“A Good Education Begins At Home” – Those Teachers Say. “GMRC Begins In Grade School” – This Teacher Says

Allow me to say first that I was educated to be a teacher – BS Ag Edu, UP Los Baños, 1965, weighted average 2.36. I had been engaged in teaching high school students at the Asingan High School in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan, and college students at UPLB Los Baños and Xavier University College of Agriculture, Cagayan De Oro. I passed the Civil Service exam for teachers at its first offering, in 1964: 80.6%. The next year, I was #2 with 90.5% in the qualifying exam for Pangasinan teachers, where #1 was 90.6% (female, from UP Diliman).

The above quote says completely (Facebook sharing Sunday, 24 March 2024, by Virginia Barraquio):

A good Education begins at Home. You cannot blame a school for not nurturing values in your child that you have not instilled.

I teacher disagree!

I say:

Teachers, especially in the elementary, go to school to teach children how, among other things, to behave. Parents are not necessarily taught how to teach their children good manners and right conduct (GMRC), because their own parents may not have learned GMRC themselves! (And no, the Catholic priest does not require GMRC knowledge to marry people.) Among other things, it is the duty of the teacher to teach the children GMRC!

Lei Sison says “Magic Words Like ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You' Must Be Learned at Home, Say Education Professionals” (2019, Smart Parenting, smartparenting.com.ph). “It's important to teach kids good values even before they start schooling.”

Yes, the parents must teach their children good manners like saying “Please” and “Thank you,” but incidences to do so are few and limited. In contrast, from Grade 1 to Grade VII, there is much interaction among the children and teacher and, therefore, the teacher is the most likely (liable) to teach GMRC!

From Canada, ANN says (Author Not Named, 2019, LegalLine.ca, legalline.ca):

Ontario’s Education Act is the main law that governs how public school education is delivered. Section 0.1(2) of the Act states that “the purpose of education is to provide students with the opportunity to realize their potential and develop into highly skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to their society.”

Read again about the purpose of education – for children “to realize their potential” and “to develop into … caring citizens.”

Don’t tell this citizen of the Philippines that the teachers of Canada know more about the basics of educating the children than teachers in my country!

Instead of the parents, the Grade teachers in any country have more time spent with the children during regular days and, therefore, owe more the young ones to teach them not only reading & writing & arithmetic but GMRC!

Relevantly, here is a 4-year old Philippine law about GMRC (Supreme Court E-Library, elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph): Republic Act 11476, “An Act Institutionalizing Good Manners And Right Conduct And Values Education In The K To 12 Curriculum, Appropriating Funds Therefor, And For Other Purposes,” which was passed 25 June 2020.

Now then, a good education begins in Grade School, not at Home!@517

Digital Infrastructure 1st – PSAC Says. No, Digital Knowledge Bank 1st! – FAH Says

How you look at “digital infrastructure” is how good or bad your view and/or delivery of digital knowledge is! So, which of the above images is the Philippines’ Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) being guided by? I say PSAC’s answer to that question will determine how well and how soon those digital services will deliver.

I have been a digital convert since then-Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) William Dar proposed and submitted to PhilRice his proposal for Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA) 24 years ago. OpAPA was a digital eye-opener for me. On my part, then as a consultant for PhilRice, I wrote a book that embodied my idea of OpAPA: “The Geography Of Knowledge” (TGoK), which I submitted as a complete digital copy. (For more of OpAPA & TGoK, see “William Dar – The New Moses With The New Tablets!” 04 Sept 2019, Ani Kitá, blogspot.com). My TGoK demonstrated how the Knowledge Bank could be constructed to serve anyone, including the beginner farmer.

No, OpAPA did not first ask for physical infrastructure; instead, it asked for digital infrastructure – and that is what PSAC should have intended.

You need little physical infrastructure – you need 10 million pieces of digital structure! And you have a 24-year old sample of that with Mr Dar’s OpAPA and my associated TGoK.

Among those discussed is PSAC’s 10,000 Digital Civil Servants project involving trainings to improve the government’s ability to deliver digital services.

