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This world, which appears to be a great workshop in which knowledge is developed by man – which appears as progress and civilization, as a modern system of communication, as a structure of democratic freedom without any limitations – this world is not capable of making man happy. - Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope
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Pristine water of Abra River passing through Banaoang Pass, Santa, Ilocos Sur
I thank the International Congress on Bioethics for inviting me through Fr. Tamerlane Lana, to make a commentary on Bioethics and the Environment. Distinguished lecturers, fellow reactors, participants, guests, friends, good morning.
Our resource person, Dr. Michael Cheng-tek Tai, said, “… not only human life is influenced by biological factors but also by social, psychological and even environmental factors.” He asked, “Is our environment in a good condition to fortify a good life for mankind?”
First allow me to me to relate a story before I proceed with my reaction.
But there are no neighbors!
Once there was a workshop for adult leaders somewhere in Asia. The teacher asked the participants to draw on the blackboard a beautiful house, a dream house ideal to live in and raise a family. It was of course, an exercise, which in the minds of the participants was as easy as copying a model from experience and memory. Besides it is a universal dream to own such a house, which allows free interplay of both reason and imagination, using the left and the right brain. The participants formed a queue to allow everyone to contribute his own idea on the blackboard.
The first in the queue drew the posts of the house, on which the succeeding members made the roof and floor. The rest proceeded in making the walls and windows. On the second round the participants added garage, porch, veranda, gate, staircase, fence, swimming pool, TV antennae, and other amenities. Finally their dream house was completed and they returned to their seats. A lively “sharing session” followed and everyone was happy with the outcome of the exercise, including the teacher. Just then a little child happened to be passing by and saw the drawing of the house on the blackboard. He stopped and entered the classroom. He stood there for a long time looking at the drawing and the teacher approached him. The child exclaimed, “But there are no neighbors!”
Human relations is very important. Sociology has become a major field in education. There is a field of biology known as Human Ecology. Economics is rooted into the theory of equitable wealth distribution, where everyone gets a fair share of the pie. Most religions, including ancient religions, are anthropocentric. The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, Matthew 25, Sermon on the Mount, the meaning of Messiah – all these and many more speak of man to be good to his fellowmen. Salvation is not aimed at oneself, but should be one that is collective, which means, “No one goes to heaven alone.” Very little mention is made on the role of the environment, or nature for that matter, in leading man to heaven.
But there are no trees, rivers...
In a another village near the first one I told you, there was a similar workshop. This time the participants were asked to draw a community. So they made a queue for the blackboard and after working together, came up with a beautiful drawing of a community. There are houses - many houses; a church, a school, village hall, plaza. Roads and bridges make a network in the village showing many people. The market is very busy. Anything that makes a typical village is there. The participants discussed, “What constitute a community?” and everyone was so eager and delighted at the result. Just then a little child was passing by, and when he saw the drawing on the backboard, stopped and entered the classroom. The teacher approached him. The child exclaimed, “But there are no trees, no birds; there are no mountains, no fields, no river!”
As no man is an island, so is a village without a natural environment. What good is man living on top of a hill while being surrounded by people in abject poverty? What good is progress – megacities, science and technology, internet, - when progress itself is responsible for the destruction of the land, the seas, and the atmosphere, in short, the Planet Earth.
Many days had passed since the two workshops. Virtually no one ever thought of looking for the little child - who he was or where he lived. Then the whole village suddenly realized, and so they began to search for him, but they never found him – not in the village, not in the neighboring village, not in the town, not in any known place.
Who was the little child? Everyone who saw him never forgot his kindly beautiful and innocent face, and they pondered on his words which remained a puzzle to them for a long, long time.
Environmental Philosophy
What is wrong with our relationship with nature? There are those who believe that nature shall serve humanity. On the other hand there are those who believe that humanity shall serve nature. And there are those who say, it is “something in between”.
We speak about environmental ethics, environmental philosophy, eco-philosophy, and so on, but what do we put into these concepts, and how? Understanding these terms may not solve environmental problems, but on the other hand it is questionable whether we can solve these problems without discussing them on a philosophical level.
There are different views about change. Scientific knowledge and government policies for example, often disagree and run into conflict at each other. Economics and ecology, though they share a common root word and foundation, are strange bedfellows, so to speak. Yet they support common goals geared toward change. But change has to be viewed more than the measures of GNP, currency, balance of trade, and the like, and should not only be confined to Human Development Indices, such as literacy rate, mortality and population. While these are parameters of growth and development, certain questions on sustainability and environmental preservation are left unanswered. How do we ensure future generations? We ask ourselves what is “progress without conscience?” And whose development? What is the relationship between progress and posterity?
Which leads us to Dr. Tai’s paper, Who is man on earth? Is he Master? He proceeded in saying that man is a steward – one who must treat nature with overwhelming respect. Man has responsibility to God, to nature, to his fellowmen, other creatures and the Earth.
It is on this concept that we measure the obedience of man. It is also on this concept that man’s greatest achievement is made, his martyrdom, his heroism. The hero concept revolutionizes traditional and conventional definition of a hero. He is more than a nationalist, an economist, or an ideologist, as we generally know, but a hero for Mother Earth. The late Dr. Dioscorro Umali, national scientist, addressed a graduating class at the University of the Philippines with this statement, “Be the heroes we never were.” The essence of his speech is that his generation left so little of the earth’s resources for the next generations to inherit and enjoy. “We have not only abused the bounties of Nature,” he said, “We have destroyed her as well.” Which leads us to the topic, environmental movement.
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"Today, rather than defending himself against nature, man realized,
he needed to defend nature against himself."
- AV Rotor, Light from the Old Arch
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Environmental Movement
Environmental movement has roots in ancient cultures as gleamed from such old structures as the Banawe Rice Terraces. Throughout history as civilizations grew and spread the environment became a sacrificial lamb. Such phrases “all roads lead to Rome,” “the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome,” “the sun never sets on English soil,” and the eight wonders of the ancient world may reflect man’s ultimate achievements, yet all these were ephemeral in the mist of time in man’s dreams. In the end, it is nature that takes them away from the hands of man. The loss of natural environments has led to the decline of civilizations and their subsequent demise.
Revival of environmental awareness came at the heels of the Renaissance. In the 12th century St. Francis of Assisi brought a new concept of devotion. Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and all the creatures on Earth our friends, laid down the foundation of naturalism in the Christian church reviving much of the Aristotelian naturalism, and those in ancient cultures.
It is but fitting that St. Francis of Assisi is regarded as the patron saint of ecology. Time Magazine came up with a list of heroes for Planet Earth, among them are naturalist philosophers or conservationist philosophers are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson. Here is a glimpse at their contributions
• Emerson claimed that “behind nature, throughout nature, spirit is present.”
• Thoreau spoke of the side of “truth in nature and wilderness over the deceits of civilization.”
• Muir believed that “wilderness mirrors divinity, nourishes humanity, and vivifies the spirit.”
• Leopold was behind the policies in wilderness and game management. “Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization.”
• Carson published Silent Spring, which dramatized the potential dangers of pesticides to food, wildlife, and humans causing wide spread damage to the ecosystem.
• Chico Mendes was a front liner in environmental conservation. He lost his life defending the concept of “extractive reserves” to conserve the Brazilian Rainforest that provided livelihood of the people against the conversion of the forest into ranches and plantations.
Other heroes of planet Earth cited include Barbara Ward, author of Only One Earth which shaped the UN environmental conference; Ernest Schumacher who did not believe in endless growth, mega-companies and endless consumption, an advocated for Small is Beautiful, a best seller; Jacques-Yves Cousteau, oceanographer who espoused the need to arrest the declining health of the oceans. There many more whom we can compare with the Unknown Soldier, but a soldier in defense of nature. ~
Part 11
Treetops - Aerial Ecosystem
Dr Abe V Rotor
Trees for Peace: Aerial Ecosystem on a Maze of Treetops - painting in acrylic (30" x 48") by Dr AV Rotor 2021. Courtesy of Congressman Deogracias Victor "DV" B Savellano, Deputy Speaker
and District Representative Ilocos Sur, 1st District
Details of the painting showing the interlocking branches that form the canopy and emergent layers, the massive trunks of century old trees prop the aerial ecosystem like pillars of a Parthenon. The foliage is differentially deciduous in continuous cycle, falling off to form thick litter on the ground which makes the ecosystem self regenerating. Altogether different organisms make a community, but occupy specific niches, or territories.
Flocks of birds make the treetops their abode, build nests at the interlacing branches, rearing their young until they are weaned and independent to fly. Many come back the next nesting season, with the generation born earlier - and with transients, specially those on their migratory route, make a rich biodiversity of feathered species.
Fowls find the lower branches to roost at night, sparrows freely roaming during the day, settle down come nighttime, kingfishers visit from nearby rivers and ponds, so with the crow (uwak), maya, perperroca, panal, pandangera, pipit and other birds that old folks in the place will attest, these birds make the treetops a stage of circus, concert, cum confetti.
Food, mate, comfortable home, among other elements and amenities of Nature like shelter from wind and rain, coolness of shade, elevated oxygen level, security from ground enemies, safety through anonymity by camouflage and mimicry, notwithstanding - these make the treetops a perfect place for many organisms to form an ecological system.
A hole in the sky like a tunnel speaks of spirituality, not in the religious sense but of interconnectedness of the ecosystem with a divine design and purpose, the primordial source of energy, the sun, and elements that contribute to homeostasis or dynamic balance, symbolized by white doves, emissary of peace and unity, and the aurora like fragments of rainbow.
The treetops have many eyes in the dark - nocturnal creatures on the move, fireflies mingling with the stars peeping through, phosphorescent fungi and protists, reflections of the surrounding world, or in one's imagination a fairy tale, a fantasy land, or simply a dream of a naturalist's world - and in the dark echo magical sounds of fiddling, croaking, calling, singing, and deep stillness in between.
The treetops demonstrate the workings of the four major components of an ecosystem - food chain, food web, food pyramid and organic-inorganic cycle - in a built-in pattern and interrelationship that insure the integrity of the ecosystem, and the perpetual cycle of living and non-living matters that makes the earth a living planet.
Food chains link predator-prey relationships like birds feeding on insects, so with reptiles and rodents, and on top of the ladder lords the hawk and eagle; while a food web constitutes interacting food chains, in the imaginary model of a spider web where all parts are interconnected, each organism playing a particular role.
Hierarchy on the treetops is further shown in a pyramid whereby organisms are classified according to "pecking order", in ascending dominance; the ones at the apex are superior, yet vulnerable to collapse if the pyramid loses stability at its base occupied by a host of organisms constituting various food chains and food webs.
Survival though is not in competition alone, in Darwinian law of survival of the fittest, but cooperation is equally important particularly where colonies and populations are involved, such as termites, ants and bees; or the symbiosis of red ants and aphids, alga and fungus forming lichen communities - these being a vital part of the treetops' ecosystem.
Symbiosis or mutualism is give-and-take relationship, but sharing may not be equitable such as orchids, ferns, and bryophytes clinging on trunks and branches, while its opposite, parasitism is exemplified by bark borers, caterpillars, scale insects, mealybugs, mistletoes, twig borers, and the classical balete that strangles and kills a whole tree, for which it is named strangler's fig.
The crown of this parasitic giant, balete becomes a part of the treetops, often rising as emergent, taller than the canopy layer and remaining evergreen throughout the year - even after its host tree has decayed leaving a continuous hollow described in Johann David Wyss' novel Swiss Family Robinson, which became as beautiful towering treehouse of the stranded family.
The treetops follow the seasons in the tropics, which are generally wet and dry, but also show semblance of the four seasons: autumn or fall at the onset of the cold wind or Siberian High called amihan, when deciduous trees shed their leaves, and spring at the onset of the rainy season when plants resume growth after the dry season, popularly known as summer.
When typhoon strikes the treetops serve as windbreak, save very strong winds which prune old and weak branches, thinning the crowns to regrow into fresh and thicker ones, inviting the return of the tenant-organisms and arrival of new ones, while the lifecycle of many is cut off temporarily - but soon regeneration puts back the integrity of the disturbed ecosystem.
Lianas and epiphytes add to the dense cover from trunk to treetops simulating that of a jungle: bromeliads, ferns and orchids add to the diversity and aesthetics of the scene, help create a miniclimate, and aerial gardens and ponds for midges, frogs, guppies, and help fertilize the trees and other plants with dead leaves and other materials they trap to become compost.
