Mangroves and Beach Forest Greenbelts

Mangroves and Beach Forest Greenbelts

Towards a Culture of Safety for Philippine Coastal Communities

        

             Mangroves are trees and bushes that are planted in marine coastal areas where these plants are standing out of the water during high tide. I learned from Dr. Primavera that these mangroves could be used as a protection of the coastal areas from future typhoons and storm surges. They serve as barriers and natural walls, shielding the houses of the people near coastal areas from the strength of the typhoon. The surge can only destroy the leaves but they cannot uproot the mangroves because they are deep rooted and strong as said by Dr. Primavera. In addition, mangroves are also good in capturing carbon, a major greenhouse gas that causes global warming here on Earth.

          Aside from the protection that mangroves give, they can also increase production because they provide nursery grounds for sea creatures. More over, they can also clean the dirty water especially when they are located near the factories. These are some uses of mangroves that were discussed during the forum; and out of curiosity, I researched more about mangroves and found out that there are some other uses besides protection coastal areas from storms.

These information about mangroves that I got are factual because they have evidences when Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines. It was mentioned in the forum that there were mangroves planted in few parts of the coastal areas of Tacloban. The speaker mentioned McArthur area had mangroves and after the typhoon, the area was not as devastated as the others. And this just proves that the protection that mangroves give is really true.

I’m glad that the DENR has allocated 347 million pesos for the restoration of mangroves areas and beach forests in coastal areas that was hit by the typhoon. I hope that they would not only do it in the areas that were badly hit but also for the other parts of the country so that they will also be protected from these kinds of calamities.

          I’ve read an article stating that Environment Secretary Ramon Paje is preparing the program, which will include the no – build zones in coastal areas. Paje also added that they would be starting planting soon since these mangroves will take 5 to 7 years to grow fully. The DENR is also hoping to convert ponds into mangrove forests because according to the speaker of the forum, ponds are threats to mangroves. I guess this is a good sign that the people in the government and the citizens have awakened to face the reality. These projects of the government would be a good start in the restoration of the damaged places.

      According to Filiberto Pollisco, a research specialist of ASEAN Center of Biodiversity, mangroves are one of nature’s best ways for combating global warming. So now that we know about these facts, we better start planting mangroves in the coastal areas to prevent the area from getting damaged. 

Sources: 

Presse, A. “PHL to plant more mangroves in wake of super typhoon Yolanda”. GMA News Online. 25 Nov. 2013. Web. <http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/336965/news/nation/phl-to-plant-more-mangroves-in-wake-of-super-typhoon-yolanda>

Ranada, P. “Mangroves are PH’s best shield vs climate change”. Rappler News. 22 Nov. 2013. Web. <http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/40420-ph-mangroves-climate-change>

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/292188/quezon-seen-as-ph-mangrove-haven

          

Just Juice It: The Pros and Cons of Juicing

If you’ve been active on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, read Fitness magazines, or browsed through newspapers these past couple of months, then you’ve certainly encountered at least one post, ad, or article about the latest diet fad: Juicing. What is it and why have people made such a fuss about it?

Juicing is basically extracting or squeezing out juice from mixed fruits and vegetables. This may either be taken along with a meal, as a snack or an energy booster before exercising, or as a meal itself. The testimonials from countless actors and actresses, gym buffs, athletes, and other public figures, along with the impressive ads and promos released by several booming juice companies have made juicing the “in” thing today. But before you jump into the juicing bandwagon, do yourself a favor and consider its benefits as well as its drawbacks.

So what exactly can juicing do for you? If you aren't fond of munching on fruits and veggies, juicing is a healthy and delicious way to add them into your diet. Aside from this, juicing can also help you shed unwanted pounds. According to juicing expert Rika Susan, “The biggest plus of a juicing for weight loss program is that it adds valuable, bio-available micro-nutrients with a wealth of health benefits at a minimal calorie cost, with no dietary fat.” Of course, this has to be coupled with proper diet and regular exercise. Lastly, juicing fans claim that it can reduce your risk of cancer, boost your immune system, aid in digestion, and perhaps its most publicized benefit, is its ability to detoxify or cleanse your body. These, however, are strengthened only by personal testimonies and have yet to be proven through sound scientific evidence.

Now that we’ve gone through the pros of juicing, let’s take a look at its cons. Juicing extracts only the juice from fresh fruits and vegetables, so essential parts like the skin and pulp which contain most of the vitamins and minerals and the fiber are left out. You end up not getting as much nutrients as you would have gotten when eating whole fruits and vegetables. Juicing is also considered a fad diet, which simply means that you shouldn’t be doing it for an extended amount of time. Why? When on a juice-only diet, you may not get as much fiber and protein as your body needs, possibly tempting you to binge eat and lose muscle mass. You may not realize it, but the ingredients you include in your juices may contain more calories and sugar than you think, especially if the juice you consume is made purely of fruits which contain lots of natural sugars. Finally, juicing may not only take a toll on your body but also on your wallet. Most good juice machines are costly; and the fruits and vegetables, which you’ll be needing a lot of, are expensive as well.

After feasting on lechon, kare-kare, Christmas ham, and queso de bola this holiday season, you might want to detoxify for a few days and give juicing a shot, but if the risks are keeping you from doing so, you can always opt for the traditional way: Munch on your fruits and veggies.

