Saturday, September 30, 2017

Communion with Nature - Ten Ways

Dr Abe V Rotor

Twin Jaira and Julia on a walk at People's Park, Tagaytay, August 21, 2015

Overlooking nature's majestic caldera*
this twin in a rare experience;
half-sky, half-water, half-land kingdom 
a fairytale of the eighth sense.

A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land, following a volcanic eruption. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters. Tagaytay was formed by this geologic phenomenon.
 Splendor on the Grass, Sky Ranch Park, Tagaytay,
August 21, 2015

Splendor on the grass at twilight
laughing with the stars;
who cares about rain and wind,
time like this is scarce.
   
 Tagaytay overlooking Taal Volcano,  August 21, 2015

Grand Dad and Marchus the only two in the world,
theirs the time, space and stillness;
let the world go round unceasingly to others,
save this ephemeral togetherness. 
   

Sunken Pier, Puerto, Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur

Behold! a jellyfish as looking glass
unfolds a third world scene:
half terrestrial, half aquatic,
solid and liquid in between,
third matter in colloidal form -
strange the world is ever seen. 


Baby sitting: Fluppy, angora rabbit at home

Here is seeing the world in dreams;
half awake, half asleep,
on two planes -  fantasy and reality,
rather than counting sheep,
to unload life's burden at the end of day -
a heaven sent li'l rabbit.

  
Tamboili shells, former St. Paul Museum

I'm standing on the world's narrowest isthmus,
among archives and fossils of history,
where I can hold the Pacific and the Atlantic
oceans half the world apart and free;
I cross the time and distance barrier
with these chroniclers singing to me
the unending roars of the tides,
tides on the street, tides of the sea.  


Rare walking stick insects, Museum of Natural History, UPLB Laguna

Dragons in fairy tales and religious fictions -
they are fierce, they're enemies of mankind;
in fossils and movies they scare the children;
little do we think of them friendly and kind,
devouring pests, singing lullaby in dull air;
misjudged, they're harder and harder to find.


Baby orangutan, Avilon Zoo, San Mateo, Rizal

Monkey on my back, that's what people say
when what we say logic we lack;
genes may vary, yet the same to this day,
indeed, a monkey on our back.


Viewing telescope, Mall of Asia, Pasay Metro Manila

Yes, creatures but man, are getting fewer, farther apart;
changing the old game with art of glass and steel;
where you can't get near, when you can't touch and feel,
technology comes to fill, yet empty still. 


Parakeets,  Safari World, Thailand


Lovely, friendly -  kindest words ever be,
whereas their kin are wild and free;
lucky in man's judgment these pair  may be
if only we understand their plea
for freedom to the wild, to their ancestry
and away from the artificial tree.   



Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Dr Romualdo M Del Rosario: Builder of Beautiful Gardens

"The Garden is a microcosm of the Lost Paradise here on earth." AVR 

By Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Dr Romualdo R del Rosario left, the country's leading builder of gardens pose with the author, his former student and co-professor at the UST Graduate School. Among Dr Del Rosario's obra maestra  are the internationally known La Union Botanical Garden (Cadaclan, San Fernando,La Union), the UST Botanical Garden (formerly Pharmacy garden), and the De La Salle University garden at DasmariƱas, Cavite. As a scientist and former assistant director of the National Museum he is keen at giving importance to natural history, and aesthetic and functional beauty of parks and gardens as integral part of homes, establishment, offices, in fact, whole communities.   

Think of a living gene bank. 

No, it's not the IRRI's germplasm bank of rice varieties and cultivars.  Or CIMMYT 's similar bank for wheat and corn where seeds are kept under strict controlled conditions away from the natural environment. It's not the commercial plant collection of Manila Seedling Bank either.

Dr Romualdo del Rosario's concept is one that is natural -  plants of different species living together and arranged into a garden.  

Here the plants form a wide range of diversity, and with other organisms, from protist to vertebrate, form a community.  And through time, an ecosystem - a microcosm of a forest, grassland, desert, the upland and lowland, in varying combinations and designs. This garden is indeed a living gene bank.

Visit the La Union Botanical Garden perched on a gentle hillside covering several hectares, with the fringe of Cordillera on the east and a panoramic view of the San Fernando Bay on the west. 

Here you will find a piece of the biblical Garden, where Nature and man in cooperation and harmony try to restore the beautiful scenarios of that garden imagined in the writings of Milton and Emerson, in the paintings of Rousseau and our own Amorsolo, and the scientific pursuits of Darwin and Linnaeus.