On the ground, litters of organic matter are built layer after layer, year after year where countless organisms live - earthworm, rodents,
herbivores like goats; termites convert wood into soil, so with fungi and Rhizobia; ground plants and shrubs though overshadowed, momentarily grow abundant during deciduous period, they indeed are part of the scenario of multi-storied vegetation similar to the rainforest, the richest biome. ~
Part 12
The Holy Father plants a tree.*
In celebration of the Pope's universal call, Laudato Si' Dr Abe V Rotor
In observance of the UN International celebrations: Earth Day (April 22),
Day of Biodiversity (May 22), and Environment Day (June 6)
1. When spring comes without stir, “don't go gentle into the night,” rise and find out where have all the birds gone to herald the new season, the new beginning of life.
2. When the monsoon ends too soon, summer sets early, the land scorched, the rivers and ponds dried up, warn of the coming of a severe El Niño phenomenon.
3. When algal bloom in make-believe proportion spreads in lakes, sound the alarm of fish kill coming to avert losses and hunger, and save the ecosystem.
4. When people move to cities in exodus, convince them, advise government, it is a tender trap that takes them away from the real Good Life on the countryside.
5. When clouds simply pass over the landscape, take the lead to reforest the hills and mountains, restore the watershed with a million and one trees.
6. When flood sweeps the land taking with it lives and properties, and eroding soil fertility, be part of rehabilitation and planning; believe that flood can be tamed.
7. When you find an abundance of lichens of different types on trees and rocks, assure residents of the pristine condition of their environment, and help them to preserve it.
8. When and where wildlife areas are shrinking, backyards and idle lots can be developed as alternative wildlife sanctuary, initiate this as a community project.
9. When asked what vegetables are safe from pesticide residues and chemicals from fertilizers, promote native species like malunggay, kamote tops, gabi, saluyot, and the like, they are also more nutritious and easy to grow.
10. When asked of Nature's way of maintaining the ecosystem, explain the role of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, composting, symbiosis, among other natural processes and cycles.
11. When additives are found in food - MSG, Nutrasweet or any artificial sugar, salitre in sausage, sulfite in white sugar, melamin in milk, formalin in fish, warn the public against taking these, initiate through legislation and campaign to ban these additives.
12. When children spend too much time before the TV, on computers, and other gadgets, offer alternatives more favorable to their upbringing and well-being by getting close to nature like camping, gardening and other outdoor activities.
13. When old folks talk about traditional wisdom and values, demonstrate native skills, listen and translate them into useful applications, disseminate these in school and through extension.
14. When animals are restless, reptiles and rodents coming out of their burrows and dens, fish attempting to escape, fowls noisy, suspect the coming of a force majeure such as earthquake, and be alert to face possible consequences.
15. When epidemic threatens an area, say bird flu, initiate community cooperation with health and other institutions to prevent further spread of the disease.
16. When a child has little concern about the environment, teach him, guide him to explore the beautiful world of nature, and make him realize his importance and his role.
17. When there is a worthy movement to save the environment, such as Clean and Green, Piso sa Pasig, or any local campaign, lead and extend your full support.
18. When there are farms and fishponds neglected or abandoned, find out how these are put back to their productive conditions, or converted into a wildlife sanctuary.
19. When at rest or in confinement for health reason, explore natural remedies with plants, pet therapy, and other proven remedies
20. When on a fine Sunday morning you hear birds in the trees, fish splashing in a pond, and plants bloom, say a prayer of praise and thanksgiving in music and poetry, painting, or simply a reflection of the magnificence o f creation. ~
*In keeping with the Pope's universal call, Laudato Si' The key idea behind it is that of “integral ecology”, i.e. that people and planet are part of one family where the Earth is our common home. It invites people to protect God's creation for future generations, to embrace a lifestyle change for their own good, and to take care of people who are poor and more vulnerable. (Internet)
Part 13
Trees for Peace
Apostles for the Environment
Dr Abe V Rotor
Graduate students in Environmental Science pose with their professor ( second from right) on a field lecture on the university campus. Drynaria fern clings on camphor tree at the UST Botanical Garden, filtering sunlight, dusts, and radiation, and storing water and building organic matter for its own use and that of its host tree.
UST Botanical Garden is the oldest plant sanctuary in Manila, originally specializing in pharmaceutical plants.
University of Santo Tomas – The Graduate School First Semester, 2012-2013
Environmental Science – Professor: Dr Abe V Rotor
1. ADIVOSO, Angelica Cyril Cruz “AC” Faculty, College of San Benildo, Cainta, Rizal,
2. ARENAS, Minerva C “Mines” Faculty, Nueva Ecija High School, Cabanatuan City
3. CALIPJO, Arleen M “Arlene” Faculty, Cavite State University, Silang, Cavite
4. CHAO, George Y “George” Faculty, College of Engineering, UST
5. DE GUZMAN, Romualdo B Jr “Jun” Faculty, Bataan Peninsular State University
6. DELIMA, Precila C “Precy” Faculty, Isabela State University, Cauayan City, Isabela
7. DEMAUSA, Mary Joy C “Mary Joy” Staff Laboratory, University of the East, Caloocan
8. MANUBAY, Frederick Ray A “Fred” Faculty, High School, UST
9. ORDOñEZ, Maria Manuela P “Marie” Faculty, San Sebastian College, Recoletos, Cavite City
10. PANGANIBAN, Citadel Faculty, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Batangas
11. SANTOS, Hetdiliza A “Hydie” Faculty, Navotas National High School
12. VILLANUEVA, Laarni M “Lani” Faculty, Lyceum of the Phil U, Batangas
Apostles for the Environment Tenets
1. When spring comes without stir, “don't go gentle into the night,” rise and find out where have all the birds gone that herald the new season, and the new beginning of life.
2. When the monsoon ends too soon, summer sets early, the land scorched, the rivers and ponds dried up, warn of the coming of a severe El Niño, a cyclical phenomenon.
3. When algal bloom in make-believe proportion spreads in lakes, sound the alarm of fish kill coming in order to avert losses and hunger, and to save the ecosystem.
4. When people move to cities in exodus, convince them, advise government, it is a tender trap that takes them away from the real Good Life on the countryside.
5. When clouds simply pass over the landscape, take the lead to reforest the hills and mountains, restore the watershed with a million and one trees.
6. When flood sweeps the land taking with it lives and properties, and eroding soil fertility, be part of rehabilitation and planning; believe that flood can be tamed.
7. When you find an abundance of lichens of different types on trees and rocks, and fireflies at night, assure residents of the pristine condition of their environment, and help them in preserving it.
8. When and where wildlife areas are shrinking, backyards and idle lots can be developed as alternative wildlife sanctuary, initiate this as a community project.
9. When asked what vegetables are safe from pesticide residues and chemicals from fertilizers, promote native species like malunggay, kamote tops, gabi, saluyot, and the like, they are also more nutritious and easy to grow. And promote natural or organic farming, too.
10. When asked of Nature's way of maintaining the ecosystem, explain the role of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, composting, symbiosis, and the like. These natural processes and cycles have been taking place even before the arrival of the human species.
11. When additives are found in food - MSG, Nutrasweet or any artificial sugar, salitre in sausage, sulfite in white sugar, melamin in milk, formalin in fish, warn the public against taking these, initiate through legislation and campaign to ban these additives.
12. When children spend too much time before the TV, on computers, and other gadgets, offer alternatives more favorable to their upbringing and well-being by getting close to nature like camping, gardening and other outdoor activities.
13. When old folks talk about traditional wisdom and values, demonstrate native skills, listen and translate them into useful applications, disseminate these in school and through extension.
14. When animals are restless, reptiles and rodents coming out of their burrows and dens, fish attempting to escape, fowls noisy, suspect the coming of a force majeure such as earthquake. Be alert to face possible consequences, and to extend assistance.
15. When epidemic threatens an area, say bird flu, hepatitis, dengue, cholera, initiate community cooperation with health and other institutions to arrest the spread of these diseases.
16. When a child has little concern about the environment, teach him, guide him to explore the beautiful world of nature, and make him realize his importance and his role in maintaining a balanced environment.
17. When there is a worthy movement to save the environment, such as Clean and Green, Piso sa Pasig, or any local campaign, lead and extend your full support.
18. When there are farms and fishponds neglected or abandoned, find out how these are put back to their productive conditions, or converted into a wildlife sanctuary.
19. When at rest or in confinement for health reason, explore natural remedies with herbals, through pet therapy, aromatherapy, and other proven remedies, in consultation with your doctor.
20. When in doubt if civilization is disguised evil, which is the root of war, poverty, environmental degradation, and the like, remember that it is also civilization that is responsible in building the great institutions of mankind, so that it is the obligation of each member of society to maintain the integrity of these institutions – indeed a noble mission to lead.
21. When appreciating the vastness of creation such as the seas, valleys, mountains, and entertain the idea that their resources are unlimited, view these in their microcosm like a pond or hill - for what can happen to this minuscule could be the same on a larger scale and proportion – be the prophet, but not of doom.
22. When you shall have found success in scholarship, wealth, power, family, etc., the task of integrating all these for the purpose of sharing with those in dire need, and for posterity and sustainability, becomes a greater challenge, indeed this is the price of success.
23. When devoting your time and energy and talents to the service of community and environment as dictated by your profession and as a good citizen, do not neglect your obligation to yourself and family, and by so doing, build a model on which you are looked up to by those you serve.
24. When hope dims in this troubled world, with continued disregard to protect Mother Earth, human abuse and indifference in pursuit of economic gains and affluence, violation of order and harmony of society, degradation of values, “don’t go gentle into the night” – be the sentinel ever vigilant, the guardian ever righteous, for opportunity awaits you in your greatest hour.
25. When on a fine Sunday morning you hear birds in the trees, fish splashing in a pond, and plants blooming, say a prayer of praise and thanksgiving in music and verse, painting, or simply through reflection of the magnificence of creation. ~
NOTE: To my students in particular, please recruit twelve (12) followers from your family, community and organization, who believe and are willing to carry on the tasks we have set. Send the list with basic info through avrotor@gmail.com or through the Comments of this Blog, or through Mail. These 25 tenets serve as guide in your recruitment and selection. This invitation is open to all viewers here and abroad.
Part 14
Living with Nature
20 Advocacies, a Reflective Analysis in these Critical Times
Dr Abe V Rotor
Idyllic life on the farm mural by AVRotor. Courtesy of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur Municipal Hall
You can stand victorious - defend your family and community - and be a hero in your own right in these critical and post-critical times. Consider the following advocacies, rate yourself accordingly through Reflective Analysis.
1. If you live a practical life so as to build personal savings, become less dependent on burrowing, and reduce wasteful living in the process.
2. If you practice a lifestyle that favors good health and relationship, without the trapping of vices and ostentatious living, making yourself an example to others.
3. You are an effective teacher using simple tools and methods, instead of sophisticated tools and expensive means, to be able to bring functional literacy to the grassroots bypassed by formal schooling.
4. If you generate power – electricity and fuel – through direct and natural means such as biofuel, and energy from wind and water, and not depend on expensive, destructive, and non-renewable sources.
5. If you convert wastes into new and recycled materials, such as composting and biogas generation, thus reducing pollution and conserving natural resources.
6. If you produce food from your backyard and kitchen (gardening, poultry, food processing), in line with self reliance, home enterprise and clean environment.
7. If you plant trees as an avowed activity to help Nature rebuild the environment, as a means of bioremediation, erosion and flood control, and the like, while increasing the supply of food and useful materials derived from them.
8. If you build your own home that is simple and economical, comfortable and health-promoting, harmonizing it with the aesthetics and bounty of nature, thus enhancing the beauty of creation itself.
9. If your go natural - from food, medicine to personal items, promoting organically grown food, alternative medicine, non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) and the like, thus protecting the health of humans and the environment.
10. If you protect wildlife and help rebuild the natural habitat of threatened and endangered species of plants and animals in ecological sanctuaries, and by enforcing laws in protecting them.
An unspoiled coral reef by AVRotor
11. If you do not stop learning, if you apply what you learn through skills, and valuing them as well, to your enhance your output, and to share them for the benefits of others.
12. If you recognize and uphold the institutions, respecting the laws of the land, and revering great men and women for their works and examples for which they lived and died, without condition of doing your part well.
13. If you make use of your time fully in work and study, and not live idly, thus living a life of example to the youth in particular - diligence, persistence, sharing, and most important, valuing of life’s purpose.
