NS SANTO CRISTO

Step 4: INITITE THE PUROK INTO REGULAR SHARING

2008-04-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

1. ADAL GIMONG MANGWAYAWAYA, continuing regular formation sessions of the communty facilitated by the couple Langen Agassawa in their own Purok.

a. Ojbectives: to facilitate paradigm shift and formation of consciousness, to discover and analyze situations as basis for community transformative action

b. Process:

1) Session begins with life situation. An analysis of presented particular life situation mirrors the community’s own life situation.

2) Word of God is presented as word of life. It presents a liberating perspective on life. It challenges and leads the community to transforming action.

3) Action for Life is the concrete response of the community to the Word of God transforming their own particular life situation. Specific planning is done by the community to implement desired action.

Step 3: TRAIN COUPLES AS PUROK FACILITATORS

2008-04-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

1. SANAY LANGEN AGASSAWA: Training of couples from the Purok to serve a facilitators in the purok

a. Objectives: to initiate couples into community leadership service, to facilitate couple relationship growth as basis for community leadership

b. Process:

1)Introduction: Community singing to prepare the couples for participation. Couple introducing themselves to their fellow participants. Present the objectives and process of the training.

2)Divide the couples into small group sharing with PAT or trained couples as facilitators

3)Celebration of Renewal of Marriage Vows as a community

4)Present the tasks of Langen Agassawa in the Purok

c. Tasks of Couples in the Purok:

1) Facilitate regular Tongtongan Adal Gimong

2) Facilitate youth and children formation activities in the Purok

3) Facilitate community activities and mobilizations

4) Coordinate ministries in the Purok

3. KASASAAD PASTORAL TI PAROKIA

2008-04-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

3. KASASAAD PASTORAL TI PAROKIA, making a document on the pastoral situation of the parish based on the results of the Tongtongan Pastoral iti Barangay and the Sarungkar Pagtaengan

a. Objectives: To make a profile of the pastoral situation of the parish as context of pastoral program. To raise the awareness of people on concrete challenge of the Kingdom-mission

b. Process:

(1)Collate the pastoral survey results in concrete descriptions and statistics

(2)Interpret the collated data and make a draft document

(3)Validate the draft with the parish team

(4)Publish the document for people to own their situation as starting point of change

2.TONGTONGAN PASTORAL ITI BARANGAY: Gathering families from the Purok for pastoral orientation

2008-04-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

a. Objectives: to share life situation of families in the barangay, to discover vision as basis and direction of life, to learn principles of transforming life, and to learn Tongtongan Gimong as way of participation in the transformation of life

b. Process:

(1) Welcome the participants according to Purok. Introduce the Parish Team.

(2) Share the objectives and process of the Tongtongan Pastoral

(3) Group Workshops by Purok with PAT as facilitators

(4) Dialogue in Plenum

(5)Recap and Invitation to participate in the follow up activities. Ask each purok to send two to three couples for the training on LANGEN AGASSAWA to serve as facilitators for Purok regular gatherings

Step 2: PREPARE THE PUROK FOR RE-ORIENTATION

2008-03-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Step 2: PREPARE THE PUROK FOR RE-ORIENTATION
1. SARUNGKAR PAGTAENGAN: Visit all the families in their homes with the on training PAT.

a. Objectives: To meet the families in their homes as key to establishing relationships and to discover actual life situations of people as context of pastoral program

b. Process:

(1) Remote preparation; Meet contact persons in the barangay. Explain the objectives and processes of home visitation. Schedule the activity.

(2) Immediate Preparation: Meet the group of some barangay residents at the center to plan out the actual home visitation. Divide the parish team with the Barangay residents into Purok visitation.

(3) Home visitation in the Purok: Introduce yourselves to the family. Start casual dialogue on family, livelihood and community concerns. End the conversation with invitation to the Tongtongan Barangay.

V. STEPS IN BUILDING BECS

2008-03-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

BEC building is process, not mechanical and instant organizing. It is a process of consciousness formation and paradigm shift. It requires participative learning as methodology. It is always the work of teams. It demands the presence of the parish priest in all the steps of the process. Animating presence, empowering participation, team work, consistency and persevering in clear gospel stance are basic requirement in the process of BEC building.

