I hope this blog post isn’t too late. This was supposed to be posted yesterday, in participation with
Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change.Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.Perhaps I can call it as the catalyst for my being an environmental “activist.” I can’t really call myself an activist since I am not really that active in environmental concerns. But that’s an entirely different matter. I first saw this in 2006 or 2007 when my uncle brought home a DVD. He’s the handler of our barangay’s kid’s group for the environment. No need to elaborate on this one, most of us have seen this already. Two things: I was alarmed because it’s real and it’s happening AND I was determined to do something.Environmental “Passivist”.So yeah, I know I can’t change the world and be some heroine. But I could be part of that change. I am aware and I am determined to do something, but I am not doing anything. Or at least I think so. I do things, but it’s only me. I don’t throw trash around, I recycle, but what does that do compared to millions of others who don’t give a damn about the environment.I say I am concerned about what’s happening to our planet, but I confess that I am not doing what I really can. I do small things, easy environment-saving stuff thinking that I’m doing something good. It’s like “I give charity to the poor, I’m going to heaven.” I know what I’m doing is good, but it’s not enough. But how can I spread my views about the environment? They’d think of me as a nature freak or something. I don’t have the courage to start up an environment group or something. It’s like I’m just waiting for someone to start it up, and then I’d go. Doesn’t sound like an environmental activist, huh? Im just too passive. I know it sounds kind of wrong, but what the hell, it’s me. So it just feels so nice everytime I meet someone with the same uh, philosophy? (Ahem ahem, Alex. Alfred). But I don’t like people who say they care for the environment and don’t show it, it’s like they’re just trying to fit in with what’s hot right now.Ecopolis. World’s Greenest Homes.It was 2008 (or was it 2007?) when Discovery Channel aired a program called ECOPOLIS. I was very much fascinated by it. It was a city plan, a futuristic green city. In every episode, four projects were discussed, ranging from energy sources, building insulation, waste management, greening of homes, to transportation. It shows that the environment does not have to be sacrificed for urban development, and vice versa. This show had a lot of impact on me, that my choice of my college major was partly influenced by it.One of my favorite shows on Discovery Travel&Living is World’s Greenest Homes, featuring REAL homes of innovation. I could describe it as a mini-ecopolis. Or house-sized ecopolis. And I tell you, the homes are very, very cool. Functionality + Eco-friendliness + Style. Make it STYLE with a capital S, T, Y, L, and E. Baduy na ba? Haha.Civil Engineering.This is what I’m majoring in right now. There are two TV shows that partly influenced me to take CE: Megastructures and Ecopolis. There are no such megastructures in the Philippines, and even less chance for an ecopolis to exist here. So why not be a pioneer? Ambitious ba? Haha. But I’d rather not be a pioneer for that means that the Philippine megastructures/ecopolis are still far from reality, that they will just be plans until I become a REAL civil engineer. I’d rather have it that someone else gets the honor of pioneering those innovations in the Philippines, if it were for the betterment of the environment and the people in the soonest possible time.Naga City 20__: The Ecopolis.Naga City – my hometown. This is where I will be working on my first ecopolis. And I hope to do it before it turns into an urban metropolitan jungle. 