As of this moment, the Australian segment of the Live Earth concert had just kicked-off and among those to perform is one of my most fave rock band of all time, Crowded House. The news had gathered that tens of thousands of participants have shown up in various venues around the globe in order to partake and witness this very historic event that aims to create global awareness on global warming and the negating effect it brings or has already brought to our environment. Looks like it is bound to be one successful giant event and therefore a great feat for its organizers.

Al Gore must be feeling so pleased as of this moment, savoring this latest achievement. We, who are concerned so much of our environs, could might as well be thanking the high heavens for letting Al Gore lose his presidential bid some years ago and then having a weak nomination bid for the Democratic Party standard-bearer just recently. While some said that his extraordinary effort in combating or publicizing the effects of greenhouse gasses to our atmosphere---winning an Oscar in fact for “Inconvenient Truth”--- he deserves all the more to be president of the United States of America. But if he was in Washington D.C., he would possibly have no choice but to protect the economic interest of America and push back any call for reduction of industrial emission; for this would surely make American industries all the more uncompetitive against rising industrial giants like China and India, as well as perennial rivals in Japan and Europe. So it would be good if he were not president. This way, he won’t be tied to any political interest and could decide and act more appropriately. This way, he’d be doing what he does best and be so effective in it.

In initiating anti-global warming activities like Live Earth, Mr. Al Gore is surely in his ocean, in the air that he breathes best. With this, I give my most heartfelt salute to Mr. Gore. I had not always been a fan, especially years back when he was just a seemingly stoic and one-sided politician; but now, he shows what he really can do and what he can achieve.

I’ve just caught my eye on this headlined article about the recent plan of the European Union to curtail or even impede the fishing of bluefin tuna in the european side of the Atlantic and towards the Mediterranean seas where most of them actually thrive.

This move is apparently the result of environmentalists’ reports that stocks of the highly-priced tuna specie is fast dwindling and would soon be extinct if fishing for such would not be drastically brought down to unprecedented (low) levels.

Tsk..tsk…we used to worry solely of dolphins and whales disappearing from our seas, (along with for-rich-only sturgeons in the Black Sea) but now, the luscious tuna would soon be on our list. Statistics shows that bluefin may not be the only tuna specie that would be at risk of extinction but also the more prevalent ones like the yellowfin and skipjack, two species that the Philippines is a major exporter of---about half-a-billion dollars worth of shipment to the United States and Japan.

In a year, the entire catch of tuna reaches nearly 3 Million tons and with such gargantuan magnitude, environmentalists from the WWF sees intense overfishing and cries out the need for a general limit to fishing quotas across the globe.

I wonder if this present tuna debacle would soon affect the rack prices of my favorite Century Tuna's over at my favorite grocery store just a block away. Over the years, I have seen the steady rice of canned tuna to nearly double of what it had cost some five years ago. It used to be around somewhere 17 bucks per pop but now, it can go as high as 30 pesos. I often squirm seeing those ever-changing white sticker price tags pasted on them tuna cans.

I could say that I am a tuna fanatic and I want to eat it uncooked, with chunks and chunks of it dipped in savory oil or brine, and steamy rice on the side. Forget about chickenjoys or mcburgers, but when I feel the need for real hearty meal, I’d just be hiking off to that grocery store I had mentioned above and eat to my heart’s delight.

An uncle once told me that in America, tunas are merely consumed as cat food. I wonder if this is true. Do you think that American cats are so privileged kind that them mewwing lots had made Uncle Sam as this nation’s number one importer of tuna products? I don’t think so.

Apparently, the ever-growing demand for Japanese concoctions called sushi and sashimi are behind the present overfishing issue of tunas from the world’s ocean. Japan consumes nearly a quarter of the world’s tuna catch.

Japanese appetite for raw fish now not only becomes responsible for the whale extinction scare, but also of the present threat to tuna’s dwindling stock in the seas.

Tsk..tsk..all I can say is that “God save the tuna in our seas”.

Initially after I read the subheadings in the Philippine Daily Inquirer frontpage of yesterday's issue (March 7, 2007), I just couldn’t believe my eyes and I have to re-read it at least twice after that. The article placed in the right corner of the paper announced how the very credible international consumer survey company AC Nielsen, in its report “Online Consumer Opinion Survey”, collated results that shows that Filipinos who have access to Internet has the highest awareness rating on the issue of global warming. Yes, Filipinos topped the survey conducted among online users from 47 countries, with over 25,000 users covered. This is entirely relevant to us since this should show that in actuality, Filipinos are generally knowledgeable about Internet use and had been using it in a very useful manner. Awareness of environmental issues makes it all the more pleasant where despite its urgency as a social issue, global warming is to me the least understood among the problems that hound the world today. War in Iraq and weather catastrophes are issues that should top recognizance among the general population, around the world, but topics such as global warming often takes a backseat, mostly because its so technical and scientific in nature and the every John and Jane wouldn’t have much time to ponder about. Remember what they say about short attention span.

Maybe one can imagine how it would go if people on the streets are to be asked about the subject of global warming spontaneously; to be sure we’d get funny faces and empty stares.

I would have expected Americans to be most rationally aware of global warming, with Al Gore having had a very popular run with his campaign againts it, through a popular documentary and frequent public speeches on this subject. Or even Europeans whose icy weather could be most radically affected if the onset of global warming strengthens in the future.

Yet, the online Filipino can claim to be surfers and readers of significant subjects online, and not merely the usual stuff individuals often dig in the net, like social networking and pornographic materials.

I think this is an achievement in every sense.

It took 113 scientists to point this out and though it may not be as surprising to CNN's commentators when they reported this morning about the new scientific report on global warming, it is to me (considering what we always say about rocket scientists having to be the ones to know some difficult things). The said report resolved that after thorough discussions and research, it is now mostly believed that globalwarming or the effect of such to our environment is caused by 'human activity', meaning the incessant spewing of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere such as carbon dioxide and methane---as a result of the so called 'human activity' such as the use of fossil fuel in our cars and factories.

So this may lead us to ponder whether as car drivers or owners and patrons of factory products from shoes to plastic bags, whether or not we should blame ourselves for being one. When did owning a car becomes a wrong thing to do? Isn't this a free world in which we live in? Apparently, there is an unmistable truth everytime we pour gasoline into our car's tanks for in effect we become primary suspects (90% of the time) of contributing to the warming of the atmosphere.

It has been deduced that in the last century alone, global temperature had increased by 1 degree celcius onthe average, and with the rapid modernization of the world today---like the industrial jaggernaut in China---Earth's temperature would increase by an estimated 5 degrees celcius in the next one hundred years, an increment that is enough to melt polar ice in the North Pole. When that happens, scientists foresee the disappearance of many coastal cities, including famous ones like Los Angeles and Tokyo.

So what does humanity do now that 'human activity' is such a culprit for global warming? That is the million dollar question that we gravely faced today considering the fact that it is just improbable for each and everyone of us just to stop driving our cars or patronizing factory products cold turkey. Scientists prescribes a compromise and this means moderation or even the non-use of fossil fuel in factories and vehicles---but that's so much easier said than done.

But in my own personal way---everytime I start the car's engine---I try to think what global warming means and the effect of carbon dioxide on our environement and ponder on what I can do about it. Other than that, I'd be at a lost. I just can't stop driving, that is.