Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!  

"... diversity leads to homogenization, to Utopia of man's dream - myth of a heaven, when we shall have failed on earth." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!

in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, biological to social to self-actualization, having satisfied our needs, indulged in luxury and affluence -

progression sans end, sans satisfaction, nations believing in others

not their own, bequeathing to the future false references, parameters of the good life in capitalism in the guise of  consumerism; how deceived, how trapped we are, senseless, powerless. 

Ruins of Colonialism, mural by the author (8 ft x 6 ft) 1995, St Paul University, QC

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail! 

In Malthus' theory, the outstripping of the earth's capacity to feed an exploding population, warning of the Apocalypse's coming -

oh, how man defied with tools of technology, opening new frontiers,

with industrialization the goal and pride, all nations dreaming. 

and East meets West second time around, colonization to polarization, 

leading to two world wars and a Cold War, oh, how deceiving!

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail!

In Einstein's theory of relativity, he defied the power of the sun, 

dethroning John Newton, broke the integrity of the atom;

what a promise of unending energy, self contained, self generating

in nuclear reactors, yet found its way to make the Bomb,

and having tested it to end conflict and restore world peace, brought

to life a Frankenstein monster, and in fear, we became numb.   

Sustainability, how distant, how frail!

In Crick and Watson illustration, double helix in ladder, each rung

the gene's secret - the DNA - Hallelujah, we pray;

the code of heredity unlocked, that of life, too, creators we became,

irrational, amoral, but Dolly, the sheep has opened the way:

baptizing new life lines and forms GMO, meet another Frankenstein,

the genius, dedicated (for whom?), knowing not his prey.   

Sustainability, but how distant, how frail:

In the cyberspace of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Google, and Facebook,

the world is wired, tied to all its ends, satellite imaging

every minute thing and movement, seeing what we've never seen

except the soul - where is privacy, the sanctity of living?

and more than we need, heaps of infollution (information pollution) of images and words and codes deluge the mind into believing and unbelieving. 

Sustainability , but how distant, how frail!

In postmodernism, in which we live in a state of free fall, sans control

over more than necessity, yet we are always in search

for more; laden are our consciousness, our psyche, our feeling

in transience - globalization's new order, new birth,

where diversity leads to homogenization, to Utopia of man's dream -

Myth of a heaven, when we shall have failed on earth. ~

"Death, thou art mean"

"Death, thou art mean" 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Death of palm trees - millions of them on one Palm Sunday throughout 
Christendom, exacerbating poverty and destroying the balance
 of the environment

Death of land productivity: Spent soil caked by drought and continuous cropping.  
San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur

Death of a seashore: Illegal squatting on the seashore in the guise of tourism
 Matabungcay, Batangas

Death of consciousness: Mallard Duck gleaning on a pond - a tetrapack! 
San Mateo, Rizal

Death of wildlife: Orangutan perched on a ledge - no escape.

Death of simple devotion: Excessive candle offerings result in pollution, 
fire hazard, and emission of toxic fumes, waste of energy notwithstanding.
Manaoag, Pangasinan

Death of an agoho tree killed by unscrupulous pruning is
now crowned with ferns and mushrooms - symbol of death.

Death of cleanliness and orderliness: Trapped rainwater breeds 
dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Death in the guise of technology: Transmission towers emit radiation 
deleterious to health and environment in heavily populated areas 
in Metro Manila.

Death of a camphor tree - aftermath of

Typhoon Ondoy in 2009. UST Manila

Death, thou art mean;
you come with Diogenes,
a lamp in the daylight
amid quests of greatness,
when light is seen only
in the glitter of gold
and in the genius of man,   
then creep surreptitiously 
late in the night.  avr

Priorities and Choices in Life - a Checklist

Priorities & Choices in Life
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Helen Keller, deaf-blind since infancy became a role model for millions of people. She wrote a moving essay that challenges us who have the power of vision on how we would value “Three Days to See” if we were blind like Helen Keller blind since infancy. (The Story of My Life)

Try this exercise. If you were given Three Days To See just as Helen Keller told in her essay, how would you prioritize these? (Please indicate the day after each item; or if it is not applicable.) Please refer to the answers below

1. Lives of people everyday
2. Theater – concert, performing art
3. Transformation of night to day
4. Views from top of a high building
5. Loved ones and friends
6. Nature - landscape and garden
7. Museum of arts and natural history
8. Historical records of man & society
9. Things at home, favorite books, etc
10. Comedy, the lighter side of life.

