El Niño hits Honduras

Honduras declares state of emergency as it faces severe drought brought about the "El Niño" phenomenon. Water shortages have been reported in the capital Tegucigalpa yesterday, December 30. Government has been working overtime to tap 10 new water wells to augment the growing shortage in water.

"El Niño" is Spanish for the boy, is the term that refers to the unusually warm weather over the eastern Pacific, this has brought floods, droughts and bush fires recently seen in Australia.

Climate Change is Real

I've posted this video from Greenpeace Philippines for the leaders in attending the debates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to keep in mind what's at stake at this Conference.

Typhoon Ondoy Video


Our whole existence people, our whole existence.

Thank you Greenpeace

Be part of the Copenhagen Debate

CNN and YouTube have partnered to give you a chance to voice your questions to world leaders about climate change. You may upload your questions or insights on youtube's website for COP15.

Visit www.youtube.com/cop15 and take part in the debate.

Demand a Pact, Be Seen in Copenhagen

Greenpeace recently launched the Action-Pact website, it is a Virtual March demanding the global leaders in the recent Copenhagen conference to reach a pack for:

1. Cutting the Greenhouse emissions of big countries
2. Funding to save the forest
3. Funding to help developing countries

Be the change, send your package, be seen and be heard in Copenhagen. Visit www.action-pact.org now!

The Green Pope

True to being hailed as "the green pope", Pope Benedict XVI has addressed the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square right after the recitation of the Angelus last Sunday, December 6 to raise awareness on the environment.

Eco Park in The City

Urban living has always been all about cars, buildings and pollution. It may seem impossible to break free from this everyday scenario if your living in the city. And if you do, you'll spent 2-3 hours of your time just to go to that special place, where the grass is green, trees are tall and birds fly freely.

Save Money, Save the Environment. Clean Your Car

Cars have fascinated me since the day I learned to drive. Every time I would use our car, I'd always make sure that it was sparkling clean. It became one of my morning routine as I wasn't satisfied whenever our maid did the cleaning. As I grew older, technology evolved and schedules became busier than my college life, car wash services sprouted all over the metro. These businesses became an instant hit, even commercial car parking spaces had mobile car washing services.

The Practical Cure for Expensive Fuel Costs

With oil prices increasing, we are forced to minimize need for it. Gas saving devices are being tried and tested, alternative fuels have also been tapped. Taxi's here being converted to be powered by Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) to cut the cost of fuel, as these gases cost half the price of gasoline. Some buses run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), a locally available gas but not as popular as LPG.

For an ordinary person, these solutions are drastic and even costly, for these all require buying or modifying something in your car. And this is not an option for them. As frustrated as them, I started searching for solutions, and came across hypermiling. It is a relatively new and practical way of saving gas without

buying anything or modifying anything in your car. Its as new as my the dictionary of my computer doesn't

even recognize it as a word, and marks it red. Wikipedia defines is as "the act of driving using techniques that maximize fuel economy." Here are some ways on how I do it.

• Check the tire pressure of your car (see user's manual)
• Always follow your car's maintenance schedule. Good running engine, optimizes the use of fuel. Helps burn fuel efficiently, which means less fuel wastage.
• If traveling a short distances, don't fill up your gas to full. Remember the more fuel stored, the heavier your car gets, a full tank is like adding an extra passenger
  
• Avoid sudden stop, plan your stops. If you're approaching a red light in an intersection, release your foot from the pedal, make a gradual stop instead of stopping at the last minute.
• Avoid speeding, the harder you step on the pedal, the more fuel gets injected to your engine.
• Maintain a consistent speed, maintaining an average speed reduces the chances of accelerating and braking which causes sudden need for fuel.
• Shift gears on low revs, this is only applicable for manual or stick shift transmissions.
• Keep moving in traffic congestion, accelerate slow, decelerate slow.
• Coasting or gliding. If you are using manual or stick shift, put it on neutral when approaching a slight descending slope or on a light volume highway. NEVER do this on a steep slope, your engine uses an "engine break" when going down, this limits the maximum speed your car travels depending on the gear, the lower the gear, the lower the speed. Putting it on neutral frees the engine from engine break, this can be dangerous as this will strain the breaks resulting in a lesser breaking power and response. Observe proper caution in applying this technique.

The key is to maintain a consistent as possible speed to maximize the use of energy generated by the fuel. Unnecessary revving is wasting fuel.

Keep in mind that these are small steps to being environmental and economical. Saving money might be the key to buying that Prius you've always wanted.

Is Green the New Gold

In pursuit of a greener way of life, we often look for newer technologies like hybrid cars, solar panels, more energy efficient appliances and others. These solutions can help, but in a country like the Philippines, where most people can't afford these technologies, it may seem that being green is as illustrious as having a fabulous lifestyle.