PSAC promised beyond 10,000 digital civil servants, 1M digital jobs by 2028.

Okay that. Now, in Agriculture, the #1 Industry in the Philippines, what the country needs right now is a digital Knowledge Bank that teaches day in and day out, 24 hours a day, nonstop!

During the meeting, President Marcos directed the creation of one million digital jobs by 2028 to align opportunities with the evolving needs of the labor market.

Not Labor but Agriculture. 2024, I say, almost immediately – PH can create 1 million digital jobs for collecting knowledge bits & pieces about Agriculture – to help 10 million farmers succeed.

Cellphone agriculture, I recommended earlier. See my essay, “How About A Cellphone-Friendly Knowledge Kingdom For Science & Technology For All Kinds Of Learners?” (18 April 2024, “Communication for Development of Vibrant Villages, blogspot.com). The cellphone is now ubiquitous in Filipino hands – but it’s useless for the search for knowledge right now, as there is no cellphone-friendly Knowledge Bank.

I just saw the DoST-PCAARRD’s Facebook post about its eLibrary having more than 9,400 publications relating to agriculture, aquatic and natural resources. And you can download any of the publications for free! This agriculturist thanks you, PCAARRD, but that means only those who know and understand the technical terms can read and understand any of those publications.

I therefore insist that the Philippine government should develop the Digital Knowledge Bank first. Initially, we may have to employ 1,000 digital knowledge diggers, after training them even without meeting them physically.

Then: On to knowledge at the tip of one’s fingers!@517

Dancehall – Dance, Dance On Little Girl!”

“Female Dancehall” – for females only. “Open Dancehall” – for males & females. It’s not the sex being emphasized; it’s the dance. The image above is from my daughter Neenah Hilario-Jacinto’s Facebook post that I saw today, Monday, 22 April 2024. I did not know this, but dancehall calls for creative dancing!

In Jamaica, let us continue the interesting history of the dancehall:

Themes of social injustice, repatriation and the Rastafari movement were overtaken by lyrics about dancing, violence and sexuality. … The radio was very conservative and failed to play the people's music. It was this gap that the sound system was able to fill with music that the average Jamaican was more interested in. (There) was the addition of the fashion, art, and dance that came along with it. This made Dancehall both a genre, and a way of life.

Let me repeat: In Jamaica, “People’s music…. Alongside this music was the addition of the fashion, art, and dance… This made Dancehall both a genre, and a way of life.”

That is to say, dancehall also shows a way of celebrating life!
(“Just Dance” from shutterstock.com)

What is dance? Jessica Hitch says (Study.com, study.com):

Dance is a form of creative expression that involves moving the body in rhythm [with] musical accompaniment.

Dancers might communicate emotion through dance or use dance to enjoy the experience of being in a physical body. … In order to meet the dance definition, a movement needs expressiveness rather than just functionality.

ANN says (Author Not Named, 2022, “What Is Dance?” Louis, louis.pressbooks.pub):

Painting, sculpture, and architecture are arts that exist in space. It is through the design of space that these arts are created. Dance is the only art that is a creation in both time and space.

I want to repeat that: “Dance is the only art that is a creation in both time and space.” Dancehall specially calls for creative dancing. You create your own dance – from your passion, desires etcetera: all that which you can display with your pleasure to create in your viewer their pleasure.

Wikipedia says the cultural origins of dancehall is Jamaica (“Dancehall” (Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org), especially Kingston. “By the 2010s, it began to heavily influence the work of established Western artists and producers, which has helped to further bring the genre into the Western music mainstream.”

That is to say: Dancehall is both music and moves, both for the eyes and ears. Dancehall is not simply the special dance; it is also the special music.

Dancehall is named after Jamaican dance halls in which popular Jamaican recordings were played by local sound systems. It both refers to the music and dance style.

I repeat: “Dancehall both a genre and a way of life.” If you are true to the nature of dancehall, you will dance to show your way of life!
(“Just Dance” from shutterstock.com)

“Don’t use your energy to worry. Use your energy to love, create, grow, evolve, manifest, and uplift” is Aimee Emejas’ Facebook sharing today. Remember all that. Now then, come on to the dancehall and dance!@517

Facebook – The Album Of The World. Thank You, Mark Zuckerberg!

Facebook – Happy sharings on holidays taken, birthdays, trips, vacations, little discoveries, family members marking milestones. Unhappy sharings to ease the pain. What would I/you do without Facebook? We would be lost in the woods of words! 
(bottom image from theverge.com)

At 83+, and being a person with disabilities on the feet (both), eyes, ears, waist and middle, but always a digital nomad, I spend hours and hours on Facebook – and then I spend more hours blogging. And announce each blogpost on Facebook.
(top image with me at left, grabbed from Facebook)

I also browse Facebook slowly to get ideas for my blogposts, to read and read and read Facebook entries, and respond to some. Always positively, I intend to be.

On Facebook, you don’t have to be a writer to post anything: image and/or text/message, singular or plural. And you can do it repeatedly, no charge. What would the world do now without Facebook?!

Facebook is not only for showing Faces but also for also for sharing Phases of one’s (or one’s family) life/lives; Facebook is also for asking questions, whether you know the answer or not, either to provoke or to be informed. (Intelligently: No, you don’t take anybody’s word for it – there is always the wide, wonderful, open world of googling to know more or less!)

Facebook is for local, national and international views and reviews. If your mind is open, you will learn or unlearn. Personally, I always check on the Internet either on what I do not know or understand. (I browse also for images, of course, with proper acknowledgement of sources.)

Whoever or whatever you are, whether ambulant or not, Facebook is a good medium for your thoughts travelling, sharing with people at large. The way you share is the way you get treated – positive or negative.

What is the best thing I can say about Facebook? That Facebook is open – also opinionated – frank, revealing, informative, contrarian. In any case, you can always google and check out any claim or opinion or straight statement.

Personal note: When you share something, it does not help you if all you show is your face! No matter how beautiful you are, your face becomes a disturbance after several posts or shares. Why not beautiful thoughts, even if they are not original? (Just be sure to acknowledge your source/s.)

Whether you are acting intelligently or in the absence of thinking (which you may or may not realize), Facebook is a good medium for sharing what beautiful and/or non-beautiful thoughts. Facebook is for sharing opinion, pro or con.

Whatever you are sharing and no matter how you state it – please be positive and nice! – it’s your opinion and you are entitled to it, but so am I entitled to my opinion of your opinion!

My final plea: “Please don’t be negative. Corrective yes; comparing another perspective, yes; presenting another starting point, yes – but not outright negative.

Finally: In case the owner, Mark Zuckerberg/Meta changes the name “Facebook” to “Meta,” I say that that would mean Facebook’s Death!@517

Farmers Can Learn To Escape The Drought If We Examine How They Have Abused The Soil!

In Agriculture: (1) When we have water, we have too much; surprisingly, we are happy! (upper image, from benarnews.org); (2) When we don’t have water, we are unhappy, of course! (lower image, from philstar.com).

You are hot and I am hot! How do you explain the hot days? El Niño is here, and ANN says it could last 12 months (Author Not Named, undated, US National Ocean Service, oceanservice.noaa.gov). What can we do about it? That’s another question.

In Agriculture, as the lower image indicates, Romina Cabrera says “31 Provinces Now Affected By Drought” (10 April 2024, PhilStar, philstar.com). I conservationist say, actually, all PH provinces are affected by the drought, but especially the farmlands, because they are used to having much water for irrigating the crops. Old habits die hard.

According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), there are 82 provinces in the Philippines; that means more than 1/3 of the country is now short of water for irrigation, commerce and village uses.

Ms Romina says, as a reporter, from an unstated source:

Drought conditions are characterized by below normal rainfall or a 21 to 60 percent reduction from the average for five consecutive months, or way below normal rainfall for three consecutive months.

So, even during a drought, there is rainfall, if not much. And what do farmers do with the water, from the rain or from the irrigation canal? They always try to flood the field – and I say that is wasting water!