As trail blazer, Doc Del as he is fondly called, pioneered with the support of the local government to set up a garden not so many people appreciate.  I am a witness to its tedious step-by-step development until after ten years or so, the garden became a center for field lectures, thesis, hiking, or simply a place of solace and peace.  To the creative, arts; the religious, reflection.  

The garden is an answer to our dwindling bio-diversity. It is a sanctuary where man's respect for Creation, in Dr Albert Schweitzer's term "reverence for life," becomes the neo-gospel of prayer and faith. 

The garden is a workshop with the Creator.  It is one roof that shelters the threatened and endangered. It is a sanctuary for recovery before setting foot outside again.

Here is the living quarter of organisms, countless of them, that miss the eye, yet are discreet vital links to our existence and the biological order. 

A single acacia tree as shown In this painting is a whole world of millions of organisms - from the Rhizobium bacrteria that live on its roots to birds nesting on its branch. And beetles under the bark, goats feeding on ripe pods, people resting in its shade or promenading.  

On-the-spot painting at the La Union Botanical Garden (AVR) 

These make but one small spot in the garden that speaks of the philosophy of  naturalism of Schweitzer, EO Wilson, Attenborough, Tabbada, Cabigan, and the late botanist Co. One aspect of the garden opens to the scholar an adventure of a lifetime: Edwin Tadiosa's research of mushrooms earned for him a doctoral degree. 

One consideration a garden is a living gene bank is its ethnicity. Doc Del is the leading authority on ethnobotany of the country today. It is a less familiar field although it is among the earliest, tracing back to Aristotle's Natural History as the guiding force in keeping the integrity of Nature-Man relationship, even to the present time.   

Ethnobotany is the mother of pharmacology. Medicinal plants are part of Doc Del's formula of a garden. Not that familiarity is his aim, but accessibility - that by being familiar with a particular plant, one can have access to it wherever it may be found growing. Any place then is a potential source of home remedy of common ailments.  

Go to the garden and you will find lagundi, sambong, bayabas, makahiya, okra, pitogo, takip-kuhol, oregano, and 101 other medicinal plants, domesticated or wild. It is nature's pharmacy house. 

It is E Quisumbing's source of materials for his Medicinal Plants of the Philippines. the rich three-volume Useful Plants of the Philipines by WH Brown. It is this field that Dr Juan M Flavier as senator sponsored a law in promoting Alternative Medicine which now benefits millions of Filipinos particularly at the grassroots.       

Go to the garden and you will find flowering and ornamental plants that constitute the main attraction of any garden. Here botany is transformed into the science of flowers, the secret of green thumb, colors and fragrance speak more than words, silence rides on butterflies fluttering, and music is hummed by bees, and fiddled by crickets and cicada.     

Go to the garden and relive life on the countryside. The song Bahay Kubo enumerates some two dozen vegetables, and speaks of simple, happy and healthy lifestyle.
A residence without a garden is akin to city living condition. With almost fifty percent of the population ensconced in big towns and cities. we can only imagine how much they have lost such a pleasant niche.    

Go to the garden with magnifying glass, not with the aim of Sherlock Holmes but with the clinical eye of Leeuwenhoek, father of microscopy. Start with the moss, the lowly earliest plant occupying the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder. They are living fossils in austere existence on rocks and trunks of tree. Doc Del wrote a whole chapter about the Byrophytes - the moss and its relatives in the Flora and Fauna of the Philippine book series.     

Have you seen a field of moss under the lens? It's a setting of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie. See the movie if you haven't.  Everything is so big you are a pygmy in the like of Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag, a sequel to Gulliver in the Land of  Lilliput. Imagine yourself either in one of Jonathan Swift's novels. 

You may wonder why primitive plants are so small, you may miss them in the garden. If you were on top of Mt Pulog second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt Apo where Doc Del, my classmates and I, climbed in the late eighties, you'll be amazed at the giant bryophytes forming beards of gnarled trees and curtains hanging on rocks, and spongy layers cushioning your steps.  

Thus, the garden is a representation of much bigger models.  The Sequoia or Redwoods of California for example cannot be duplicated anywhere, but at the UST botanical garden where Doc Del served as supervising scientist and curator, you will find yourself dwarfed by the towering dita (Alstonia scholaris) the same way you would feel under the redwoods, or the emergent trees on Mt Makiling.  

