From the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law the Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009 in Malacañang that would enable the country to better respond to disasters spawned by climate change.
Republic Act 9729 seeks to mainstream climate change into the formulation of government policy by setting up a National Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change.
It also creates the Climate Change Commission that will coordinate, monitor and evaluate the government's programs and actions to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.
The government signs a lot of bills, but none of these are ever implemented. The Filipino's penchant for Nigas Cugon is appalling.
How many laws have been enacted but never implemented? Remember the anti-smoke belching law? Whatever happened to that? There's hardly any testing stations and all buses and jeepneys still pollute and spew black smoke.
I'm really sick and tired of all these crap they do. You know, the solution is very simple. It's a matter of implementation.
You want to help fight climate change and make the environment better? Here's what you do.
1. Mandate all new house and building construction to put solar panels on the roof, this will help reduce power consumption for hot water and put some extra electricity into the power grid.
2. Offer excess power created by these solar panels as a discount to the household's electric bill or sell it to the power company. These are being done now in the US. It's a simple matter of getting the right meters for it. The only problem in this case of course is Meralco, who has no intention of people ever saving electricity.
3. Tax heavily high occupancy private vehicles like SUVs. There is no need for a Ford F150 or Expedition on the Philippine roads, they're too small to accommodate that.
4. Encourage local car manufacturers to make smaller diesel cars like the Smart Car.
5. Implement a automobile fuel efficiency law increasing over the next 10 years and moving to hybrid vehicles within 3 years by giving tax breaks to fuel efficient vehicles.
6. Make bike lanes on all roads and clear the sidewalks for people to walk or roller blade on. This will save gas.
7. Encourage everyone to use CFL bulbs instead of regular light bulbs. This will cut down household electricity cost by half immediately.
8. Put more buses and small buses on major road and put them on a schedule instead of whatever time they feel like coming. Put order in the streets to lessen traffic. Less traffic, less fuel wasted.
9. Malacanang should set an example by planting a vegetable garden, using solar power and using vehicles that are fuel efficient.
10. Encourage redesign overpasses, buildings and homes suitable for Philippine climate instead of following Western designs that are not meant for the climate of the Philippines.
11. Put up solar, wind, geothermal and wave power plants. Stop relying on foreign oil. The Philippines is near the equator. You can't get better sun coverage than that! Typhoon winds should be captured and used as power.
12. Instead of one big power plant that destroys the environment, build smaller wind farms or solar power plants in several locations to electrify the whole country.
13. Build biomass fuel plants in the countryside. They have plenty of waste to throw away.
14. Build up local farms and start helping farmers to grow better crops. The less we import, the more money we keep in the country. Surplus can be sold for more income.
15. Encourage people to use pedicabs, calesas or other means of transportation in smaller roads. Get the operators of these vehicles licensed to legitimize their business and train them on proper use of the road. This will build jobs and make sure the roads are properly used and not blocked by these people. These mode of transports don't even need fuel.
Now, is that so hard to do?
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