Don't Step

Don't Step

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Masinag, Marikina Marcos Highway

> Land uses present in Masinag, Marikina Marcos Highway.
- Commercial
- Institutional
- Residential


> Cause of Problem


Marikina is primarily a valley nestled between mountain ranges and rolling hills, its topography is generally characterized to be level, with only a mildly sloping portion. Type A slopes cover about 1,569 hectares or 71% of the total land area of Marikina, which is highly suitable for and tolerant to mechanized farming and urban development in the western and central sections of the city. The rest of the slopes are fairly tolerant to development although prone to erosion and land slippage.


> Solution


The city government of Marikina is up for the solutions to the problem regarding flood.  
They start city-wide declogging operations removing silt, waste and debris deposited in its 
drainages. This   procedure will therefore loosen the flow of waste water coming from the 
households and factories,  as well as rain water during a heavy downpour. This will significantly prevent the reccurrence of flooding. 



And also some of the establishment in the area along Marcos Highway has elevated to a 4 feet higher above the ground. 

Friday, August 13, 2010

Seveso Disaster





Around midday on Saturday July 10, 1976, an explosion occurred in a TCP (2,4,5-trichlorophenol) reactor of the ICMESA chemical plant on the outskirts of Meda, a small town about 20 kilometres north of Milan, Italy. A toxic cloud containing TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin), then widely believed to be one of the most toxic man-made chemicals , was accidentally released into the atmosphere. The dioxin cloud contaminated a densely populated area about six kilometres long and one kilometre wide, lying downwind from the site . This event became internationally known as the Seveso disaster, after the name of a neighbouring municipality that was most severely affected 

* Release Assessment
> TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin)
- it is a polychlorinated dibenzodioxin (dioxin)
- an organic compound
- one of the most toxic chemical man- made chemicals.

* Exposure Assessment
 > An explosion of TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) was accidentally released in th environment.
 >  The dioxin cloud contaminated a densely populated area about six kilometres long and one kilometre    
     wide,   lying downwind from the site.
> 6 tonnes of material were distributed over an 18 km^2 area.
>  The four most impacted municipalities included Seveso (1976 population 17,000), Meda (19,000), Desio     
     (33,000), and Cesano Maderno (34,000).
 > Acute illness among affected workers and added to the burden of existing chronic sickness caused by   
     prolonged exposure to the same chemicals under unsanitary conditions.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Evaluating Condominium Buildings




Tall, glamorous looking , what can you ask for? These are some of the qualities that a condominium buildings have. But it's other sides are being ignored. Our government is only focusing in the economy and disregarded environmental aspects. In economy aspects, occurrence of tall buildings in our country signifies the high soaring of our economy. But in the environmental aspect, it is a sign of continuing environment deterioration. 


Conversion of agricultural/ natural environment into a semi commercial uses has many impacts to the environment. Wild life loss their home resulting for their extinction. The vegetation starts to deplete and as we all know that some of the vegetations are one of the source of our basic needs .


Construction of condominium building has a high risk in the safeness's of people. First, it blocks the wind direction. Second, the solar orientation is not being properly maximize, it should be  east-west to facilitate a north-south orientation. And when an earthquake  take place, safety of people will be in threat. 


In the brighter side, condominium buildings are one of the salvation when it comes in flood. After the devastation of Ondoy in the Philippines, some of rich people got a condominium units for the future when a great flood occur again, they have assurance of their safety.  





Friday, August 6, 2010

Global Warming: A Consuemerist Idea or a Fact?

September 26, 2009, the date when typhoon Ondoy devastated Metro Manila. Saturday morning, everybody thought that it’s just a gloomy morning. But when the hard rain started to fall endlessly the flood continue to rise. And few hours passed, some of the towns were submerged from the flood. Some of my classmates were stranded for 24 hours because some of the roads are in-accessible  because of the flood. Ondoy brought the worst rainfall to Metro Manila among recorded typhoons since the start of rainfall record keeping, according to PAGASA,  producing only moderate winds but hours of extremely heavy rain. President Gloria Arroyo declared a "state of calamity" encompassing most of Luzon after at least 86 people were initially reported dead in landslides and other incidents. Flood water levels reached a record 20 feet in rural areas. As of October 24, 2009, at least 464 deaths in the Philippines were officially reported from the typhoon. This tragic incident is one of the results of Global Warming.

Global warming/ climate change is the heating of earth because of the trap greenhouse gasses. Increasing of the temperature is associated. Green house gasses that traps on earth is the main cause of this problem. Because of the anthropologic activities regarding too much emission of carbon dioxide, earth’s temperature continues to rise. Effects are now being exhibited. 1.) The melting of polar caps in North and South Pole. 2.) The rising of sea level that some of the island sank. 3.) Increase of the magnitude and force of the typhoons. Those three effects are only some of the results that global warming offers.

This issue is not just a consumerist idea but rather a fact. Many scientists confirmed that this event is happening in our planet. Not only had the scientists concluded that this is real but also the signs/ effects are now being experienced. Also some of the international organization launched treaties regarding global warming. The famous treaty is the Kyoto Protocol in which the first world country must reduce the emission of their carbon dioxide. But sad to say one of the most industrialized countries is not appealing to the said treaty because they don’t want to reduce their production.

On the other side, some of the scientists concluded that this event is just cycle of our planet and normal. They said that the condition of earth will go back of time of ice age.
Scientists identified some solutions for the prevention of global warming. This is the usage of renewable energy. This energy does not emit carbon dioxide because of its natural property.

In the seminar of Al Gore held  here in the Philippines he said this statement. “An asteroid didn’t hit the earth, we did”! This Al Gore’s statement is very precise and real. When we heard it, we’re very afraid for the cause that might we experience. But we didn’t realize that little by little the human race is destroying mother earth.
People now must be aware on this serious situation because we’re now experiencing the consequences of our irresponsible act towards Mother Nature.