Go to a garden and feel you are part of creation in Eden's finest time. The garden has a humbling effect, it has the touch of TLC -  tender, loving care, it is the womb of Mother Nature, its nursery, in her own life cycle in which each and every thing, living or non-living, undergoes a continuous and unending series of birth and death - and perhaps even re-encarnation.  ~    
            
  
Fern Garden, a specialized section of the UST Botanical garden. 
 Weird trees at UST: Acacia strangled by balete; bare deciduous trees with the main building as backdrop. 

 Outdoor life of students among camphor trees, UST. 
----------------------------------
 "These people have learned not from books, but in the fields, in the wood, on the river bank. Their teachers have been the birds themselves, when they sang to them, the sun when it left a glow of crimson behind it at setting, the very trees, and wild herbs."
―Anton Chekhov, "A Day in the Country"
---------------------------------
On-the-spot painting at the UST Botanical garden by the author, with the tallest tree Alstonia scholaris,  locally known as dita. as principal subject.

Morning at the UST Botanical Garden
-      An On-the-Spot Painting

                   Dr Abe V Rotor 

It is misty, it is foggy, here at the garden,
     or it must be smog in the city air;
and the early rays pierce through like spears,
     yet this is the best place for a lair.

But the artist must be provoked, challenged;
     for peace can't make a masterpiece;
only a troubled soul do rise where others fall,
     where ease and good life often miss.

This lair is where the action is, the battlefield,
     where pure and polluted air meet,
where a garden in a concrete jungle reigns,
     where nature's trail ends in a street.

Art, where is art, when the message is unclear,
     colors, colors, what color is blind faith?
what color is rage, what color is change?
     colors be humble - black is your fate. ~

       

A spray of red and pink in the tree top,
either it is autumn's onset,
or the season had just passed us in slumber,
yet too early to hibernate

Catch the sun, borrow its colors and shine
that you may be filled with grace divine;
for your life is short and your flowers ephemeral,
that makes you a mythical vine.

There is no such thing as emptiness, for  memories linger;
the bench is warm, whispers hang in the glen;
spirits roam, the past comes around in them to haunt,
to scare a bit to remember them, now and then. 

 
 Golden Coconut 
 
 Lobster's claws, ornamental asparagus 
Golden shower
Here lies the Pierian spring  - the secret of long, healthy and happy life. Why don't you build a garden yourself? Better still with your family or community.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

10 Frankenstein monsters roaming in our postmodern world

10 Frankenstein monsters roaming in our postmodern world
Anyone who has read Frankenstein cannot forget the frightful scenario of a monster created in the laboratory that eventually turned against his master and terrorized the world - a reminder of the unpredictable consequences of science-on-the-loose.
Dr Abe V Rotor


 

Hiroshima, aftermath of the first atomic bomb.  
Holocaust, Nazi Concentration Camp in Auschwitz
Anyone who has read Frankenstein cannot forget the frightful scenario of a monster created in the laboratory that eventually turned against his master and terrorized the world - a reminder of the unpredictable consequences of science-on-the-loose.

Invariably we have revived the Frankenstein monster in many forms, such as these.

1. The invention of the atomic bomb and its subsequent progeny - hydrogen bomb, neutron bomb and cobalt bomb - that are far more deadly and destructive, and their stockpiling into a power keg that still exist today even after the Cold War has ended in 1989.

2. Medical breakthroughs in saving lives and extending life span contribute to the population explosion and demographic imbalance where societies are burdened by too many young who are unproductive and highly dependent, and elderly group, with increasing healthcare-dependent members.

3. Organ transplantation and replacement which is leading us farther and farther to a new frontier called bionics; a combination of the rational being and the robot, natural and artificial intelligence.

Image result for Frankenfood pictures

4. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) whereby it is possible to combine genes of organisms outside their kind, irrespective of species - or kingdom, for that matter. Bt Corn carries the gene protein of a bacterium - Bacillius thuringiensis - that parasitizes caterpillars that feed on corn crop. New strange life variations are sprouting defying identity and classification.  They are nameless like the monster created by Frankenstein.   


5. Mega-industrialization that has resulted not only to the demise of natural environments (ecosystems) and many species of organisms, but the destruction of the ozone layer and the gradual and steady buildup of atmospheric gases and temperature known as global warming. Global warming has alarming effects in changing climate patterns worldwide, spawning more frequent and more destructive force majeure from drought to f
lood to  typhoons and tornadoes.  