After checking your work with the answers guide below, compare it with the priorities of Helen Keller.
1st Day - Loved ones, Favorite Things, Nature
2nd Day - Natural History, History, Humanities,
3rd Day - The Business of life. (NOTE: The lighter side of life closes the episode.)

Three Days to See challenges us to look into our priorities and choices in Life • City or countryside life
• Aesthetics or materialism
• Permanence and transience
• Love and Friendship
• Spirituality and faith
• Computer graphics or fine arts
• Perception or sensitivity
• Affection or companionship
• Vice or hobby
• Knowledge or Wisdom
________________________________________________________

Answer Guide Lives of people everyday - 3rd day
1. Theater – concert, performing art –end of 2nd day
2. Transformation of night to day –opening of 2nd day
3. Views from top of a high building – 3rd day
4. Loved ones and friends – 1st day, immediately.
5. Nature - landscape & garden – 1st day pm to sunset
6. Museum of arts and natural history – 2nd day
7. Historical records of man & society – 2nd day
8. Things at home, favorite books, etc – 1st day
9. Comedy stage play - End of 3rd day
_________________________________________________________

From this exercise we can better appreciate Helen Keller’s philosophy of life.

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am, therein to be content.”

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen and even touched. They must be felt in the heart.” ~

Love the Mangrove (15 Reasons)

I love the mangrove for its rich biodiversity - flora and fauna, protista and monera - in chains and webs.
Dr Abe V Rotor
 
 

Mangrove reforestation attempt to restore the shoreline ecosystem in Guimaras after the oil spill disaster in 2006. To this date the ecosystem has not been restored.

I love the mangrove for building a natural wall against tidal waves and tsunami, at the edge of the sea; 

I love the mangrove for providing a nursery for fish and other aquatic life, weaning them to the open sea;

I love the mangrove for rip-rapping the shores and banks against erosion, and building soil in the process;

I love the mangrove for its rich biodiversity - flora and fauna, protists and monera - in chains and webs;

I love the mangrove for filtering the salt and dust in the air, and buffering noise into sweet sound; 

I love the mangrove for the legends and tales it holds - of fairies and mermaids, of pirates and treasures; 

I love the mangrove for its unique life cycle - self-regenerating, self-fertilizing, needing no cultivation; 

I love the mangrove for the countless valuable materials it gives, from timber, to firewood, tannin, to medicine;

I love the mangrove for keeping the surroundings cool, freshening the air, absorbing carbon in the air;

I love the mangrove for its mixed stand of vegetation by layers, making a distinct forest of its own kind;

I love the mangrove for being the home of migrating birds coming and going every season of the year; 

I love the mangrove for being the home of rare species, heretofore barely studied and identified;

I love the mangrove for its resistance to pollution, and ability to help nature's housekeeping;

I love the mangrove for its being a natural tourists' attraction, field laboratory, and educational center;

I love the mangrove for its humility and persistence, even in a most hostile environment; 

I love the mangrove for what it is, without it, there are species that cannot survive, humans among them;

I love the mangrove for being part of creation, for every living thing has a purpose on earth. ~ 

A wild orchid growing at home - Cymbidium Finlaysonianum

Dr Abe V Rotor 

  Inflorescence of C Finlaysonianum; close-up of  flower.  

Growth habit of the indigenous epiphytic orchid, and pods

It is a native orchid. I found it clinging on a fallen branch of a big tree in Mt. Makiling forest. Being an epiphyte I tied it on the trunk of a talisay (Terminalia catappa) at home in Quezon City. It was not difficult for the new transplant to find a new home - in our home. It is because just across the wall at the back of our house is the sprawling La Mesa Watershed. It must be the "forest climate" that approximates that of Mt. Makiling in Laguna, that this native orchid got acclimatized easily.

Among the five Cymbidium species, C. Finlaysonianum is the most widely distributed throughout the Malaysian area, It was collected by Finlayson in Chin-China in the ninetieth century. It was dedicated to him by Lindley, who originally described the plant in 1832. There is also a close relative, Cymbidium atropurpureum, its name taken from its dark purple flowers. Because of its closeness to C. Finlaysonianum in all morphological aspects, botanists consider it to be a variety of the latter.