By: Nixie Go

References:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/JuicingWeightLoss.htm

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/juicing-health-risks-and-benefits

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/juicing/AN02107

Coffee and Beer: The Genetic Opposites

Have you ever drunk coffee to make you stay up for longer hours or to not even sleep at all? Or beer to make you feel calm or sleepy?

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk

From www.scientificamerican.com

We may already know that coffee has been effective in making us work for longer hours or “work on memory tasks,” or that beer can make us think more creatively and produce more ideas (Cho, 2013). But did you know that these beverages can also be influential up to the genetic level?

Who would have thought that caffeine and ethanol could change our DNA? Well, an article entitled “Coffee or Beer? The Choice Could Affect Your Genome” posted in ScienceDaily showed a study on how these beverages actually cause modifications on a chromosomal level.

Prof. Martin Kupiec and his team at Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology were the ones who conducted the study. They worked with yeast because it “shares many important genetic similarities with humans” (American Friends of Tel Aviv University, 2013). They exposed yeast to various stimuli and stressors, but only coffee and beer had an obvious effect. Caffeine shortened the telomeres while ethanol lengthened them.

But what are telomeres? These are the ends of the strands of DNA in our chromosomes, which are made up of proteins and DNA. They are responsible for correctly copying and repairing DNA strands. Telomeres shorten every time the cell duplicates. When telomeres become too short, the cell dies (American Friends of Tel Aviv University, 2013).

According to the article, cancer cells are an exception to telomere shortening (American Friends of Tel Aviv University, 2013). Also, a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Prof. Elizabeth Blackburn studied that shortening of the telomeres is a characteristic of aging. Knowing these attributes of telomeres, with further study and experimentation, coffee or anything with caffeine may be developed to fight cancer cells by shortening its telomeres for it to eventually die, and as for beer or anything with ethanol, it may regenerate shortened telomeres to hamper aging.

Indeed, coffee and beer are already a big part of our society and our lives. This study shows that these beverages can even span the scientific and technological realms. Further developments can make coffee and beer huge scientific and medical breakthroughs.

Despite knowing the beneficial effects of coffee and beer, we must still remember to always drink in moderation. 

By: Angeline Mora

STS THW

Group 6

Sources: 

http://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-drink-beer-for-big-ideas-coffee-to-get-513262326

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131205142127.htm

Source Article : http://earthsky.org/earth/52-hertz-song-of-worlds-loneliest-whale
If you ever consider yourself lonely, you might want to think again after hearing about the loneliest whale, probably the loneliest creature in the world.

An article published in EarthSky revealed that it was discovered in 1989. This controversial creature is known as 52-Hertz whale for its unusual whale song. Whales of its type usually produce 15-25 Hertz. Imagine how hard it is to sing and not be heard. This is one of the reasons why perhaps it travels alone in the waters of the Pacific. It follows a different migration pattern compared to the rest.
There's still an ongoing search for this whale, and a documentary entitled "Finding 52: The Search for the Loneliest Whale in the World" is set to be produced. You can try to search it on Facebook. Some speculations by cryptozoologists lead to the whale being the only one of its type, or the whale being the lone survivor of an unidentified species. I don't know which one is worse.
By Diane Sabulao

Pang-Instagram:Food and Digital Life

*click* (moves plate) *click click*

As discussed in the one of the lectures in our class, Digital Life and Digital Technology, Internet has truly provided a space wherein it is easy to create, communicate,  and publish content. People can share to the world heartfelt emotions, movies they watched, "selfies" and passions. And now, the content has reached the domain of food.

Food is not just on the Internet because of those online ordering sites and businesses. Food is on the Internet because people post about it as well! Various mouthwatering dishes are dominating different social networking sites, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Who knew one's lunch can draw so much attention? (of course, in terms of <3 and likes)

One of the possible reasons why "food porn" - taking pictures of food and posting it online, as defined by urbandictionary.com- has proliferated is because the Internet Essentials are readily available. As discussed in the same lecture, device and access are the Internet essentials. More and more restaurants are providing its customers Wifi connections. Then, for the device, a lot of cellphones have cameras and apps which are suited for food porn. As a result, people can just look on their accounts to get inspiration on what to have for dinner. 

Well, others may be guilty of taking such pictures, some do not get the point in engaging in such activity. However, instagramming these food can be helpful enhacing its taste. Actually, it is the ritual before the  intake of food, such as clicking those cameras, that can enhance the taste, according to different published researches in Psychological Science Journal (Holt, 2013). In the same article, it is also clarified that direct participation is needed, The involvement in the experience is the key in the taste enhancement.

Then, another article shows that looking at food photos, which is not a direct experience, may make real food less tasty (Castillo, 2013).  In the same article,  a study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology is discussed. It is said that an experiment wherein participants looked at at 60 images of salty foods showed that these people enjoyed the peanuts less. The explanation for this is sensory boredom. The craving for the salty food has been satisfied already by the images that it had little exciting effect when real food was being eaten.

As seen in these cited articles and studies, different phenomena happening in the virtual world, like engaging and witnessing food porn, can have an effect in the real world. This means that the people and the Internet have an interaction. People contribute to the contents of the Internet, through posts. Then, Internet contributes to the lifestyle of its users. 

Blog by:

Gaea Isabel D. Trazo

201040563

STS THW - Group 6

Sources: 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Food%20Porn

http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/instagram-food-taste-study-research/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/instagram-this-looking-at-food-pictures-may-make-real-food-less-tasty/