With little or no irrigation water, why don’t farmers practice what I will call here Rotavator WEALTH, which stands for Rotavator Working With Waste Enriching Area Leading To Territorial Health.

And how does a farmer operate the rotavator to create that WEALTH? Simply run the rotavator without setting a depth of cut – that will cut the weeds and/or crop leftovers to pieces and at the same time cut the soil and simultaneously mix the plant and soil materials together – you have a WEALTH of a field!

What happens when you produce a Rotavator WEALTH? Three things:

(1)          You don’t need irrigation.

(2)          Your soil will be healthy; you don’t need fertilizer, neither organic nor chemical.

(3)          Your crop will be healthy.

(4)          Your healthy crop will give you a healthy yield.

(5)          Your family’s bank account will be healthy!

#1, Because the HEALTH layer you created will tap the capillary water from the underground and that would be enough for your crop’s liquid needs.

#2, Because already the WEALTH layer is your fertilizer!

#3, Because your crop will be nourished by natural richness, it will be naturally healthy.

#4, Because your crop is healthy, it will give you a healthy harvest.

#5, Because you don’t buy fertilizer or pesticide, whatever you get from your sales is your profit! Minimum cost, maximum returns.

Now, since not one of the rotavator models existing today will produce automatically what I have just described as WEALTH on the field:

Now, to reinvent the rotavator! Any volunteer to finance The Rotavator WEALTH Project?@517

 

Beauty & The Beast!

Background: You are looking at the beautiful, almost-perfect-cone Mayon Volcano in Albay. They say Mt Fuji rivals Mayon, but as a Filipino, my vote goes to Mayon. Beauty & The Best!

And so it makes me sad to read this on Facebook. Beneath Rene Bernardo Bajit’s Facebook sharing 17 April 2024, it says above the image:

Big cone, little cone. A quiet, beautiful life with nature. When there’s peace and a kind environment, it’s a good feeling to come home (to) a simple hut, and with a background like a fairy tale painting of a perfect coned volcano. But it’s real! (One of a few unique profiles of Mt Mayon, an active volcano in southern Philippines, taken by environment advocate Paula Fernandez.

Yes, Mayon Volcano has a perfect cone. That’s a real photo up there, by Ms Paula. The thing that bothers me in the photograph is the presence of a hut on top of a hill surrounded by other balding hills – Beauty & The Beast. What’s the Department of Environment & Natural Resources doing about this? What can we do about it?

I would not be surprised if down there and up there in Mayon, there are other and bigger bald places. Partly Neglected is what I see, not romanticism as Ms Paula does. Googling, I see 2 Paula Fernandez’s – never mind. The point is, Ms Paula is only talking about the beauty amidst the ugliness!

People, we have to do something about among other sites other than balding hills, so that with their trees and other vegetation, they can help absorb the heat from El Niño! (Yes, definitely that hut will have to go.)

I was once upon a time a registered member of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists (PNEJ), with Imelda Albano as President  – and PNEJ visited Albay when Joey Salceda was Governor and had been declared “Climate Champion” for the world. There was a meeting of governors and they talked about Climate Change – Political Climate Change takes too long!

We must be nature-conscious gardeners – but we hardly do anything about chemical gardening. We must be responsible gardeners, as House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda put it 4 years ago: “Plant Wise: Responsible Gardening” (Climate Change Commission, climate.gov.ph).

Ms Loren has been doing her part. Some 4 years ago, this piece of news appeared, written by ANN: “Legarda: Urgent Climate Action Needed As 2020 Is Set To Become One Of The Warmest Years On Record” (Author Not Named, 19 Dec 2020, Climate Change Commission, climate.gov.ph). So! As it turns out, 2024 is one of the warmest years on record!

Yes, we can fight the heat! When we garden, we must make sure that the soil is not bare of garden and/or flowering plants. When we farm, we must make sure that the soil is not exposed to direct sunlight.

About the bald hills above, we must see to it that they are covered with plants, as much as possible the same kind that grew before.

We need all the green ground covers we can get – for pleasant locations and vacations!@517

How About A Cellphone-Friendly Knowledge Kingdom For Science & Technology For All Kinds Of Learners?

It intrigues me – an 83-year old digital denizen since 1991 when the Internet came to the Philippines – that a PH newspaper has set up a web-based technology section – the PhilStar Tech. That’s what I would call “media acknowledging Internet possibilities.”

Dawn Solano writes, “Science Finds Its Home In Alabat Island, Addressing Young Filipinos’ Science Education” (17 April 2024, PhilStar Tech, philstartech.com). Of the above image, Ms Dawn says, “Three students interact with the Ring Bubbles exhibit at the Mini Science Centrum (at the) Cesar C Tan Memorial National High School in Quezon on 05 April 2024.”  Renato Solidum Jr, Chief of the Department of Science & Technology (DoST) led the inauguration of the museum.

Ms Dawn says Mr Solidum told her, “This signifies an opportunity for better learning as they will be exposed to the foundations of science that would explain the ordinary things that they see.” And: “For DoST, the establishment of science museums in far-flung provinces will expose young Filipino learners to the practical application of science in their daily lives.”

This is a surprise to me, as well as probably Ms Dawn, who says: “The island has been in a continuous transformation in trade, culture, and education. As the people of Alabat become more adept with technology and innovation, they welcome another venture that focuses on the local youth’s exposure to science.”

It was the DoST, via its regional office in Calabarzon, that built that mini-science centrum. I go back now to Ms Dawn’s point, in her news titled “Science… Addressing Young Filipinos Science Education.” I see something else.

Differently, how can the nationally ubiquitous cellphone become science-friendly and learner-friendly? I’m Internet-friendly. Thus, where I sit, I recommend that DoST construct a science knowledge website that is understandable by high school students – and farmers.

DoST must not forget that Agriculture is the #1 industry in the Philippines and, young and old alike should know more about what feeds them – or what fails them.

Ms Dawn says:

(DoST Head Mr) Solidum believes that the interest of people in science is related to the opportunities they have to understand science. He said that opportunities like these, referring to the mini science centrum, will help increase young Filipinos’ accurate understanding and appreciation for science.

He also said:

We have to get the interest of the young ones, but then as they get older, we need now to show how science is applied to address their common issues at the community or at the scale of the global community.

Since I am an agriculturist, I value more Agriculture Science than any other Science. And yes Sir! We must look at Agriculture Science at the scale of the Global Community.

Why the cellphone as the medium for learners of science? Because it is ubiquitous – I suppose every Filipino family now has more than one of the gadget. You have witnessed many things via the cellphone – then you will witness whoever & wherever you are many things of science that are of value to you!@517

Here’s How To Enjoy Being An Artist, Or Being One Of Your Choice

 "World Art Day” or “World Artists Day”? – if you cannot tell the difference, you are (not yet) a good artist! Yesterday, 15 April, had been declared “World Art Day.” Wikipedia says (en.wikipedia.org):

World Art Day is an international celebration of the fine arts which was declared by the International Association of Art (IAA) in order to promote awareness of creative activity worldwide.

Ha! “Art” is not simply “Fine Art” whatever that means – Art is art! And it should ennoble mankind, all of it. I am a teacher; teaching is an art, and it should be ennobled too!

It is wrong to limit “World Art Day” to the fine arts. And that is why I have a long list of the arts (see my earlier essay, “Artists Of The World, Unite! We Have Nothing To Lose But Our Chains!” (16 April 2024, “Communication For The Development Of Vibrant Villages,” blogspot.com).

The point is: Most of our artists produce negative art. And they expect to produce positive results!

We need “artists for a better world” as has been said by a group of “artists working to make a difference” (artistsforabetterworld):

As an artist, you probably had a reason for choosing a most challenging path. Maybe it was to put more beauty into the world. Or perhaps, you had songs that needed to be sung. Words that needed to be written, read, spoken. Dances that needed to be danced. Art that needed to be broadcast far and wide. Whatever your purpose, it probably included the idea of using your art to make a better world.

Teaching is an art. As a teacher myself, I urge all teachers to produce artists among the learners. Filipinos are very critical people. At the very least, I urge teachers to teach each learner to think creatively, not merely think critically!

I repeat here my list of who are the artists of society (from my previous article, mentioned above): “Article writer, blogger, book writer, essayist, exhibit maker, filmmaker, piano player, placard maker, poet, singer, songwriter etc.” I cannot emphasize enough that not only those who engage in fine arts are “artists” – that is quite a limited concept!

Blogging is an art form – it has been my art in the last 24 years.

As a blogger myself, I urge all bloggers to think through their articles and come up with positives, which they openly discuss – while they do not openly cuss the negatives!

I a teacher am an artist, or should be. I should try to inspire to bring out the best in my students, always.

There are many columnists and article writers in media, and magazines – and most are artists writing with a bad mood – mostly, they write to contradict, not point out where one has gone astray or something.

For instance, if you promise a PhP 20/kilo of rice, to be a good artist, you should point out where you are coming from: Vision, Mission, Strategy! If you prefer to be a good politician but a bad artist, that’s your choice!@517

Artists Of The World, Unite! We Have Nothing To Lose But Our Chains!

 

ABS-CBN on Monday, 15 April 2024 shares a post on Facebook titled “World Art Day” and says: “Happy World Art Day, Kapamilya!” (“Co-Family”). It shares the image above that says, “A masterpiece is still a masterpiece even when the lights are OFF and the room is empty.” Chariotte Geier. Below the image it says:

“SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS.
Tribute to those who share their masterpieces for all or even just the elite.”

I writer say: The term “Art” is not confined to masterpieces. Kimberley Kruge says (Picsart, picsart.com):

World Art Day is a UNESCO holiday dedicated to creative work in all of its forms. The day is meant to foster creativity around the world in a diverse way. It’s about opening up a global conversation about artistry.

Nota bene: “To foster creativity around the world in a diverse way.” And what are those diverse ways of creativity? “Creative works,” my list, alphabetical:

Article
Blog
Book
Essay
Exhibit
Film
Piano Piece
Placard
Poem
Song
etcetera.

In each one, your creativity can range from “Very Creative” to “Ordinary Creativity” – World Art Day would/should be celebrating more the ExtraOrdinary!

I quote again ABS-CBN:

“SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS.
Tribute to those who share their masterpieces for all or even just the elite.”

A total of 22 words – that’s all ABS-CBN can say about “World Art Day”!?

What is art?  About “World Art Day,” Wikipedia says (en.wikipedia.org)

World Art Day is an international celebration of the fine arts which was declared by the International Association of Art (IAA) in order to promote awareness of creative activity worldwide.

Establishment

A proposal was put forward at the 17th General Assembly of the International Association of Art in Guadalajara to declare April 15 as World Art Day, with the first celebration held in 2012. This proposal was sponsored by Bedri Baykam of Turkey and co-signed by Rosa Maria Burillo Velasco of Mexico, Anne Pourny of France, Liu Dawei of China, Christos Symeonides of Cyprus, Anders Liden of Sweden, Kan Irie of Japan, Pavel Kral of Slovakia, Dev Chooramun of Mauritius, and Hilde Rognskog of Norway. It was accepted unanimously by the General Assembly.

The date was decided in honor of the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci was chosen as a symbol of world peace, freedom of expression, tolerance, brotherhood and multiculturalism as well as art’s importance to other fields.

Never mind the rest of the world, but why did not the Philippines declare today, Monday, 15 April as “World Art Day” and sponsored a public program at the Philippine International Convention Center?

Filipino artists are Very Important People! VIPs. They are very important to the present and future of our country! It is wrong to ignore them.

The rest of us Filipinos have ignored our own artists by ignoring to celebrate publicly and/or state publicly that, if they pass the strict criteria, our actors, actresses, article writers, bloggers, book authors, essayists, exhibit makers, filmmakers, piano piecemakers, placard makers, poets, singers, songwriters etcetera –

Artists, if constructive, should be declared heroes for their country!@517

Your Life Is Precious – So Are The Lives/Loves Of Others You May Not Know!

This blog of mine, “Communication For The Development Of Vibrant Villages,” has a slogan, which is “Live And Let Live” (blogspot.com), and I want to explain it now – because it is the one that I think of first before I write my essay for this blog.

ANN says the proverb means: “Run your own life the way you want to, and let others do the same; be tolerant of differences” (Author Not Named, undated, BookBrowse, bookbrowse.com).

Noted, that. Personally, an agriculturist (UP Los Baños Ag Ed 1965), I take it to mean much, much more than that, because I am aware that humans are not alone in Mother Nature, that when we do agriculture, we are dealing with a million lives! And these lives are as important in the workings of the world as our lives are – whether we realize it or not, our lives depend on those lives in many ways. Mother Nature exists for us – we must exist for Mother Nature.

The image above, from BookBrowse, bookbrowse.com), says more: “Live, Love, Explore, Travel, Laugh, Infinite, Venture, Everyone.” No exceptions!

People, aside from people, “Live and let live” is how I see the workings of what has been termed as “Regenerative Agriculture” and which is essentially “organic” in nature.

“Chemical Agriculture” (CA), the current worldwide mode, is the exact opposite of organic agriculture. With chemical fertilizer, the farmer kills the microorganisms in the soil – the farmer does NOT live and let live! With chemical pesticides, the farmer kills the organisms, micro and macro, who feed on the crops because they are “delicious” – they contain the unnatural chemicals that the farmer has introduced through his chemical fertilizers. The farmer thus becomes his own farming enemy. RA saves the farmer from his destructive self!

I like to repeat my list of 13 RA:

1, Compost application
2, Cover cropping
3, Crop rotation
4, Farm crops + tree crops
5, Green manuring
6, Intercropping
7, Multiple cropping
8, No-till farming
9, Organic fertilization
10, Ratooning
11, “Three Sisters”
12, Trap cropping
13, Trash mulching.

About the broad subject, Michelle Metech says (Britannica, britannica.com):

Regenerative agriculture, alternative to modern industrial agriculture that prioritizes conserving and rehabilitating the land, tailoring specific practices to local ecosystems and climates. As with sustainable agriculture, regenerative agriculture focuses on reducing the impact of production on the land, but regenerative farming goes further by also actively improving the health of the soil. According to an estimate by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, more than half of farmland around the world is degraded. Regenerative practices help protect farmers’ livelihoods, the global food supply, biodiversity, and the health of the planet.

According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) group, if large-scale regenerative agricultural practices were applied worldwide, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture could be greatly reduced,

About greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, do you believe the UNCCD or not? My guess: Differently, you believe in Chemical Agriculture, so I say, “You have the right to be wrong!”@517

Ingenious For Catholicism, Pope Francis! Inspiring Me To Ingenuity With Students Catholic Or Not

I see Pope Francis changing the conduct of the Roman Catholic Cathecism class with his idea of a “School of Prayer” (Cindy Wooden, 12 April 2024, “Pope Turns Rome Catechism Class Into 'School Of Prayer',” NCR Online, ncronline.org).

The above image shows Pope Francis listening to a question as he meets with 200 children at the St Joan Vianney parish on the eastern edge of Rome, 11 April 2024, amidst his “School of Prayer” initiative.

Inadvertently, Pope Francis is changing the face of Roman Catholicism. If slowly.

Ms Cindy says Pope Francis “has asked Catholics around the world to observe 2024 as a "Year of Prayer" in preparation for the Holy Year,” 2025:

The pope's lesson for the children focused on the theme of prayers of thanksgiving, the Dicastery for Evangelization said in a statement afterward.

It is important to say thank you for everything. For example, if you go into someone's house and you don't say thank you or may I or hello, is that nice?" he asked. "The first word is 'thank you.'