The leaves of this species are leathery and coarse, 35 to 40 inches long and 1.5 to 2.5 inches wide. The raceme is pendulous, about two to four feet long and many-flowered. The flowers are two inches in diameter, sepals and petals rather narrow, long, and colored dull tawny yellow with a reddish-brown median line. The labellum is three-lobed, the center lobe being whitish with a yellow disk and purple-crimson apical spot.

Unlike most domesticated and hybrid orchids that bloom any time and for long periods, I observed that this wild orchid is sensitive to photoperiodism. It blooms usually in summer - in March and April - and the flowers last about two weeks. I like the characteristic mild fragrance especially in early morning.

Orchids are among the easiest plants to propagate, vegetatively that is, either by tillers (shoots), or by tissue culture, a specialized laboratory procedure. This compensates for the extreme difficulty in propagation by seeds. The seeds of orchids are the most difficult to germinate. Even if they do, survival rate is very nil. It is because the viability of orchid seeds is very short and difficult to monitor.

I have yet to succeed in germinating the seeds of C Finlaysonianum. Even if I fail, I am delighted to have a wild orchid luxuriantly growing in my home - its home. ~~

Reference:  Philippine Orchids by Reg S Davis and Mona Lisa Steiner

The Return of the Tree Frog

Many organisms disappeared since modern agriculture was introduced beginning in the sixties, among them a  curious looking tree frog.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystar)

The Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystar) has an arboreal habit, but now and then it comes down to feed on insects, and even visit nearby homes. This is how I encountered this living specimen one hot summer afternoon in a most unlikely place - the bathroom. As I was about to cool off, I found company with this unexpected creature perched on the shower head apparently enjoying itself.

The last time I remember seeing a tree frog was when I was a farmhand. In Ilocos we called it tukak uleg or snake frog, because it is a favorite prey of snakes, and its distress cry sends instinctive warning to anyone who is in the vicinity. Sometimes it is called banana frog because it resides at the axil of leaf stalks where water from rain and dewdrops accumulates and make a series of miniature ponds. It is not unusual to find a frothy egg mass hanging up in a banana tree. Here the eggs hatch into tadpoles, and being larvivorous, feed on mosquito wrigglers and plankton organisms until the become frogs. Here they subsist on insect pest and worm. It is a classical example of biological control which benefits farmers and residents in the area.

Chemical pesticides were unknown to us and the farmers then. Many organisms disappeared since modern agriculture was introduced beginning in the sixties, among them scores of species, including this curious looking tree frog. Once I compared this cadaverous and clumsy creature to Ichabod Crane as described by its creator, the father of short story in America - Washington Irving!

"If your vocabulary is limited, " I overhead my dad saying, "use analogy." So I tried. And Mrs Leonor Itchon, my literature teacher in high school nodded wryly after my recitation amidst subdued giggling among my classmates. Well, I may not have received a good grade, but the tree frog helped me become a biologist.

The bathroom encounter with my long lost acquaintance - the tree frog - that hot afternoon won't make a movie, but at least my son, Marlo and I, were able to document a biological renaissance. I had just made a review of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls which at the end of the novel warns us, "the bell tolls for no one; it tolls for thee."

Maybe not, as long as creatures we thought to have been lost forever are coming back alive. Hail to the tree frog - new-found long-lost friend of man.~

Ed Nanquil's Works for Art and Thinking

Paint and draw and unleash the power of imagination and creativity.    

Dr Abe V Rotor

Still Life

Your favorite fruits do not only fill and satiate;

they take you by your other senses deeper,

drawing out thirst and hunger that grow farther

 in fullest expression and milder character,

to see the world not in things sensual and ephemeral, 

but in the mind and spirit eternal.           

Nature's Art 

If proportion and balance were strict basis of form,

style and design lofty and grand,

then what is art?  What is art in water and rock? 

in a growing shell, in shifting sand?

Only Nature knows, she is the beginning and end

of all art, earlier than man and the world; 

for the elements of art are not what we perceive, 

they are the very foundation of Creation.  

Good Life

Take me to where my ancestors lived,

healthy and free and happy,

away from the city of poverty in riches,

and riches in poverty.       

NOTE: Mr. Ed Nanquil is one of the pioneer followers of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid.  Melly and I congratulate  Ed for sharing his talents with these inspiring works which we are sure will benefit our listeners to the radio program (738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday), simulcast with the Internet - Living with Nature School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com).

Lesson: Living with Nature School on Blog; former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday