Whenever my foregner friends would ask me what is the best time of the year to visit the Philippines, I would tell them to go during the dry season (roughly from mid-November to mid-May) to avoid the typhoons. Lately, however, I find myself having a difficult time answering this question. We experience how typhoons now strike harder and more frequently year round.
In a report titled "Crisis or Opportunity: Climate change impacts and the Philippines," the global environmental organization Greenpeace examines climate change and how it is affecting the Philippines. The report notes increases in:
- Frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones in the last 20 years
- Frequency and intensity of El Nino/La Nina
- Landslides
- Forest fires
- Sea levels
This means a number of things for the Philippines and Filipinos. NASA scientist Josefino Comiso says that the depletion of the country's flora and fauna and the destruction of the coral reefs are consequences of global warming. The decrease in fish can heavily impact the Philippine economy, and it also means a depletion of a main Philippine food source.
What can be done about this? While some argue that the effects of global warming are irreversible and some claim that this climate change is not man-made, the reality of global warming's existence is apparent enough so that actions to alleviate the problem should be necessary.
Many environmentalists emphasize that climate change is a problem that equally affects us all. However, one must acknowledge the fact that some people experience the consequences of climate change more so in order to start solving the problem of climate change, and Filipinos are one such group. Ipat Luna, a teaching fellow at the University of California at Berkeley, argues that the United States uses the Philippines as its "dumping ground for everything from waste products to cars that don't meet American smog standards" and depletes the country of its resources. She claims that this is the cause of an "epidemic of sicknesses in the country, such as children being born with birth defects and girls beginning to menstruate at ages as young as seven years old."
This phenomenon, known as "environmental racism," tends to affect low-income and minority groups. While everyone is affected by climate change, it is Filipinos and other such groups who experience these effects the strongest and most immediately. While the usual advice - such as carpooling, using fluorescent light bulbs, and recycling - is helpful, one of the first and most important steps to helping climate change in the Philippines is to acknowledge this environmental racism faced by Filipinos and collectively work together to address this issue.
Unfortunately, not much research has been done on environmental racism in the Philippines, and there are no large organizations that specifically address climate change in the Philippines. But it's never too late to start. Bring up the issue to any Filipino-American organizations or communities you're involved in. Or, better yet, start an organization that addresses this problem.
Finally, one of the most important things is to educate the community about this issue. Not too many people know about the specific impacts of climate change on the Philippines, and even fewer people know about environmental racism. Inform your fellow Pinoys as well as other members of the community.
REFERENCES:
Climate Change Could Devastate Philippines: NASA Scientist
Conference Issues Call to Combat Environmental Racism
Crisis or Opportunity: Climate Change Impacts and the Philippines
Mafia Wars Craze
It has been two months since I posted my last entry on this blog. I have been busy in my new job as Listener Care Representative of XM Satellite Radio Canada (still in Sitel Philippines), and playing one of the most talked browser games in the cyberspace, Mafia Wars.
I learned Mafia Wars first in Tagged, one of the social networking sites, through the invites of my Sony teammates. After a month of playing it, the game was also introduced to the number one social networking site Facebook, which luckily I have an account (ever since Facebook is not yet popular). There is a big difference of playing Mafia Wars in Facebook because it has a new section called Mafia Wars in Cuba which is not found in Tagged MafiaWars. As of the moment, Facebook Mafia Wars will be launching another section which will be called Mafia Wars in Moscow.
First Time Playing?
When you log in for the very first time, there is a little spiel to get you excited, a picture of your first property, Uncle Louies Deli and a bar with your initial stats.
Cash
Every hour your properties will pay out and any items you have with maintenance costs will deduct from your earnings. On the Properties tab which you will see later you can always see how much you are making and how much it is costing you.
Health
This is a fairly meaningless stat and it is the only naturally replenishing stat that the mafia game will not show you a timer on. It is critical in boss fights. Other than that, it just sets the amount of times you get attacked when a hit is put out on you and how many fights you can engage in before healing.
Energy
This is the principal source of your earned income and a large chunk of your XP. It will come back 1 point every 5 minutes unless you are a maniac character in which case you get 2 points. Jobs and items should be your initial focus once you get in to the game.
Stamina
This also regenerates at one point every 5 minutes. Stamina is used to try to attack other players, rob other players, cash in on a hit on another player, sucker punching, and placing hits on other players.
Do Something About It!
The mafia game will walk you through a simple series of examples of what the game contains once you are completely free to make your own choices. The first job is exactly what most will be about - You spend X energy for Y experience, some amount of money, and with some jobs, a small chance at special loot. And congratulations! You got a loot item and a dummy NPC to invite in to your mob to get to size 1! We will talk more about Mafia size later and the Mafia Wars fighting and Robbing section has a lot more to say. Next you make your first attack and then buy your first property and the first real decision comes in to play.
Choosing your Character type
You can change your name later, but there is a fairly hefty cost, so think about how you would like your Mafioso name to be. "Don" plus your last name works well and the game supports multiple people with the same name. Default Don is the most common name out there followed by all the characters from the Mafia Godfather. The more unique and memorable your name, the easier it is for friends to find you. As for character type, here is a break down on what the choice entails.