Pope Francis gave each child a folder containing, among others, a special prayer of thanks composed for the occasion; “the prayer thanked God for the gift of life, the gift of parents, the gift of creation and, especially, ‘the gift of your Son, our brother and savior, friend of the small and the poor’." Gifts!

You taught us to call you 'Father,' and with your word you call us to live as true sons and daughters, to be brothers and sisters who walk together in the grace of the faith we received with our baptism," the text continued. "Thank you, Lord, who loves us.”

Francis asked the children if they pray, and one of the youngsters said his family prays before they eat.

"You said something important," the pope told him. They should all thank the Lord for the food they eat and for giving them families.

Me: On the part of parents, we should all be thanking the Lord for giving each of our children an innate primary intelligence – each parent has one’s own.

Inspired with all that, a Roman Catholic and a teacher myself, I am thinking of changing the face and facts of the whole high school education in the Philippines. Introducing my idea of being INGENIOUS:
Individuals
Neatly in
Groups
Encouraging
Native and/or Natural
Intelligences’
Outputs in
United
Struggles.

Interactively, INGENIOUS will bring out individual intelligences, encouraging participants to contribute her/his innate talent – following the theory of Multiple Intelligences by Harvard Professor Howard Gardner.

I see that it is now the duty of every teacher, from Grade School to Grad School, to help discover and develop each individual’s innate talent.

Individual geniuses: Learning from Pope Francis, high school teachers could be assigning group projects that encourage students (and the teacher to encourage them) to use their “hidden” talents, being “Word Smart. Reasoning Smart. Picture Smart. Body Smart. Music Smart, People Smart. Self-Smart. Nature Smart. Critic Smart.

No coercion, no bullying. Give thanks to God!@517

Wake Up! DENR. You Have Been Slipping On The Job!

Facebook post 01 April 2024, news from The Philippine Star written by Bella Cariaso: “Angat Dam Water Level Drops To 190 Meters,” damn close to its minimum operating level of 180 meters. It’s abnormal – PAGASA says the normal high water level of Angat Dam is 212 meters. (And PAGASA says the water level could further deteriorate to 180 meters in June.)

The above Facebook post dated 01 April 2024 is not an April Fools’ joke – but we are fools if we do not do something about it! Foolish, we have not been doing anything about it, I mean, not stopping the decline of the water level at Angat Dam.

Nota bene: “Angat Dam supplies more than 90 percent of Metro Manila’s potable water needs.” That is to say, if we do not stop the water level of the dam from decreasing, it means we do not care what happens to the residents of Metro Manila when it comes to their water supply!

Ms Bella says Angat Dam also “provides water for irrigating 25,000 ha of farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga.” That means, the lowering of the water level in the dam endangers also the irrigation needs of farmers in Bulacan and Pampanga.

Yes, we can stop the water level from decreasing. But we have been sleeping on the job!

As a communicator for the development of villages since pre-digital days (1975-1980), being for Forest Research Institute (now ERDB) the Founder and The Editor In Chief of the monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitat – I learned much and wrote much about the roles of forests in our lives, one of those roles being for the forest to be the watershed – meaning the source of water of dams downstream.

So, the water level of Angat Dam actually depends on the status of the watershed feeding it. And? And that status depends on how much we have deforested, seen or unseen, the watershed!

So, instead of simply shrugging it off, local government units (LGUs) should be urging and watching the Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) truly enforce PH’s laws on logging – and stop both big illegal logging and small illegal logging (kaingineros). The loggers, as well as the kaingineros, are both guilty of deforesting our mountains – and therefore, guilty of Angat Dam (and any other dam’s) water level going down!

What should we do?

Let us use our heads – and our cellphones! Call the DENR and ask them what they have been doing to prevent irrigation and water dams from lowering their water levels – meaning, their sources of water, the forests, have been deforested and continue to be deforested and/or unreplanted or unrestored.

We cannot simply read the news and let it go at that! So, use your cellphone now and text or call the DENR!

Alternatively, call on those LGUs to wake up and call on the DENR to wake up and impose the law on deforestation!

Cellphones on the ready – call the DENR now. The more cellphone calls, the merrier!@517