Step 1: TRAINING PARISH ANIMATORS (PAT)

1. Role of the PAT: fulltime partners in the journey of BEC building into a way of life and mission.

2. Tasks: assist in the continuing consciousness formation among the BECs; assist in the training of BEC leaders and ministries; monitor the growth of the BECs

3. Qualities: able to relate with all walks of people, passion for change towards liberating mission, open to learning to facilitate formation activities, willing to sacrifice and suffer for Kingdom mission

4. Basic PAT training: Orientation on sense of co-responsibility in mission; basic skills for pastoral program; Pastoral Exposure to people and situation; Feedbacking as self reflection and team building; and Leaning Workshops for deepening and sustaining

IV. PASTORAL FRAMEWORK OF TRANSFORMING PARISH INTO BEC

2008-02-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

BEC becomes a liberating way of life and mission in a parish when there is pastoral framework with a clear vision and pastoral thrust as direction and orientation, empowering pastoral program as way of implementation, emerging lay leadership from the grassroots, equal treatment in all the sacramental celebration, self-reliant financial system, sustaining participatory system and structure, alternative and liberating livelihood, and animating role of the parish priest with the supportive role of the assistant priest.;

1. CLEAR VISION AN MISSION: Vision of the Kingdom of God as fullness of life and mission to stand for justice that liberates oppressive system

2. PASTORAL THRUST: BEC, community of families in the PUROK, following Jesus in the liberating mission of the Kingdom,

3. EMPOWERING PASTORAL PROGRAM: Facilitating community worship and celebrations centered on the Word, experience of God’s presence, leading to commitment to mission of the Kingdom. Facilitating raising of awareness on issues, structural analysis, promotion of gospel alternative way of life. Facilitating community needs analysis, planning for action in a participatory way.

4. EMERGING PASTORAL LEADERSHIP: Emerging couple leaders from the communities with healthy dissatisfaction of the oppressive status quo, to serve as animating and facilitating participation of BEC in the liberating Kingdom-mission.

5. PARISH ANIMATORS TEAM (PAT): facilitating role in the implementation of the pastoral program

6. FINANCIAL SYSTEM: setting up self-reliant and liberating financial system family based participation supporting the pastoral program in the BEC and parish.

7. EQUAL SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATIONS: consistent equal treatment and simplicity in all the sacramental celebrations in the parish.

8. SUSTAINING PARTICIPATORY SYSTEM AND STURCTURE: participatory way of decision making processes in the BEC, clustering of Barangays for mobility, and regular assembly of leaders in the parish for continuing raising of awareness and solidarity in mission.

9. LIBERATING ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOOD: creating alternative livelihood liberating families from oppressive system.

10. ANIMATING ROLE OF THE PARISH PRIEST: focused leadership of the parish priest, animating participation and co-responsibility in transformative mission, and firm in justice and liberation stance of the radical Gospel.

III. BEC AS WAY OF LIFE AND LIBERATING MISSION

2008-02-21T02:44:00.000-08:00

1. Identifying the PUROK as natural habitat of BEC

The natural habitat of BEC is in the PUROK, cluster of families, not simply a group of women coming together for an activity. The PUROK is the smallest natural cluster of families, relating with one another in a personal communication, with a sense of belongingness, sharing common environment and experience of community. Respecting the natural cluster, without making any artificial grouping, is not only sociologically sound but also a deep respect to the presence and the activity of the God in the community since in the beginning. God indeed created life as community.

2. Transforming the PUROK into BEC

The PUROKs as natural clusters of families are called to become communities following Jesus in the mission of the Kingdom of God. When the PUROK, as community of families respond to the call of God, then it begins its process of becoming Basic Ecclesial Community. This process of transforming the natural cluster of families into BEC involves four movements:

• Building faith relationships among the cluster families, relating with one another in equal of dignity, brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God

• Encountering the Word as bond of relationships and basis for action, sharing the Word of God as good news of the Kingdom

• Creating ministries of worship, formation and social services as way of Kingdom-life, and

• Setting up link with all the communities, with Eucharist as greatest bond, collaborative leadership, and collective mission action.

