Best Experience EVER: DLSU-STC Outbound Education Class 2012

Last November 30, 2012, we went to Lemery, Batangas for our Outbound Education Class. My experiences there was great because it was my first time to do such things like planting a mangrove tree and snorkeling around the sea observing at the beautiful coral reefs and fishes. Our first stop was in the Mangrove area. Next is in the Port Area, where we first experience snorkeling and observing the species. And the last is we took a boat ride to Binukbok Resort, wherein compare with the Port Area, species here are much better and very beautiful.

Do you have any idea on how to plant a Mangrove tree? To me, I thought that they’ll be just giving us seeds and just put it in the ground then that’s it. But I was wrong. Before planting a Mangrove tree, be ready to yourself that you’ll get dirty because the place is very muddy and if you don’t wear boots, you are required to take over your footwear if you wish not to get it dirty.

Planting a Mangrove tree is very easy but a tiring activity. There are four ways on how to plant a Mangrove tree. First, find or look for a wide place where we can plant the seedlings. Second, dig up a deep hole in the muddy soil where each of the seedlings will be placed. Third, we remove the bottom of the plastic of the seedling where the roots can be found. And lastly, each of the seedlings should have one bamboo stick beside them to tie them up using of straws, so that when the sea water enters in the Mangrove area, the tree will just stay still to its place and to keep its balance.

After the tree planting, Sir Galza gathers us all to have a short lecture there about the Mangrove tree. He tells how important they are to our environment and to the other species, and what does it contribute to the ecosystems. This tree has an important role that considers as a best form of coastal bio shield since this can help in reducing the impact of cyclonic storms, hurricanes and tsunami on human lives and properties. It acts as habitats of wildlife, and as a nursery ground for commercially important fish, prawn and crabs and supplying organic and inorganic nutrients.

Moving to the Port Area, the species are mostly dead especially the corals and it is very rare to see some fishes. There are also many sea urchins that will make you scare and panic because you think that they’ll go near you. In Binukbok Resort, the species is very much different than the other one. It has a lot of colorful fishes and corals. And they are all alive. We even fed the fishes there while snorkeling and it was the best experience ever.

After all this experiences, it makes me wonder how beautiful our nature is. I feel so grateful that I’ve been to this once-in-a-lifetime-experience. God is so great to make these things stunningly and perfectly. This nature is in our control now, so we should be aware on possible things that can give harm to our environment.

Changes Brought by Modernization

Authors: Charlene Alibudbud and Camille Bianca Gomez

Here, we explore the modernization of Sta. Rosa City from 1792 up to present and its implications to our society. Living in a city undergoing modernization have both positive and negative effects to the citizens. There are specific changes that are occurring in our society that we don’t even notice happening and we don’t know what the reasons behind these changes are. It is very important for us to be aware of the changes and developments happening in our society. We are going to discuss three major areas which are affected by our city’s modernization:

Environment

Environmental changes are changes that happened physically in the city. We asked our elders about how Santa Rosa used to look back in 1950’s to early 90’s and they told us that Santa Rosa City used to be surrounded by farms and trees which bear different fruits. The roads used to be bumpy and there’s grass everywhere. The houses were Spanish-inspired. Now, there are barely any farms in Santa Rosa and the roads are paved and cemented. A lot of new infrastructures were built along with shopping malls and some companies.

Economic

Economic changes are changes that happened in the city’s local economy. The main difference between today’s local economy and the economy before 2000’s is its source. Back then, the main source of Santa Rosa’s economy was agriculture, fishing, livestock and backyard industries. Today, the main source of our economy are the automobile manufacturing companies, food manufacturing industries, banking, commerce, and shopping centers in our city.

Socio-political

We also asked our elders about the people living in Santa Rosa before. They told us that the people in Santa Rosa before knew each other well and lived in harmony. They always see each other around and they trust their neighbors. They told us that they could leave their doors open and no one would try to rob them. Today, there are now a lot of people in Santa Rosa that weren’t really born and raised here. They come from different places and provinces. Now, it isn’t as easy to trust the people living around you. Most people especially those living in private subdivisions and villages do not even know their neighbors. We have to buy a lot of locks for our doors to make sure we don’t get robbed.

“Tragedy of the Commons” in Taal Lake, researched by Dr. Eric Punzalan

Taal Lake is one of the most tourist spot located in the province of Batangas wherein Taal Volcano, the smallest volcano in the Philippines, can be found. Many of the tourists are visiting this place to witness the beauty behind of this and to feel the fresh air. On your way to Tagaytay, this can be found by just looking at the view. That’s why at first I thought Taal volcano is located in Tagaytay. But despite of many tourists that explore this place, we cannot avoid such things that can make the water of the lake be less contaminated. People nowadays are not truly aware on what they are doing to each place they’re visiting.

