"Legarda, staunch environmental advocate"
"Legarda is one of the few national candidates of note, that has branded her public service anchored primarily on the protection of the environment."
"She recently represented the country in the Copenhagen "Climate Change" Summit attended by 120 country heads of state- where she was the only Asian speaker on the environment during the event."
these descriptive phrases that are alluded to loren legarda are all designed to get votes in may 2010 from the electorate especially from environment-conscious filipinos. loren legarda who claims to be an environmentalist is a bogus environmentalist. if she participated in the climate change summit in copenhagen, where absolutely nothing was accomplished in terms of curbing GHG emissions to slow down climate change and only succeeded in wasting millions of US dollars, it is because it is her job as UN regional champion for disaster risk reduction caused by climate change in the ASEAN region to be in that forum not because she is an environmentalist by heart and/or by choice. she was in copenhagen by force of circumstance- nothing really to crow about even if she was the only asian speaker in that international forum that accomplished nothing.
legarda is a member of the philippine senate. she would have been in a good position to do something, if not at least comment, on government policy that promote the use of technology that contributes to climate change, but she never did. sometime in 2008, GMA signed documents to effect the establishment of 6 coal-fired power plants in various parts of the country. we never heard one single word coming from the mouth of legarda asking why these power generation projects should use coal (aka the "dirtiest fossil fuel") and not renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. maayo pa ang mga LGU where the coal plants were planned to be set up kay mireklamo pa. but legarda? she was nowhere to be heard, nor found.
we should not feel proud that an asian like legarda has been given a big role in the ASEAN by the UN for disaster risk reduction because this action is only in response to the results brought about by climate change; it does not address how to mitigate the occurence of climate change. it's certainly nothing to be proud of. if climate change can be likened to a physical illness, the action of disaster risk reduction to mitigate the effects of climate change is similar to buying a lot in the memorial park and selecting a nice casket so that the family of the sick person is ready when the time comes. i am not a doctor but i believe that the way to treat a sick person is to determine the cause of the illness and treat it there; not buy a memorial plan and casket. similarly, climate change can be addressed by looking at ways to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that cause the rising of global temperatures and climatic conditions. only then can initiatives to reduce the risk of disaster be made.
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