14. If you build a happy family and provide well its needs, and securing a bright future of your children - and even your children’s children.
15. If you engage in an enterprise, keeping in mind and applying it as well, through entrepreneurship that is equitable to all concerned stakeholders such as the Grameen Bank Model in Bangladesh founded by Nobel laureate M Yunus)
Children playing at the edge of a Forest, AVR
16. If you uphold and practice the principles of equality, fraternity and liberty, in every act and decision you make, providing room for kindness and forgiveness on one hand, and firmness and resolve on the other, even in the face of danger.
17. If you cannot quiet your mind and conscience with sin – whether it be a sin or commission or omission – until you have done your part in amending it and preventing it in harming other people, in corrupting society, and the environment.
18. If you are patient, forgiving, resilient, understanding, and such other qualities that enable you to rise above difficulties of living, particularly in times of calamities - not only for your own benefit, but more for those who are less fortunate than you are
19. If you always remember to pray to that one God for his Providence, recognizing His gifts, through expression of Goodness to yourself, to Humanity and to Mother Earth.
20. If you are aware and honestly believe that you are “passing this way but once,” thus living the life that best earns your passage to that kingdom of your Creator – however humble that life may be.
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Paintings, Children of Nature by students in Humanities
under AVRotor at St Paul University QC
Mural Painting on Nature by AVRotor
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* Reprint, originally "2010 - Year of Heroes. Are you one of them?"
upon followers' request during these pandemic times, updated and edited.
Part 15
Ethnobotany: Reviving the Natural Relationship of Man and Plants
Superstitious beliefs and ethnobotany are closely associated. On closer examination such beliefs have greatly enhanced the relationship of man and the unseen that shapes his life, drawing from it a rich collection of folklore, songs and prayers. Indirectly such relationship has helped in the preservation of his environment.
Dr Abe V Rotor
In rural areas, there are wild and cultivated plants used as home remedies against common ailments, a time-honored ethnic practice associated with customs, beliefs and tradition. This is the field of ethnobotany – the study of the natural relationship of man and plants through evolutionary time.
Dr Romualdo M Del Rosario (left) foremost Filipino ethnobotanist poses with author
But as people move to towns and cities, and development continues to spread to remote areas, ethonobotanical studies may become just documents for future archives. The irony is that we have barely scratched the surface, in discovering the many uses of plants for medicine, agriculture and industry - sociology and art, notwithstanding.
Whole forest and ecosystems are natural gene banks. But with the fast shrinking wildlife, a technology in gene banking has been developed. Today genes can be banked and patented. This was pioneered by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the International Center for Wheat and Maiz Research (CIMMYT).
On the viewpoint of pharmacology, ethnobotany has paved the discovery of potent drugs and medicine, validating ethnic practices while leading into the formulation of new drugs. The trend today is that more and more people are going for natural medicine and food. There is a blossoming industry of herbal medicine and organically grown food. And people are willing to pay the price so long as they are assured of good health and a long and happy life. In many ways ethnobotany is helping pave the way toward this direction.
Herbals as First-Aid
There is always oregano (Coleus amboinicus) at home, ready to ease cough and sore throat. I imagine myself wearing a handkerchief wrapped around my forehead, advising my family and neighbors not to take cough drops or antibiotics for simple colds.I tell them to pick a young leaf of Oregano, chew it with fruit juice or soft drink. Or blanch it, extract the juice, and add sugar and warm water. It is practical and there are no side effects. And what a feeling! No wonder the plant’s name comes from the Greek words, Ore/Oros which means mountain, and ganos joy. “Joy on a mountain.”
Pliny the Elder used oregano to ease bad digestion. To Italians, it is the secret of their cooking and pizza, just as the Mexicans added it to chili con carne. Dinuguan tastes best with this aromatic herb.
On the other hand, I found out that Oregano is an insect repellant. Notice that mosquitoes, flies, fleas and roaches are kept away by its aromatic scent. It can be prepared as a natural pesticide, by simply crushing a few leaves in water, and applying the solution on the plants to control common garden pest. Oregano has essential oil and thymol, which is a strong antiseptic and disinfectant.
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Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, and clothing. Internet
I have observed many rural homes surrounded by other useful plants such as soro-soro, a species of Euphorbia, used to control ringworm. It is also an excellent meat tenderizer and vegetable. The leaves are chopped and stuffed in lechon and relyeno. Lagundi is good for fever and flu, alovera (Aloe vera) for burns, pandakaki (Tabernamontana pandacaqui) for minor cuts. Tanglad is a condiment for kuhol. Young leaves of native bayabas (Psidium guajava) are good for skin infection and allergy. Ilang-ilang (Cananga odorata) and sampaguita (Jasminium sambac) are natural air fresheners in the surroundings. A home garden is very useful indeed as it provides fresh vegetables and herbals as home remedies.
Ethnobotany and Economic Botany
The uses of plants have expanded and more and more species are placed under cultivation for their uses. When they become commodities of commerce, the place of these plants are no longer under ethnobotany but Economic Botany. As ethnic communities gave in to larger, invading cultures, the original man-plant has changed into one that is economic in nature. The practice of kaingin and overpopulation also contribute to the decline of an ethnic community. Ethnic members become integrated into the more progressive society which would offer them better chances of survival, and possibly better life. Because of this ethnobotany has become one of the sciences that records the inevitable and dynamic changes our world has been undergoing, more so during this age of accelerated industrialization and modernization.
It is a race time, before we lose the opportunity to record the shrinking ethnic communities, and the knowledge about the plants that shaped lives and culture through countless generations. Ethnobotanical studies at the UST Graduate School, point out that there is no longer a “pure ethnic community.” Immigration, marriages with lowlanders and exposure to the latter’s way of life through the influence of media and school, have contributed to the modification and subsequent loss of ethnic identity. Apparently such loss is irreversible because the cultural base which largely consists of ancestral lands are opened to development and other forms of exploitation.
Ethnobotanical Researches at UST
Let me cite some studies in ethnobotany conducted at the UST Graduate School with Dr. Romulado M. Del Rosario as professor and thesis adviser. Dr. Del Rosario introduced me into this field, and with him I worked on the Ethnobotany of Maguey in the Ilocos Region, and the Ethnic Practices of Basi Wine Making in the Ilocos Region.
