It is no doubt that we, humans, revere beautiful things. And we are not content in settling with something less than what we think we deserve. When God gave us our identifying physical features, we always have better ideas. He gave us resources for sustenance, and we want to convert it into something more pleasing- or profiting- to our mundane eyes. 

Where am I heading with this?

It is with our slowly degrading pristine and beautiful Negros forest slowly depleting into just a premeditated man-made aesthetics.

The low-lying cities of Negros are now in great danger of massive flooding. Take that New Year’s Eve in 2021 when some cities in the north welcomed the year not with a bang, but with floodwater. That’s not the last of it. Maybe it is, in fact, just the beginning of it all.

Every slight drizzle today is alarming. We never know which one will land us in evacuation centers and bring damages to our properties. Has anyone ever realized that we have so much in our hands come the worst of the typhoon seasons?

Our piling up wastes, our compromised drainage system, our negligence in general, are undeniably contributory factors. But what brought the unanticipated amount of floodwater downhill at a pace?

On the bottom line, we may blame the accelerating climate change. The increasing temperature and the crazy weather patterns have got us thinking about doomsday wrath. Researchers and business moguls are still not settling down with their debate regarding the greenhouse emission effect. But there is one avertable thing we forgot and neglected to take into account. It is the man-made and unsustainable illegal logging that propels forest denudation, and eventually, its degradation.

What’s the difference?

Deforestation is the rampant conversion of forest into non-forest use. Degradation happens when the forest ecosystem cannot anymore serve its function of providing goods to humanity. So, what is our contribution to it?

Convening with nature is our favorite reprieve and respite. Hence, we all look forward to mental healing, especially after spending the previous year in isolation. So, most of us head to someplace where ‘nature’ was supposed to be. In exchange for a cup of coffee and a few sniping on social media, we supported the boom of businesses overtaking the mountains with fake aesthetics.

We’re so happy trippin’ we forgot mountain resorts are not only stripping us of money, but also betting with our inconvertible ill fate. Sadly, there are plenty of existing undocumented resort businesses today that are certainly not permitted for business operations. Will these simple pleasures really bring us the cure we are looking for from within?

I am not blaming those booming tourist destinations, maybe not solely. The continuing deforestation did not only give rise to social playgrounds. This province is also going bare, what with the vast toil of sugarcane fields slowly overtaking our lands and forests. In pursuit of economic growth, we also gamble with our environmental sustainability. Yet, it is still business as usual.

Then there’s the cumulative effect of progress that is too irrefutable to hinder. Access road constructions and housing projects crucial to local economic and social development are hard to defer. Even the strongly opposed coal-fired power plant endorsements are drawing flak of opinions with only a string of hair into implementation following DOE’s moratorium previously.

Our mountain reserves are depleting at a fast pace. We can only place our trust in a few Local Government Units doing their fair share in negating the hostility against the environment. Or, are they? We hope nothing will taint their interest to continue pushing for our province’s common goodwill.

Outreach programs are futile if we cannot solve the problem from the source. Maybe in small, measured steps. What little things can we do to help our communities against environmental disasters? If we know where to look, we can find local NGOs in support of our remaining forests. We can tap them and show our support not with empty words, but in pairing it with a unified effort.

It is not too late to start- nothing ever is. We can still help Negros with the fight that we ourselves, in one way or another, have fueled to start.