3. Directing BEC towards liberating Kingdom mission

The PUROK as transformed BEC has to be directed towards the liberating mission of the Kingdom. BEC as community following Jesus in Kingdom mission, has to make a radical stand for justice and liberation. BEC as way of promoting greater participation and co-responsibility in the Kingdom-mission, is empowering local communities into critical mass for social transformation. Liberating mission defines genuine BEC and differentiated from tools of oppression.

II. OUR PASTORAL MINISTRY

2008-02-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

The Mission of proclamation of the kingdom with the option for the poor as stand for justice and liberation must then be the orientation and direction of our pastoral ministry. Its must be the focus of our pastoral thrust, pastoral program, pastoral structures, lifestyle and way of life.

Building Basic Ecclesial Communities as pastoral thrust must then be proclamation of liberating kingdom-mission. BEC is concretization of the Kingdom-mission. BEC is enhancing natural clusters of families who relate with one another in a personal way of communicating, with a sense of belongingness, sharing common environment, experience of community, into kingdom lifestyle. It is a structure to promoting greater participation and co-responsibility in kingdom mission. It is empowering local communities into critical mass for transformation.

Pastoral Program is the implementing process of the pastoral ministry. It is organized, coordinated, processual sustaining community activities of formation, organization, and mobilization facilitating transformation of total life into the way of the Kingdom. Therefore, the pastoral program with Kingdom-orientation must be liberating with option for the poor. Pastoral program to be kingdom-oriented must be:
• contextualized reality based not imposed,
• stand for justice and liberation not dole out,
• centered in the local communities (BEC) not in the religious organizations and parish commissions,
• processual not instant organizing,
• transforming consciousness not instant solutions,
• emerging facilitating and animating leadership not enslaving and grandstanding leadership,
• promoting self-reliant activities and projects not dependency
• active non violence not armed struggle
• accepting conflict as essential in mission, not compromising

Pastoral Leadership: Leadership serves to facilitate participation of the community for the Kingdom-mission. Three areas of leadership are needed in a parish, namely, BEC leadership, Parish Leadership and Ministry Leadership. As way of leadership in the family, couple leadership is best in the building of communities.
• BEC leadership serves as facilitating and animating the community in the participatory research, decision making, planning, monitoring and evaluating processes.
• The Pastoral Council of the parish or KON-PAS as assembly of BEC Leaders linking the parish into communion of communities for kingdom-mission.
• Program Coordinators Team facilitates program planning, implementation and evaluation.

With BEC as pastoral thrust in the renewal of the Church, the religious organizations and movements are enjoined to make a paradigm shift. BEC as pastoral thrust takes priority and center stage in church life and mission.

Re-directing BEC for Liberating Mission

2008-02-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

Introduction: Re-directing BEC for Liberating Mission

Continuing our journey of renewal in the Archdiocese, the pastoral thrust of building Basic Ecclesial Communities needs re-direction in terms of liberating orientation, participatory processes, paradigm shift in consciousness, emerging empowering leadership, inculturation and transformative structures, organization and systems. The following framework developed and emerged from years of pastoral experience is offered as guide in re-directing our way of building BECs to be faithful to the demands of the radical Gospel of proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom.

I. OUR PASTORAL ORIENTATION:

We envision the transformation of the parishes into communities of disciples of Jesus following the liberating Kingdom-mission. We leave behind the image of church as highly institutionalized, clericalized, exclusively liturgical and sacramental, and associated with the rich and powerful. We are embarking a church as community, co-responsible, prophetic and with preferential option for the poor.

Proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom is the mission of the Church. The Kingdom of God as fullness of life is concretized in the total well being of people translated into jobs and work to sustain families, basic needs, basic social services, protection of human rights, participation in community decision making, access to wealth and resources, integrity of environment, justice for all, and community of nations.

The dehumanizing situation of exploitation is the context and challenge of the proclamation of the Kingdom. The present dehumanizing situation as massive poverty, political patronage and cultural corruption is product of historical process of political colonialization, economic neo-colonialization and cultural globalization.

In Ilocos Sur, five economic poverty groups as the poorest among the poor are identified as farmer-tenants, small fisher folks, upland indigenous peoples, laborers and the jobless. They should be the priority of the pastoral ministry.

As Nueva Segovia Church, we also contribute to the perpetuation of the exploitative situation of the people. Double standards of sacramental celebrations and church services. Lack of credible lifestyle and witnessing. Soliciting and accepting benefits from oppressors. Our church life has always been very cultic, neglecting our prophetic and kingly tasks.