Old camphor trees at UST campus Manila
One of the pioneering works is Ethnobotany of the Itawes, a dissertation by Sister Mamerta Rocero SPC, which was published by the National Museum in 1982. Ethnozoology soon followed. Ethnozoology of the Itawes by Generosa Balubal. (MS Biology 1996) is a pioneer research in our country.
Wilfredo Vendivil (1994) worked on Ethnomedicinal Plants in Ilocos Norte along the borders of Cordillera and Cagayan. He reported 141 species of plants, 58 percent of which grow in the wild, while the 42 percent are cultivated, mainly on the backyard. The study reported 228 uses of these plants on 56 kinds of diseases and ailments, which include fever and flu, diarrhea, stomachache, boils, toothache, colic, dysmenorrhea, and rheumatism. The list also includes anemia, general weakness, numbness, gall bladder trouble, convulsion, paralysis, tuberculosis, intestinal worms, heart problem, poisonous bites, scabies, lumbago, beri-beri, and fungal and bacterial infections.
Vendivil reported that the local residents believe there is no plant growing in their area that does not have any importance. This implies that there is a wealth of knowledge these people have on plants, and their belief in the curative power of plants - which brings to mind that healing and faith go hand on hand.
Lolita O. Uy (1994) worked on the Ethnobotany of the Ilongots in Nueva Viscaya. She described 141 species of plants belonging to 136 genera and 108 families, of which 42 species are for food, 9 for construction, 10 for animal feeds. The rest are used for cleaning, making toys, preservative, masticatory, soap and shampoo, ripening agent, perfume, fish poison, insect repellant and ornamental purposes. The tribe’s local economy is centered in the forest and there are 9,000 hectares of virgin forest they claim as their ancestral land. Like other ethnic tribes, they feel threatened by lowlander intruding into their territory.
Reny Casanan (1997) conducted a similar study with the Gaddangs of Isabela. Among the 167 plant species she studied, 88 are food to the natives, 47 as medicine, 18 for construction, handicraft, furniture and the like, and 56 for various uses from toys to perfumes, rituals and ceremonies. The Gaddangs are now a heterogeneous group through inter-marriage and cultural integration with the nearby population centers.
Alma Poblete (1999) worked on Ethnobotany of Bamboo among the Aetas in Orion, Bataan. There are four important species of bamboo for their edible shoot, and two species as an occasional source of drinking water (water is stored in the internodes). The leaves of Bambusa blumeana is used in curing kidney disorder, while Schizostachyum lumampao is used to bring a patient from relapse, and as cure of fever and malaria. It is this species that the Aetas use in cooking rice and other food. Three species are used in making flute, toys and different kinds of basket that they sell on the lowland. Bamboo is indispensable to the Aetas. Aside from the uses mentioned they depend on bamboo for transport, weapon, fish trap and even riprapping river banks. Because of this they have learned to propagate bamboo, intercropping it with bananas, thus indicating a departure from fundamental ethnobotany.
Meet Maria Dulce Pototoy-Bunquin who worked on Wild Food Plant Resources of the Batak Tribe in Palawan and lived with these natives during her study to learn their culture and dialect. There are 24 uncultivated plant species belonging to 15 families utilized by the Bataks as food, the most important is Arecaceae or the Palm Family. But the use of wild food plants has become infrequent in the presence of cultivated crops in the settlement. The utilization of wild plants and their method of kaingin farming are part of their indigenous culture. The Bataks are no longer a homogeneous ethnic group, although they are still very much dependent on the forest for their subsistence.
Plant Introduction and Wild Food Plants
Let me turn back the hands of time. Many of the plants that give us food today, from cereals to fruits and vegetables, fibers we make into clothes, and hundreds of products, are not indigenous. These include the popular coffee, cacao and tea. Drugs and medicine, derived from plants, were once growing in the wild. The primordial turning point of human society is in the discovery and subsequent development of useful plants by our primitive ancestors. As communities grew, demand increased and many of these plants became important items of agriculture and commerce.
Remember Mutiny on the Bounty? A shipload of breadfruit or rimas (Artocarpus communis) seedlings was being transported to England’s prison-islands in the Pacific when the mission was foiled by the uprising. Breadfruit could be a cheap and ready source of staple for the convicts.
Similarly, many plants were actually introduced into the places they are growing today. Grapes, apricot, grapes, oranges and the like, were introduced into the United States continent from the Middle East and Europe, Mexico and South America by the colonizers and pioneers. Before the Europeans found the Orient, many plants of Asian and Pacific origin were already growing throughout the region, an indication that they were introduced by earlier cultures.
Viewpoints on Pharmacology
Only about 20 percent of the population in developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Ocean benefit from modern drugs. People in these areas generally use traditional and natural remedies in curing ailments. Even in the next millennium, it is believed that plants will remain as the main source of materials in the manufacture of drugs and medicine.
Rhodora Escalada-Gonzales worked on the anti-inflammatory properties of three common weeds - parol-parolan (Cardiospermum halicacabum), vanatnid (Indigofera tinctoria) and tahebteb (Vitex trifolia). She found out that these plants are a potential dual inhibitor of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase based on their strong anti-inflammatory activity. The significance of this finding is that it confirms the reported effectiveness extracts by herbolarios. Having identified the active principles, the essential chemical moieties can lead into the manufacture of a new drug.
Plants and Ethnic Beliefs and Superstition
Superstitious beliefs and ethnobotany are closely associated. I still remember many of these beliefs learned from old folks, the curious boy that I was, surrounded by fields and woodlands. While passing through a thicket where no path is visible you should utter repeatedly, bari-bari, an apology for trespassing into a place guarded by the unseen.
The following superstitious beliefs were selected from Ethnobotany of the Itawes, a doctoral research of Sister Mamerta Rocero, SPC. These beliefs are not only confined among the Itawes of Cagayan Valley but are shared by other cultures as well. These are translations from the Itawes dialect.
