In the news these past few weeks is the so-called Red October plot, and how the government has been in tenterhooks unravelling the whys and the hows and the whos. We’re wishing of course that Red becomes Green, to highlight once more the need to pay strong heed to what we all need all the more. After all, Green October would seem to hold a more paramount importance if we’re talking about the nation’s collective future, not just what it will be by reason of how any one person should go. Whichever color agitates whichever side of the equation anyone is, Green remains the paramount color that should command greater attention, greater seriousness, greater resolve.
The fact is, October seems to be the first month of the year when everyone should be having, and enjoying, a respite from our day-to-day trials. Soaring inflation, runaway prices, these have been the gut issues that have preoccupied the national consciousness. Last month’s inflationary climb stood at 6.7%, said to be the steepest ascent in the last ten years. Surely, that’s hardly reassuring to our housewives who have been besieged all these running weeks by commodity prices that seem to have been let loose without rhyme or reason.
The fact is, October is when apparently, we’re all in for a well-deserved respite from the economically wrenching needs of the day. Somewhat, while prices have continued the steep climb, the momentum may have already reached their peek. These may indicate a slow-down trend at the market place, enough to give Mrs. Housewife time to re-budget whatever remains from the daily burden of making the family survive. Even the weather may have reached a deserving let-up from all the flooding, the landslides, and all the other unwanted travails that come from the past two months of weather aberrations.
Whichever way you see it, this is the respite that should make us take stock of the environment. Are we doing enough for Mother Nature to give us earthlings the needed respite from the onslaught that harsh weather systems have been inflicting on our daily life? How are we faring in scaling down by 2 degree C the toxic content of the global temperature which over 200 nations on earth have etched on granite stone to be achieved in 3 years time. Close to home, where we have had insufferable landslides that snuffed out over a hundred lives, are we close enough to prevent similar tragedies from even occurring after convincing evidence that we are amid danger zones just waiting to happen?
Green October should be timely enough to pay a more serious, sober heed of what’s troubling Mother Nature, why she’s acting in so insane a way, misbehaving at whatever fancies her, wherever, whenever, and whatever. Green October, stripped of the built-in Pinoy jest that routinely comes from any downtrodden day-to-day experience, should be all about what we can do, by way of shared effort, to scale down the continued toxic bombardment of our shared atmosphere, from the motorized contraptions that we rev up to the industry machines that we run.
Decidedly, it’s all about clean, safe and healthy air that we ought to be having and we even have a law mandating it everywhere else. But how can we take that kind of air when our own economic activities continue to remain beyond the nose of government policy makers who should have been stern in enforcing the use of clean, alternative energy for everyday use? Sure, government insists that the way to go is for the clean energy use, but how come in two years time, about 20 more coal plants are set to spew more of the toxic fumes into the air?
In sum, Green October should be about accepting the shared role that each one should be doing in these times of climate-influenced way of life. Fine, let’s talk and listen to one another, with each side willing to understand what sharing and caring are all about. Obviously, when communication lines are blurred by emotional responses, not much appreciation of good faith can come about. At this time — lest we get treated again by sudden holiday events — it’s never too late to get us going, not just back to basics as it were, but back to earth, as it should be. We all know what must be done and how. If we like, there’s always a way; if we don’t — or are too indifferent about it — there’s always a reason.