In this dehumanizing and exploitative situation of the people, we rediscover the stand of Jesus in his proclamation of the Kingdom. The victims of exploitation are the defenseless poor. Dehumanizing poverty endangers humanity. Option for the poor is option for humanity. It is the option of Jesus. It is the Kingdom-option. It must then be the option of the followers of Jesus. It is the option of the Church. Option for the poor is justice and liberation. Is it our option? Our personal conviction?

KORAPSYON!

2008-02-07T08:05:00.001-08:00

The accusations and counter accusations of corruption and even assassinations are not new. The Romans did it. The Roman governors had to make three fortunes by corruption in their provincial assignments. One was for lawyer to defend them in court, the other to pay for expenses they incurred, and the last fortune is to enjoy for themselves. Old story it is true, but we need to better and get something out of this quarrel. The primary duty of government is to protect citizens against oppression and provide him justice in the courts. Then provide the infrastructure to be able to live a decent life. With corruption, these will be hard to provide. Without corruption, we can fulfill these expectations and more.

MABUHAY KA PILIPINAS!

2008-02-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

Today, Singapore is the
benchmark of education
in Asia.

While singapore is busy
making records in academic execellence..

Japan is making
breakthroughs in
information technology..

And the Philippines?

Busy setting records as the
most corrupt country in Asia
if not the second!

Mabuhay ang PILIPINAS!

TATSULOK

2008-02-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

TATSULOK (Buklod)

Totoy bilisan mo,
bilisan mo ang takbo
Ilagan ang mga bombang
nakatutok sa ulo mo
Totoy tumalon ka, dumapa kung kailangan
At baka tamaan pa ng mga balang ligaw.

Totoy makinig ka, wag kang magpa-gabi
Baka mapagkamalan ka’t
humandusay dyan sa tabi
Totoy alam mo ba kung ano
ang puno’t dulo
Ng di matapos-tapos na kaguluhang ito.

Refrain: Hindi pula’t dilaw tunay na magkalaban
Ang kulay at tatak ay di syang dahilan
Hangga’t marami ang lugmok sa kahirapan
At ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman

Chorus: Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
Di matatapos itong gulo.

Iligtas ang hininga ng kay
raming mga tao
At ang dating munting bukid, ngayo’y sementeryo
Totoy kumilos ka, baliktarin ang tatsulok
Tulad ng mag dukha, na ilagay mo sa tuktok.

Refrain: Hindi pula’t dilaw tunay na magkalaban
Ang kulay at tatak ay di syang dahilan
Hangga’t marami ang lugmok sa kahirapan
At ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman
Chorus:Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
Di matatapos itong gulo.

CORRUPTION!

2007-12-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

Corruption has dire global consequences, trapping millions in poverty and misery and breeding social, economic and political unrest.

Corruption is both a cause of poverty, and a barrier to overcoming it. It is one of the most serious obstacles to reducing poverty.

Corruption denies poor people the basic means of survival, forcing them to spend more of their income on bribes. Human rights are denied where corruption is rife, because a fair trial comes with a hefty price tag where courts are corrupted.

Corruption undermines democracy and the rule of law.

Corruption distorts national and international trade.

Corruption jeopardises sound governance and ethics in the private sector.

Corruption threatens domestic and international security and the sustainability of natural resources.

Those with less power are particularly disadvantaged in corrupt systems, which typically reinforce gender discrimination.

Corruption compounds political exclusion: if votes can be bought, there is little incentive to change the system that sustains poverty.

The conclusion - Corruption hurts everyone.