That afternoon in De La Salle University Science and Technology Complex, there was a talk that was given by Dr. Eric Punzalan, a researcher and a professor of De La Salle-Manila about his own experience on that place. He mentioned that one time when he went to Taal Lake to roam around by riding on a boat, he felt the itchiness on his skin which pushes himself to observe the water and to make a research of it. To start the observation, they made some water samples and upon doing this laboratory test, he found out that there were a numerous of algae that is lurking around the lake. Another way to determine the number of algae is he captured some pictures of the lake by using of the mini motor powered airplane with the RGB (Red-Green-Blue) values of the pictures. This problem also resulted in having a large number of fish pens that can almost covered up the capacity of the lake. This problem cannot be done if the fish pens will not be banned permanently. 

Modernization in Progress

Each place has its own uniqueness. There are some places that are modernized and some are not-developed. Pinili, Ilocos Norte is where my province is. This is where we usually visit for a summer and Christmas vacation. In Sta. Rosa, Laguna, this serves as my hometown because this is where I was born and grew up. The purpose of this essay is to contrast its features, transportations and the way of living in these two different places.

The first place that I’ll be talking about is my province, Pinili, Ilocos Norte. This place is full of farms and trees. Talking about its features, the only thing that has improve aside from the renovation of schools, are the roads and wet markets. It is a very neat and quiet place. From each houses, there are spaces where you could plant your own trees, fruits, vegetables and flowers. It is very refreshing and you cannot sense any pollution there. It is a good place for relaxing because even though it’s sunny, you can still feel the soft breeze that will touch your skin. In transportations, you don’t usually ride a tricycle here when you go and buy at markets because they are not too far away from your houses. You can just walk by or if you have a bike, you can ride with it. Only two public transportations they’re using there are the busses and tricycles. You can only ride a bus if you wish to get out of this place, same with the tricycles. The way of living in Pinili is very comfortable not unless if you wish to have an internet connection. Living here is like you’re also living from the past because this is not a modernized place yet.

The next place that I’ll be describing is my hometown, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. With its features, you can see many commercial sites that are located here. There are malls, schools, banks, parks, restaurants and hospitals. The only things that you could see mostly are constructions. You’ll see and hear many vehicles that roam around the city that’s why most of the time there are always a traffic jam in different places in Sta. Rosa. The way of living here is very modern and you can do whatever you want like going to malls, surfing the net, eating in the restaurants and many more that will make you satisfied.

Comparing my hometown to the place where I grew up, Sta. Rosa is more modernize than Pinili, and to most people they would prefer Sta. Rosa. Not all places are modernized. It doesn’t matter if you live in a developed place or not, because what matters the most is that you can adapt yourself in different types of places you’ll visit.

Environment We Live In

The word environment, according to this dictionary, it is the surroundings or conditions in which person, animal, or plant lives. It is also the setting or conditions in which a particular activity is carried on. Environment affects our way of life. This shows the changes of our surroundings that include everything from non-living to a living being. The effect of this change can be beneficial or harmful for us. This often changes after some time and therefore many organisms have ability to adapt to these changes.

Environmentalism is an important political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the natural environment by emphasizing the importance of nature role in protection of the environment with the different actions and policies oriented to preserve the nature. Some of the goals of environmentalism are: to reduce world consumption of fossil fuels, to reduce and clean up all sorts of pollution with future goal of zero pollution, emphasis on clean, alternative energy sources that have low carbon emissions, sustainable use of water, land, and other scarce resources, preservation of existing endangered species, and protection of biodiversity. We people are always dependent on the environment we’re living. This is where we breathe for air and give us energy by the sun that passes through our body. It includes the pollutants and other detrimental environmental factors which harmfully affect our life.

In environmental issues and concerns, it gives impact to all living organisms in the earth. So, it is good if we are always aware on our surroundings and give importance on what we are living. Our awareness on this that includes global warming, loss of biodiversity and the need for animal and plant conservation can help in saving the planet and maintain life.

THIS! ♥

Living in Modernization

“Neorul wihae dorabon sigandeul…” this makes up the lovely tune I wake up to every day, it always welcomes me and reminds me that it is now the start of another day in my wonderful hometown. As I open my eyes, the first thing that comes to view is a plain pinkish woody ceiling. Whenever I wake up in the morning, the feeling of sluggishness overwhelms me so I give in to the powerful urge to lay back in my soft, comfortable bed and daydream about the things I would want to do for the rest of the day. Once I get off my bed, the only thing I could hear is my faint footsteps. It is very quiet at home and the only things I could hear outside are the birds chirping and the soft breeze.