6. Urbanization leading to the growth of megacities which continue to destroy the homeostasis of rural-urban relationship, spawning poverty and leading to the degradation of human life at the source of migration on one hand, and at the burgeoning centers on the other.

7. Population explosion setting a record of 7.7 billion people today and doubling in less than fifty years if left unchecked - indeed a grim reminder of the ghost of Malthus two hundred years ago (Malthusian Theory), and a proof that the natural laws that govern survival has been radically changed.

8. Consumerism on which capitalism flourishes in the guise of progress and the good life, but in effect creates imbalance of the economy of nations, dividing them into power-wealth categories, and have and have-not, loss of values, and abusive exploitation of resources at the expense of Planet Earth.

9. Gold rush syndrome resulting in the Tragedy of the Commons, a principle that is based on Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale, a story that illustrates that greediness and wanton destruction has always a tragic end, as evidenced today by the declining fish catch in the ocean, dwindling freshwater supply, logged over forests, spent farms and  pastures, near exhaustion of fossil fuels, and the like.

10. While ecumenism bridges religions, cultism is divisive and segregative. There is a rise of the so-called hybrid religions which have lost their dogmatic identities, and are gaining popularity as a kind of religious liberation. On the other hand, more and more people around the world are drawn into the world of nones (people who have lost faith in organized religions) - if not the atheism, particularly those overwhelmed by the influence of postmodern living.~


These ten attributes of a modern Frankenstein haunt modern man and his society today exacerbated by his aim at globalization. The shrinking of the planet into a global village so to speak, through scientific breakthroughs, expansion of commerce and industry, opening of new frontiers of human settlement and habitation which sooner or later include the building of cities under the sea and in space, and the proliferation of multimedia making information accessible anywhere in any place of the globe - all these make the avenging monster closer to his creator, and therefore making him vulnerable to its evil intent. 

Such is the story of Mary Shelley's fiction that has a tragic ending - the destruction of both monster which never bore a name, and its creator - the young genius, Frankenstein.
-----------------------------------


AN EXCERPT:
But what really triggered the monster to take revenge against his creator - and the whole world for that matter?  Here are excerpts from an abridged version.

"... in the whole world there was no one  who would pity me and no one would help me."

Sadly the creature (monster) turned his eyes on Victor.
Scene of Dr Frankenstein and the monster he created based on the celebrated novel by Mary Shelly in the 19th century  (Wikipedia photo),
"My thoughts turned to you, Frankenstein: my creator...  I am alone and miserable.  You must create another being: a woman as deformed and ugly as I am, who will live with me and love me and be my wife.  Only you can do that."

"I refuse.  Never again will I create wickedness."

"You are wrong, Frankenstein," replied the fiend.  "I would live in kindness with people but they will not let me.  If I cannot have love I will cause fear."

His face wrinkled in agony.

Make a creature who loves me, who does not run away from me, and I will make peace with you.  Make me happy.  Do not deny me! We will go away together and will never see us again.  I swear it.  Please!"

(Frankenstein did not accede to the plea. Instead he pledge to destroy the monster,  but he failed. )

When he saw Victor's frozen body, in the falling darkness, the monster was almost moved to tears.

"Forgive me, Frankenstein, I destroyed everything you loved.  But I have suffered great misery myself.  You cannot hear me this, but I did not want to kill them.  It is all ended now.  You are my last victim.

So saying the creature bowed his head in wretchedness. "What is there left for me, but death?"

The monster turned and disappeared into the darkness. 

Frankenstein, Ladybird Horror Classics. 
---------------------------- 

UST Development Communication: There is no escape from our high tech world

UST Development Communication 
There is no escape from our high tech world 
Assignment: Continue the list as suggested at the end of the lesson.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog

Virtually there is no escape from our high tech world.

Imagine life if there were no cell phones, cable TV, video games, malls, hospitals, e-mails, solar watches, MRT/LRT, ATM, and the like.  And if we think about today's processes in making the many products we use everyday - from ballpoint pens to cars - imagine computers and robots at work in place of man.

Scenario: a quart clock awakens you. You switch on the light, tune in the TV or radio, take a bath, pick up the phone, cook breakfast, read the morning paper, dress up, take the elevator, drive the car, etc., etc., etc.  All this is not surprising to those of us who live in urban centers.  