STASIS (EDITORIAL PDI 11/27/07)

2007-11-30T19:29:00.000-08:00

EDITORIAL
Stasis

Inquirer
Last updated 09:49pm (Mla time) 11/27/2007
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro, has called for a “moral revolution” in the face of social ills besetting the nation. “If only to stop our country from continuing to become a ‘social volcano,’ we support the idea of a moral revolution,” he said. The statement was made amid what Lagdameo called the unremitting piling up of “social concerns and nagging issues that are crying for solution and closure.”
Lagdameo said a moral revolution is needed to ease the sociopolitical turmoil and pave the way for genuine national reconciliation. “[It’s] nothing new,” he said, “but the resolve may be.”
Perhaps that’s the problem. The call for moral revolution has been made so often by Lagdameo and his brothers in the CBCP that it has become a tired refrain, spectacular in its pulpit-fire-and-brimstone, but signifying nothing. The bishops often make calls for moral change when they have nothing new to say or they have been boxed into stasis by their own moral confusion and uncertainty. Moral revolution has become a euphemism for lack of moral will, which presupposes a lack of moral vision.
Lagdameo perhaps betrayed this lack of moral vision when, along with his call for moral conversion, he also urged government officials “to do a Zacchaeus” and give their ill-gotten possessions to the poor. While the call is Gospel-inspired, it is not morally wise; it sounds like a sly condonation of plunder. It seems to tell plunderers that it’s all right to steal from the public coffers and amass ill-gotten wealth so long as they give part of it later to the poor. Any rogue or thief might romanticize his plunder by doing a Robin Hood -- or a Zacchaeus.
But to be fair to the CBCP president, he has also criticized the presidential pardon extended to Joseph Estrada, a convicted plunderer. “But where is restorative justice?” he asked. “Where is the justice capable of restoring harmony in social relations disrupted by the criminal act committed?”
But then his brother-bishops sang a different tune. Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal welcomed the pardon. So did Nueva Vizcaya Bishop Ramon Villena and former Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani. While all three cited the Church’s teaching on mercy with justice, they glossed over the fact that Estrada did not even acknowledge his sin, much less seek forgiveness.
The striking clash of views betrays either the political expedience or moral bankruptcy of the bishops. Either way, it encapsulates what Pope Benedict XVI in another context has called the “dictatorship of relativism” that characterizes the globalizing world. More importantly, it shows the inability of bishops to provide moral guidance to a nation that is in a terrible moral muddle.
Part of the reason the bishops add to the moral confusion of the nation is that just about every one of them seems to have jettisoned the cardinal virtue of prudence and acquired a taste for loquaciousness, offering his opinion on just about every issue under the sun. Gone are the days when bishops would convoke a council and labor over a document or a position behind which they would stand solidly, their erudition and unity a fortress of moral conviction and power. Since the death of Jaime Cardinal Sin, the bishops have gone about their merry ways of individualism and division, leaking developments to the press in a shadow game of brinkmanship and one-upmanship, or casually shooting off their mouths before the media. Perhaps they are only being human; in their divisions, they actually constitute the Philippine Church, or what’s left of it, which in turn embodies the ugly divisions of the whole nation.
But the bishops cannot afford to be human in this manner. First, because as successors to the apostles, they have the prophetic mission to read the signs of the times and provide spiritual direction to the people. Second, as the teaching authorities of the Church, they are expected to draw from the Gospel and the social and moral teachings of the Church to provide moral direction to the people. And third, because the Philippine Church, through the bishops, remains the linchpin of the nation, holding it together. If the nation is in a moral drift, it is in a large way because of the Church. If the social volcano explodes, it is because the Church has come unhinged.

Climate change in focus at Commonwealth summit

2007-11-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

KAMPALA (AFP) - - Commonwealth heads of state should send a strong message of support to next month's international summit on climate change in Bali, the 53-nation group's chairman said Friday.

"There is little doubt that in order to keep the adaptation challenge in manageable bounds we must work decisively towards the aim of reducing greeenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent below 1990 levels, and this to be reached by 2050," said Lawrence Gonzi, outgoing chairman and Maltese prime minister.

"The challenge of climate change not only requires a united front but an unprecedented level of cooperation and firm action," said Gonzi at the summit's opening ceremony in the Ugandan capital.

He added: "We must send a strong message of support to the forthcoming climate change conference in Bali."

Combating climate change is high on the Commonwealth agenda at the biennial summit, having not even been a footnote to the the final statement at the last meeting on Malta in 2005.

Officials said in the run-up to the summit that all members states are now agreed there is an "urgent" need to tackle the issue.

Present are those in the front line of climate change's effects like Kiribati, a Pacific island group in acute danger of being washed away by rising sea levels, as well as Australia, one of the world's biggest polluters.