I live in a quiet and a city-like subdivision, the Golden City. Our subdivision is quite big compared to other villages in the city. You can already go to a public and private schools here and even to a small college university. Not so long ago, mini grocery store started emerging in our village, the Puregold. There are even a 24 hours convenience store, the Ministop, crowded vendors, wet market and a large catholic church. There are many changes here in our subdivision, just like the city that covers the said subdivision, the City of Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The City of Sta. Rosa is a first class city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. This is known as “The Investment Capital of South Luzon” since 1994. This was mainly known for the Coca-Cola and Toyota manufacturing plants in its industrial estates. Before, Sta. Rosa was just covered by clean grasses and shattered rocky roads. Only few commercial areas are built in this city and the environment is still in a good condition. When large malls emerged all over the country, a few malls also started showing up in Sta. Rosa. These changes helped contribute to our modern society.

According to Howard W. Hunter, “Society has made a great effort to modernize the world in education, communication, travel, health, commerce, housing, and in many other ways, so as to increase the standard of living.” Sta. Rosa is also a society of free thinkers who are hungry for knowledge. The smarter we become the more we can change for the better or worse.

Sustainability: Living for the future

The world and people nowadays is encountering or experiencing many calamities such as disastrous typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. Why do you think these calamities are happening to our world now? It is due to the selfishness of people. I wonder what would happen in the future if we continue to living like this. This is a serious matter that we should be aware of. Do you think that we are in a sustainable path? I think for now the answer is NO, but there is still hope for everything. Nothing is impossible.

What is sustainability? According to what I have learned from the discussion, sustainability creates and maintains the situations in which human and nature can live a life with productive harmony. Sustainability is the capability to endure through renewal, conservation, and nourishment, in contrast to durability or strength, the capacity to undergo through unchanging battle to change. For humans in social systems or ecosystems, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions. It only means that we should be able to sustain what are the primary things that people need for the future generation, example are food, water and clean air.

Without doing anything do you think we can continue living like this? No. The situations we are having right now are worsening every year, if we don’t change our lifestyles, our beliefs. People should start thinking and realizing the effects to our environment especially of their wrongdoings, big or small. We should be responsible enough to stop these actions that can ruin what God had created to us, for us. Start taking care of what He gave us. Start thinking solutions instead of doing nothing. Start cooperating what your communities have to lessen the calamities around us. Even in our own little ways, we can help to resolve these problems we are facing now, I believe that someday our lives will be better and the world will be brighter. Be disciplined, be responsible, be cooperative, and be productive.

My Own Insights

On September 24, 2012, Ms. Dianne asked us to take down notes about the discussion we had that day. It was about the Readiness Survey, a summary of our insights and how we feel about writing and researching. We already shared this to her during our first meeting. The Readiness Survey also includes the Internet and Digital Tools Usage survey we responded to also during our first meeting. As I saw on the survey, the first slide was about how we feel about writing and researching. Out of 64 students, there are 30 that feel positive towards writing, 24 feels apprehensive and 10 are neutral on this topic. On the survey about research, most respondents were neutral.

Ms. Dianne summarized all the insights and feelings of the students when it comes to writing. Of course there were positive and negative reactions. For me and other EnglOne students, we need to improve our writing skills. To improve, especially for those who are having difficulty in grammar, putting thoughts into writing, and those who have limited vocabulary, we need to read because it can help us a lot to gain new words and see how most literary pieces are written and structured. We can gather ideas on that way of practice. To those who have fear of rejection, don’t be because that will not help you a lot. You just try it first then read it, have some friend to read it also and have them evaluate and tell you if your work is excellent or poor and on which areas need improvement. Under the physical factors, there is always an easy way to avoid it and that is just a minor problem for us. Writing is not very difficult, just enjoy it and don’t think about the negative comments that people might say on your writing. We are not yet professionals and we’re still beginners. In 13 weeks allotted for EnglOne, the best problem to address is putting thoughts into writing because most of us including me are having a hard time with this and this is the most important part of writing.

When I’m writing, I usually go to the place where I feel comfortable and relaxed so that the ideas on my mind will flow naturally. I also use my computer to type my essays so that it can easily erase mistakes and to decrease use of paper. Sometimes, finding an inspiration also help me make my work better. Lastly, problems and worries should not get the best of us because this may have a bad effect in our writing skills.