1. A conceiving mother should never pick fruits from a tree otherwise the tree will die.
2. A papaya plant in front of a house brings bad luck.
3. A pregnant mother who eats twin bananas might give birth to twins.
4. A tree surrounded by fireflies during the night brings good luck.
5. Plant coconuts during starry nights so they will yield abundant fruits.
6. Plant coconuts during moonlight nights so they will produce big nuts.
7. Hang empty bottles on the trellises of upo (white squash) so that it will bear more fruits.
8. Eating from stocks intended for seeds will bring poor harvest.
9. Burying a little sugar with the seeds of ampalaya (bitter gourd) will prevent the fruits from becoming bitter.
10. Anyone dreaming of something tragic, such as death in the family should, upon waking up, strike the trunk of any tree with a bolo so that the dream will not become a reality.
11. If a Fortune plant received as a gift bears flower, it is a sign of good luck; if it dies it is an omen of bad luck.
12. The balete (Ficus benjamina) is the home of bad spirits which cause those who go near the tree to become sick.
White lady haunts balete tree on Balete Drive QC, a popular ghost story
13. A woman on her menstrual period should not visit a garden or orchard otherwise the plants will become sick and ultimately die.
14. Avoid laughing while planting kamote (sweet potato) otherwise the roots will become liplike.
15. One who has incomplete teeth (bungal) should keep his mouth closed when planting corn, otherwise the plant will bear empty or poorly filled cobs.
16. Stoop when planting coconuts so they will not grow very tall.
17. When planting a tree seedling, avoid looking up so that the plant will not grow very tall.
18. Place the first fruits harvested from a plant in a large container and pretend to carry them as if they were very heavy so that the plant will be heavy with fruits.
19. A spiny cactus inside the house drives the witch away.
20. Someone will die if the fire tree blooms.
21. Talking while preparing gabi (taro) for cooking will make the it itchy when eaten.
22. Eating chicken cooked with squash will cause leprosy.
23. A person who eats any ripe fruit that is partly eaten by a bird will become talkative.
24. Bringing salt under a sour-fruit-bearing tree will cause the fruits to fall.
25. When planting sitao (long bean), place a comb on your hair to induce the production of abundant long fruits.
One of the common beliefs among rural folk is maan-anungan, a case when a person suddenly becomes indisposed, characterized by cold sweating and general weakness, often accompanied with stomach cramp, because “a spirit might have chanced upon person.” This is attributed to somebody who has been dead, or a living person who has the power to mangan-annung. Relief is sought by brushing or lightly whipping on his or her body with branches or leaves of malunggay (horse radish tree), atis (sweetsop), guyabano (soursop), or dayap (sour orange). Or let him or her be touched by the suspected mangan-annung, or wiped him with any clothing of the suspected dead person.
Then there is the belief that garlic cloves hung above the door will ward off the mananangal, a vampire who hovers around dwellings and attacks unwary victims. Then there are stories of the duwende (dwarfs) who bring either luck or misfortune, depending on the world they belong to. Next time you answer the call of nature under a tree, say, bari-bari, and don’t forget to spit on the spot after your relief.
Reny Casanan, in a similar study, relates these beliefs which are found among the Gaddangs of Isabela. The first items to carry with when moving into a new house are rice, a bundle of fuel, salt, sugar and coffee so that family will not run out of basic needs. Another belief is that, if harvest has been good, offer atang which consists of rice, viand, wined and palaspas (palm) as an offering, so that next year’s harvest will be as bountiful.
Ethnobotany and Gene Piracy
Sound the alarm. The pirates are coming! These pirates are armed with the latest tools of genetic engineering, and shielded by patent laws in their country Across the world, prospectors are sampling the local flora and fauna, and the genes of ethnic peoples, in search of new miracle drugs. An ethnical battle rages as prospectors scour the globe to find - and profit from - organisms that could cure the world’s worst diseases. According to Time, some ecologists are sounding dark warnings of a coming “gene war” between industrialized and emerging nations.
The idea is not really new. It started with IRRI when it put up a Gene Bank which houses today some 100,000 cultivars and varieties of rice. IRRI’s counterpart, CIMMYT in Mexico has a similar gene bank for wheat and corn. With genetic engineering today, genes banking and patenting have become mighty political and economic weapons of highly developed nations and giant trans-national corporations.
I had the opportunity to review and comment on a proposed bill to patent plants in the Philippines, under the title Plant Patent. The Senate of the Philippines remained firm to this date not to allow the passage of this bill. It believes that it is not only a matter that involves moral turpitude, but that the new law will adversely affect small farmers - millions of them, say in planting a patent-covered variety without paying the corresponding obligation to the patent holder.
This is the reported modus operandi of gene pirates. Foreign scientists disguised as tourists or volunteer workers, steal indigenous plants and animals - even human genes - develop useful products out of them which they then patent in their own country. According to Isidro Shia, a pharmacologist at UP, scientists posing as anthropologists have been gathering tissue samples from ethnic communities in the country known for their immunity to cancer and diabetes. The late Senator Juan Flavier called this exploitation a form of piracy and is rampantly committed in many parts of the world. Drug companies and agribusiness firms have been tapping genetic resources without even paying anything to countries where these genes are found.
Here are some examples of drugs manufactured from pirated plants. Taxol came from bark of a tree from a tropical rainforest, a cancer preventer. Jeevani is a drug from Kanis’ berries. It is a rich energy source, an anti-fatigue drug. “Old man’s cure” came from an African Pygeum tree. Sales of the bark reached $ 220 million a year. Sandeimmum/Neoral (Cyclosporin) another drug came from Kava plant, a Dioscorea species, which is a tranquilizer safer than Valium.
Actually we have just started for a long search because only one percent of the world’s flowering plants has been tested of their curative powers. But prospectors are all over like in a gold rush. Pirating is pocketing a gift God gave to all, and patenting is putting a tag on an act of God. There must be something to be done before these pirates loot our natural resources and heritage.
Age of Natural Medicine
According to Time, the sale of herbal and botanical supplements in the US in 1994 was $2 billion. It doubled in 1998, and by the following year it rose to $6 billion. There are 7.3 million Americans who swallow capsule made from Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea), a purple petalled daisy particularly during the cold and flu season. Some 7.5 million more take Prosac, an extract from a bright yellow flower called St. John’s wort. And there are 10.8 million people who are worried of fading memory so that they remind themselves to take regularly Gingko (Gingko biloba), a tree with fan-like leaves, and the only survivor of a large Family (Gingkokales). PHOTO
Millions of people are now taking in dose routinely, from various preparations of herbs, to stave off disease, brighten their moods, rev up their sex life or retain their youth. In the US alone the annual value of natural supplements amounts to more than $12 billion. This blossoming market is all over the world. People simply go for natural – natural food, pest- and fertilizer-free products, organically grown crops, native animals and fowls. Awareness is growing high against pesticide-treated fruits and vegetables, and high level of antibiotics in poultry and livestock products. People shy away from irradiated food, microwave-cooked food, and products of genetically engineered plants and animals (GMOs). And they are willing to pay the premium as long as they are certain the food and medicine they are taking are free from adulterants and other substances that are deleterious to health.