The presence of Britain's Prince Charles, attending his first overseas Commonwealth heads of government summit, also ensured the problem was given prominence, as leaders met in behind-closed-doors talks to determine the body's future policy.

"Climate change has become the greatest challenge facing mankind," said Charles, who has previously spoken out about environmental issues, on a visit to a British Council-funded grassroots convention of activists.

"We all hold this planet in trust for our children and grandchildren."

On Thursday, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo called for a carbon credit scheme to be introduced as an incentive for countries to reduce levels of deforestation, which has been blamed for a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

"Cut down a forest, and you get money. But if you don't cut it down then there is no money for you," he said as the Commonwealth Business Forum wrapped up talks.

Carbon trading allow countries that reduce carbon dioxide emissions below a target level to sell the remainder to a private company or country that has not met the goal.

The loose federation of mostly former British colonies includes some of the world's major polluters such as Australia, who are said to be holding out on a more strongly-worded final Commonwealth communique to take to Bali.

But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam told reporters differing views were to be expected. He refused to say whether Britain was pushing for the Commonwealth to agree on specific binding targets.

"We're looking to achieve consensus here on the business of commitment to a positive agenda in Bali," he added.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Bali aims to see countries agree to launch a roadmap for negotiating cuts in climate-changing carbon emissions from 2012.

That is the date when current pledges under the Kyoto Protocol expire.

Meetings leading up to the Bali talks begin in the Indonesian resort on December 3 and the summit concludes on December 14.

BARANGAY/SK ELEKSYON

2007-11-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

BARANGAY ken SK ELEKSYON:

Ladawan ti Nakillo a Politika

Kas kapadasan ken kapaliiwan iti eleksyon idi October 29, 2007, nagbalin ti Barangay ken SK Eleksyon a ladawan ti nakillo a sistema politika kas ibuksilan dagiti sumaganad a pasamak;

1. Pannakalabsing ti common poster area a kas pagannurotan nga ituding ti COMELEC. Naikabil dagiti campaign posters iti uray sadino a lugar ken iti agduduma a sizes.

2. Pannakasalungasing ti requirement a drug test a kas kiddawen ti linteg gaputa adda dagiti kandidato a bimmulod lattan wenno nagsinnublat iti urine specimen tapno laeng mapaneknekan a negative iti panagaramat ti droga.

3. Pannakaaramat ti kuarta a pagpasuksok tapno magatang dagiti botos. Nagtaud dagiti kuarta kadagiti nalimed a nakibiang iti eleksyon wenno inur-or manipud kadagiti kabagian iti ballasiw-taaw.

4. Pannakibiang a nalimed dagiti adda iti saad ti bileg ken turay tapno maipatugaw dagiti pasurotda a kayatda mangabak ket mataginayon ken agtalinaed iti puesto.

5. Pannakagatang ti botos dagiti SK babaen iti mismo a pannakaaramat ti kuarta wenno panangibaklay iti gasto ti drug testing ken filing fee tapno maipasigurado a kukua ti botos.

6. Panangibotos ti maysa laeng a kandidato gaputa daytoy ket mabalin a naggatang, kabagian wenno gayyem. Daytoy ket managimbubukod a wagas-panagbotos.

7. Pannakaipasdek ti political dynasty gaputa mangrugin a maipasublat, Maipatawid ken bukodan ti agasawa, agkabsat, agama wenno agina ti saad ti bileg ken turay iti Barangay.

8. Pannakaipagna ti un-opposed candidacy gaputa kapatang wenno bayadan dagiti adda ti saad iti bileg ken turay dagiti agpanggep a sumango tapno agsanud ket agparang nga un-opposed dagiti kayatda nga ipatugaw a kandidato.

No ti ladawan ti Barangay ken SK Eleksyon ket nakillo, daytoy ket isagmaknatayo iti agtultuloy a KORAPSYON ken Social Injustice a mangdadael iti biag. Daytoy ket pammaneknek a ti wagas-politikatayo ket nagbalinen a kultura a mapasamak manipud ngato agingga iti baba. Ti karit ti Ebanghelio ni Jesus ket tubngaren ken umikkat iti daytoy a sistema ti nakillo a politika ket agtignay a mangpasayaat-biag iti Purok-Gimong wenno BEC.

