PLASTIC BAGS

Do you collect plastic bags? I do and I find them very useful. I always fold them neatly after taking out the grocery items, something I learned from an American colleague. I use them when collecting trash. Most of the time as cushions when air-freighting items to Manila.

Oftentimes, we notice that most shoppers prefer to use many plastic bags as possible when packing away groceries at supermarket checkout counters. On the other hand, there are a few shoppers who place larger items in a few plastic bags and put smaller items in their handbags or pockets. It is outrageous and not wise to collect and just throw them away. A lady shopper made a very good point in saying most shoppers end up throwing their accumulated plastic bags in the trash. We can find them blowing across open fields, streets, highways, canals, branches of trees, on beaches and in the water. We can find them everywhere. Plastic bags are now associated with many environmental risk factors; air pollution and health dangers to humans and other living beings.

A concerned group said, we have other options, better options!

ACID RAIN

Just finished giving piano lessons to my Friday group, and before the last student left, he asked me about "acid rain." It gave me an idea to post an entry on the subject. And here's my recollection about this serious threat to our environment.
As a direct result of human activities to produce more nutrients than nutrient cycles can efficiently process, unexpected and possibly catastrophic consequences usually occur. This is best exemplified by the occurrence of what is known as acid rain or acid deposition.
Oxides of nitrogen and sulfur combine with water vapor in the atmosphere to form droplets of nitric and sulfuric acid. These acids when deposited at or near the earth's surface in the form of rain is called acid rain.
Is acid rain harmful? Yes it is! It has adverse effects on animals and plants directly. Increased acid levels place the entire living community under stress. One of the more noticeable effects that concern man is the damage it brings to structures. If it remains unabated, the damage it can cause to both ecosystems and property would be incalculable.