Death lurks in the byproducts of "The Good Life"

But hear this.  The milk you drink is genetically modified (human embryo hormone was injected into the cow to produce more milk),;  the corn flakes you eat comes from Bt corn (corn with a gene of a bacterium - Bacillus thuringiensis); your potato and onion are irradiated for longer shelf life; your lettuce carries a trace of dioxin (the deadliest toxin ever synthesized), your tuna carries a residue of mercury; the microwave emits rays that are not good to health; the paint in your condominium contains lead; plastic deteriorates and you may not know you are absorbing the byproducts; synthetic fabric is the cause of your allergy; there is nitrate (salitre) in corned beef and in tocino; MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) in noodles, aspartame in softdrinks, sulfite in sugar; Potassium Bromate in bread.  And the list goes on, ad infinitum. 

In Time magazine, March 3, 2014, a new research links common chemicals and brain disorders in kids. This is how everyday toxins may affect our kids.

1. Manganese - Found in drinking water, is linked with lower math scores, hyperactivity, impaired motor skills and some drops in intellectual function.

2. Carbonates - Found in pesticides used to kill cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes, and lawn bugs, are linked to defects in brain development.

3. Tetrachloro-ethylene - Found in dry cleaning solvents, is linked to problems in brain development and a higher rate of psychiatric diagnoses. 

4. Polybrominated biphenyl ethers - Found in furniture and toys as a flame retardant is linked with disorders in brain development among kids with higher in utero exposure. (In utero is a Latin term literally meaning "in the womb". In biology, the phrase describes the state of an embryo or fetus.) 

The deleterious by-products of today's science and technology exacerbate the problems of mankind.  Paradoxically, science and technology have not successfully eradicated the ancient scourge of mankind - disease, poverty, and ignorance.

While man may have a grasp of history and his society, he has apparently lost control of his destiny.

 Globalization also takes away our original identities as individual and as a people.  It homogenizes diversity into a common pool, including our independence in belief, thinking and conviction -  and the quaintness of alternative ways of living. 

At this point we would like you to switch your thoughts and focus your attention on the following areas:
  1. Environmental preservation/conservation
  2. Saving the endangered species
  3. Reducing wastage, recycling
  4. Natural medicine, organically grown food
  5. Pollution-free cars
  6. Ecology tourism (eco-tourism)
  7. Model cities like Curitiba, Brazil            Curitiba Botanic Garden
  8. Ban nuclear weapons
  9. Free Willy movie, Fly Away Home, etc
  10. Clean Air Act, stop CFC emission
  11. Zoning, proper land use
  12. Ban cloning, genetically modified organisms (GMO) and their products.
This is an open-ended list, and we ask you to continue it and share this lesson with your family and community in a lively and positive discussion.~  

Thursday, September 21, 2017

A Study of Wildlife at the Park

It's the web of life at work that keeps the balance;    
truly, silently, the wildlife is part of our lives.
Dr Abe V Rotor 


House sparrow (gurdiun) and Billit China, both of the finch family, share company as gleaners at Disneyland HK. Visitors, particularly children, are amused of their closeness to humans for food and shelter.  Surprisingly they have always remained wild, and resist domestication unlike other birds. They would rather die struggling when confined in cages. Mackie and Markus with their grandma Lima stroll on the feeding grounds of the park, Disneyland HK 2017. Photos by the author.  

Finches to which our maya and house sparrow belong,
are Nature's janitors like the janitor fish;
gleaners of food leftovers, and often beg in number, 
friendly but shy, eyeing at any risk. 

They follow man wherever he goes, his home is theirs;
 in parks, plazas, churches, marketplaces,
they are attractions themselves posing for photographs; 
Audubon studied their species and races.  

 Pavlov recorded their instinct as conditioned learning, 
key to survival. True they are here to stay. 
 in  relationship with humans called commensalism
in return sing with our peace, work and play. 

Tree lizard camouflaged, mimicking the color and texture of its immediate environment, a protective mechanism against predators on one hand, and in lurking for its own prey. Authors's family stroll on the park among trees and natural vegetation. First photo modified from Internet, other photos taken by the author. Disneyland HK 2017  

Reptiles today are older, outlived the dinosaurs, 
What made them survive the Meteor's blast?
Wonder if being small is advantage after all;  
If so, insects, other minutiae are here to last.

Walk pass through, you think the way is clear,
Unseen they mimic the trees, rocks, their abode,
Silence too, is their weapon save the Gecko,
Beware when trespassing into their threshold.

They are Nature's biological agents in science,
Friends of farmers, gardeners and housewives;
     It's the web of life at work that keeps the balance;    
Truly, silently, reptiles are part of our lives.~


Disneyland - Canned Entertainment (Article in Progress)