States after receiving his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He then spent the next 30 years with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), heading a team of scientists developing pollution control devices with the National Air Pollution Administration, the EPA’s predecessor.

When the EPA was created, Eusebio was assigned to its regional office and spent most of his years in Washington D.C., developing regulations and federal environmental programs for the states.

Soon he flew to Indonesia to do various environmental projects, including saving Lake Tondano, and other consultancy jobs. He however found himself looking to do more.

“I’ve earned many dollars doing reports that get stuck in the shelf because you don’t have the people who will do it,” Eusebio said.

Pilot project in Lumban

Returning to the Philippines upon the prodding of La Salle Br. Armin Luistro FSC, the man found the people he needed in the barangays (villages) of Lumban town in Laguna province.

Lumban’s 16 barangays are the pilot project sites for LIFE’s adopted watershed. Building on its brick-by-brick concept of environmental preservation, LIFE chose one of the 24 sub-basins - the Lumban-Pagsanjan sub-basin.

LIFE has trained the barangay leaders of Lumban to profile their barangays. With a compass, a line meter and sometimes a global positioning system (GPS) device, the officials, housewives and fishermen surveyed their areas for the barangay profile map.

The maps will be used for the natural resource management plan and help the barangay leaders identify and address the causes of frequent problems in the community.

The profile maps show the fish pens, hand pumps, houses, plantations, rice fields, piggeries, churches and other landmarks in the barangay.

“This is the thrust of LIFE: To bring education to the barangays, to people who may never have entered a classroom but who know life all too well,” Eusebio said.

“The satisfaction is in seeing people who know nothing of what you do, holding them by the hand and seeing them become experts,” he said.

The camps had various environmental activities such as hiking, camping, bird-watching, and stargazing. The participants were divided into various teams that proposed various environmental initiatives for their institutions. Environmental education and advocacy was an important aspect of the programs.

The Luzon group, for instance, presented their plans for each of the participant institution. Solid-waste management plans and wastewater treatment facilities were examples of proposed projects. The Visayas chapter proposed a campaign for proper segregation (e.g. orientation, symposium, discipline and publicity).

Coordination with the various schools’ administration will be done to with set rules and penalties for the violators. The Mindanao chapter had prepared signing “BOTO PARA SA INANG BAYAN” - A Signature Campaign against Forest Destruction.”

The Eco-Camp is a project of the Federation of Lasallian Institutions (FLI) and the Lasallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE).