Breakthroughs Today

Urban noise may have a mainstay in our lives for the years to come. Even rural areas in the country are getting noisy as vehicles and population increase. With this cacophony also comes problems that we must be aware of so we can do something about them.   NOISE is so much a part of our daily lives that we come to accept it with admirable tolerance. In fact, it can become the stimulant that some people seek, and believe that the decibels of "sonar energy" can keep them mentally alive.   Sylvia Plath, author of the book The Bell Jar, wrote: “The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”   But recent studies have noted that basking in the noise in our urban environment can be very unwise after all. A meta-analysis published lately in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health just unearthed many reasons why.   First... [ READ MORE ]     This article appears in Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on 12 September 2012.

THE article, “Reusable Bag Biz,” on Dec. 1 generated insightful feedback from our readers. The concern is indeed serious, but the recycling options available so far are costly to consumers. And yet many agree that plastic bags are cheaper options “if only”—and that’s the key phrase—responsibility in using or disposing them can be instilled in Filipino consumers. The thought of plastic cluttering rivulets and street “canals,” and causing floods during heavy rainfalls—particularly in Colon St.—brings to mind the image of black mud that host minute organisms called bacteria. I’m familiar with these tiny creatures when viewed under a microscope, even when these organisms are unstained. The image also reminds me of... [ Read more. ] This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 16 February 2011.