People today make more visits to non-traditional physicians, including faith healers, herbolarios, and naturopaths, who claim expertise in herbs and other natural therapies. In the Philippines, more and more people seek natural remedies, and a proof to this is the sudden emergence of apatot (Morinda citrifolia), a locally growing wild plant found to be the source of Morinda, a health drink among the Tahitians. The fruit is sold in the market and made into fruit juice. Recently, the Bureau of Food and Drug banned the taking of seeds of mahogany (Swietenia macroloba) as cure of rheumatism, arthritis and heart problem. Senator Juan Flavier warned the public that the seed contains cyanide which can cause damage to the brain, kidney and liver.
Because of this trend many pharmaceutical companies are changing their products and strategies. There has been a proliferation in the market of various health food and natural medicinal preparations, many of which are exaggerated. Laws and regulations on drugs are being reviewed. The sudden revival of thousand-year-old remedies focuses the importance of ethnobotany. It buoys the sagging faith of people in conventional medicine, and kindle and hope quaintness of healing using time- tested remedies, remedies instilled in the live and culture of our forebears. The perceived coldness and remoteness of sophisticated, computerized, and red-taped medicine, are driving people away to look for a humane, practical, community-oriented alternative - a kind of healing that touches the human spirit.
Outlook
These viewpoints present a Janus’ vantage point from where we stand today. Ethnobotany is besieged by advancing culture, seen on the screen of a computer, serving the needs of modern medicine, and globalization in terms of commerce and intercultural exchanges. On the other hand, ethnobotany offers us an opportunity to turn back to an unspoiled landscape where we study, even under extreme pressure of time and change, the drama which has been taking place many, many years ago, an enduring natural man-plant relationship vital to our success as a species, to be what we are today, our lifestyle and society. In our approach to the subject we may undermine the wealth of indigenous knowledge about the subject, which we must admit, we know so little about.
We should take time out and beat a path out there, bidding the unseen with whispers of bari-bari, as we seek and enter the Shang-rila of health and plenty, a place, a natural order of things, where our ancestors must have lived a full life. ~
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Volume II
TREES, TREES, TREES
for Progress and Peace in 30 Articles
Dr Abe V Rotor
Students from the University of Northern Philippines on an educational
tour at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Ilocos Sur, 2024
Part 1 - Trees for Peace
Part 2 - The Tropical Rainforest - Richest Ecosystem
Part 3 - Tropical Rainforest on the Wall
Part 4 - The Arboretum - Microcosm of a Tropical Forest (Living with Nature Center)
Part 5 - Woodland in the City (Arboretum of the University of Santo Tomas, Manila)
Part 6 - The Holy Father plants a tree.
Part 7 - The Living Christmas Tree - Plant a tree this Christmas Season
Part 8 - Save the Trees this Palm Sunday
Part 9 - Trophies of Nature
Part 10 - Trees in Winter in Brisbane, Australia
Part 11 - Greet Sunrise through the Trees
Part 12 - The Sound of Trees
Part 13 - Don't Cut the Trees, Don't
Part 14 - A tree fell and took with it its tenants and symbionts.
Part 15 - Trees are Benevolent Hosts
Part 16 - Bonsai is Nature's Art
Part 17 - Do you believe in tree spirit?
Part 18 - Nativity in the Forest
Part 19 - Towering Anahaw Palm Trees
Part 20 - The Tree that Wears a Veil
Part 21 - Lost Forest
Part 22 - Driftwood Strange Creatures - Emissaries of Ecological Destruction
Part 23 - Trees on the Campus
Part 24 - I talk to the trees - and they listen to me.
Part 25 - Put Life into a Dying Tree
Part 26 - Dita, the tallest tree in Manila
Part 27 - Symbiosis of Drynaria Fern and Acacia Tree - More than Commensalism
Part 28 - Mythical Forest
Part 29 - Queer Looking Trees in Another World
Part 30 - Where Have all the Native Fruits Gone?
This article is a tribute to the late Senator Juan M Flavier and former health secretary for his dedication in anti-smoking campaign. "Yosi Kadiri" was hailed to be a very effective slogan. 
Annex 2 - May 31 is World No Tobacco Day
More about the art of pipe smoking. I lit my pipe with a special lighter whose flame goes downward into the bowl, and witnessed in the process of huff-and puff a Krakatoa in the making. I peered into the glowing crater. Then I would savor the maiden smoke as fresh as morning air, blowing it in a series of “O’s” which takes skill to perfect it. You don’t inhale, unlike cigarette. The smoke runs through the oral to the nasal cavity and out through the nostril, gently fuming a cloud of smoke that surrounds the face, with your eyes half close in dreamy relaxation. It was really thrilling, exhilarating. What on a Sunday morning with brewed black coffee and newspaper and elevated feet?. Ah, and ahs….
But with millions all over the world dying from smoking and its many complications, I believe the virus has mutated countless times - even if biologically it is not considered a true organism. Mutation is still governed by error - and human manipulation in DNA replication. 
The author poses with his students at the UST Graduate School. Author plays "monkey on my back" to illustrate smoking takes great determination to get rid of. Avilon Zoo, Rizal. 
More about the art of pipe smoking. I lit my pipe with a special lighter whose flame goes downward into the bowl, and witnessed in the process of huff-and puff a Krakatoa in the making. I peered into the glowing crater. Then I would savor the maiden smoke as fresh as morning air, blowing it in a series of “O’s” which takes skill to perfect it. You don’t inhale, unlike cigarette. The smoke runs through the oral to the nasal cavity and out through the nostril, gently fuming a cloud of smoke that surrounds the face, with your eyes half close in dreamy relaxation. It was really thrilling, exhilarating. What on a Sunday morning with brewed black coffee and newspaper and elevated feet?. Ah, and ahs….
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