Mogul
As a Mogul your cash flow comes every 54 minutes rather than every hour for the other character types. As a Mogul you are also the only character type eligible for being a Bagman. As a Bagman in one of your friends Top Mafia, you have the change to get double money from performing jobs.
Maniac
As a Maniac, you regenerates at a rate of 1 every 3 minutes instead of 5. You also become eligible to be a Button Man which gives you a chance to automatically win any fight you initiate. General consensus on the web before the Top Mafia changes was this was the best type to choose since energy makes you level faster.
Fearless
As a Fearless character your health regenerates at a faster rate. You also have the ability to be a Top Mafia Wheel Man which has the best special ability. Whenever you perform a job, there is a small chance that job costs no energy.
Your Initial Skill Points
After you make your decision, you get your first skill points to spend. It is highly recommended you just upgrade your Energy till at least 30 before touching the other stats. Once you have leveled a few times put the points on your Defense. The defense is the most important allocation of points that you can have. So focus on defense more than anything. Only higher level players should concentrate on spreading points. See the speed leveling section under Hints/Tips for more details on using your initial skill points.
Starting over or... not
Unfortunately, the game currently does not really support anyway for starting over. If you are unhappy with your initial choices, you have to delete the application, wait 60 days for it to time out, and then log in again to get a clean start in the Mafia world. If you do wish to delete the app and wait 60 days, in the lower left hand corner of any Facebook page you should see a button labelled Applications. Click on it to open the menu and near the top of the menu you should see Edit. Choose this and then click on the x next to Mafia Wars to remove it as one of your applications.
I learned Mafia Wars first in Tagged, one of the social networking sites, through the invites of my Sony teammates. After a month of playing it, the game was also introduced to the number one social networking site Facebook, which luckily I have an account (ever since Facebook is not yet popular). There is a big difference of playing Mafia Wars in Facebook because it has a new section called Mafia Wars in Cuba which is not found in Tagged MafiaWars. As of the moment, Facebook Mafia Wars will be launching another section which will be called Mafia Wars in Moscow.
First Time Playing?
When you log in for the very first time, there is a little spiel to get you excited, a picture of your first property, Uncle Louies Deli and a bar with your initial stats.Cash
Every hour your properties will pay out and any items you have with maintenance costs will deduct from your earnings. On the Properties tab which you will see later you can always see how much you are making and how much it is costing you.
Health
This is a fairly meaningless stat and it is the only naturally replenishing stat that the mafia game will not show you a timer on. It is critical in boss fights. Other than that, it just sets the amount of times you get attacked when a hit is put out on you and how many fights you can engage in before healing.
Energy
This is the principal source of your earned income and a large chunk of your XP. It will come back 1 point every 5 minutes unless you are a maniac character in which case you get 2 points. Jobs and items should be your initial focus once you get in to the game.
Stamina
This also regenerates at one point every 5 minutes. Stamina is used to try to attack other players, rob other players, cash in on a hit on another player, sucker punching, and placing hits on other players.
Do Something About It!
The mafia game will walk you through a simple series of examples of what the game contains once you are completely free to make your own choices. The first job is exactly what most will be about - You spend X energy for Y experience, some amount of money, and with some jobs, a small chance at special loot. And congratulations! You got a loot item and a dummy NPC to invite in to your mob to get to size 1! We will talk more about Mafia size later and the Mafia Wars fighting and Robbing section has a lot more to say. Next you make your first attack and then buy your first property and the first real decision comes in to play.
Choosing your Character type
You can change your name later, but there is a fairly hefty cost, so think about how you would like your Mafioso name to be. "Don" plus your last name works well and the game supports multiple people with the same name. Default Don is the most common name out there followed by all the characters from the Mafia Godfather. The more unique and memorable your name, the easier it is for friends to find you. As for character type, here is a break down on what the choice entails.
Mogul
As a Mogul your cash flow comes every 54 minutes rather than every hour for the other character types. As a Mogul you are also the only character type eligible for being a Bagman. As a Bagman in one of your friends Top Mafia, you have the change to get double money from performing jobs.
Maniac
As a Maniac, you regenerates at a rate of 1 every 3 minutes instead of 5. You also become eligible to be a Button Man which gives you a chance to automatically win any fight you initiate. General consensus on the web before the Top Mafia changes was this was the best type to choose since energy makes you level faster.
Fearless
As a Fearless character your health regenerates at a faster rate. You also have the ability to be a Top Mafia Wheel Man which has the best special ability. Whenever you perform a job, there is a small chance that job costs no energy.
Your Initial Skill Points
After you make your decision, you get your first skill points to spend. It is highly recommended you just upgrade your Energy till at least 30 before touching the other stats. Once you have leveled a few times put the points on your Defense. The defense is the most important allocation of points that you can have. So focus on defense more than anything. Only higher level players should concentrate on spreading points. See the speed leveling section under Hints/Tips for more details on using your initial skill points.
Starting over or... not
Unfortunately, the game currently does not really support anyway for starting over. If you are unhappy with your initial choices, you have to delete the application, wait 60 days for it to time out, and then log in again to get a clean start in the Mafia world. If you do wish to delete the app and wait 60 days, in the lower left hand corner of any Facebook page you should see a button labelled Applications. Click on it to open the menu and near the top of the menu you should see Edit. Choose this and then click on the x next to Mafia Wars to remove it as one of your applications.
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