DOBLE KARA A HUSTISIA

2007-10-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Nasurok a makabulan ti napalabas manipud idi inyetnag ti Sandigang Bayan ti pangngeddengna a nagbasol ni Erap Estrada iti kaso a plunder.. Segun ti napaneknekan ti Sandigang Bayan, inaramat ni Erap ti saad-kinapresidente tapno agtakaw / agkurakot ti adu a kuarta manipud iti pondo dagit umili. Kas imandar ti linteg, rumbeng a maibalud ni Erap iti tungpal biag kas pannusa iti nadagsen unay a naglabsinganna. Ngem sakbay a sagrapen ni Erap ti dusa ti nagbasolanna, inted ni GMA ti presidential pardon tapno mawayawayaan ni Erap. Ania ti ibunga daytoy a pasamak iti biagtayo?

Ti basol a plunder ket panagkurakot iti pondo dagiti umili. Dagiti umili ti natakawan ket nagbalin a napanglaw. Ti basol a plunder nga inaramid ni Erap ket isu’t ramut ken nangpakaro iti kinapanglaw. Ngarud ti nagbasolan ni Erap ket dagiti umili a Pilipino. Ti pardon a naited kenni Erap ket ibagana nga mabalin dagiti adda iti nangato a saad ti gobierno ti agtakaw ket mapakawandanto met.

Ti naited a presidential pardon kenni Erap ket ipakitana ti kinakapsut ken kinababa ti sistema-politikatayo. Ti pardon a naited kenni Erap ket maysa a kita ti political accommodation for political survival. Mangted iti pabor tapno agtalinaed iti turay. Ti politikatayo ket ipangrunana ti bukod a pagsayaatanna uray pay maballikug dagiti paglintegan ken malipatan dagiti napanglaw.

Ti naited a presidential pardon kenni Erap ket taginayonenna ti kultura ti korapsyon, kultura ti doble-kara a hustisia, kultura ti padrino ken kultura ti moro-moro. Mapakawan ti nabaknang a nagtakaw iti bilyon manipud iti pondo ti umili, ngem maibalud ti mabisin a napanglaw a nagsipdut ti igatangna ti sardinas a pangpakanna ti pamiliana.

Ni GMA, sumagmamano nga Obispo ken nangato a turay-gobierno ket irasonda a ti presidential pardon a naited kenni Erap ket para iti reconciliation ken humanitarian reason. Kasano met ngarud dagiti milyon a mangmangged a saan a maited dagiti benepisyoda, dagiti mannalon nga awan dagana, dagiti biktima ti extra-judicial killings, dagiti naibalud nga awan basolna, dagiti napanglaw, dagiti awanan trabaho? Adda kadi met humanitarian reason a maited kadakuada?

Siasinoman a napaneknekan a nagbasol iti linteg ket rumbeng a madusa. Uray pay presidente, gobernador wenno artista, amin ket agpapada iti imatang ti linteg ken hustisia. Ti pudno nga anag ti linteg ken hustisia ket ipangrunana ti natalged a biag para iti amin—saan a para laeng iti maysa a tao.

HUSTISIA, TULBEK TI BIAG A NAGIN-AWA

2007-10-28T03:11:00.000-07:00

Pakauna:

Ti hustisia ket isu’t tulbek ti biag nagin-awa. Daytoy ket karbengan nga agtaud iti Dios a rumbeng a maited iti amin a tao, saan ketdi a kukua ken prebilihiyo laeng ti sumagmamano a nabaknang ken nangato. Ti linteg-gobierno ket isu’t natudingan a kangrunaan a mangipatungpal iti hustisia nga agbatay iti dignidad ti tunggal tao, saan ketdi a kumanunong iti sumagmamano gapu iti saad wenno pasuksok a naawat.

Maiyetnag ti Hustisia iti Siasinoman a Naglabsing
Idi Septiembre 13, 2007, milyon a tao iti entero a lubong ti sipapasnek ken sigagagar a nanguray ti pangngeddeng nga iyetnag ti Sandigang Bayan iti kaso a nakaidaruman ni Erap Estrada, dati a Presidente ti Pilipinas.
Apaglabes bassit iti alas nuebe iti bigat iti dayta nga aldaw idi naibasa ti Pangngeddeng. Ket segun kadagiti tallo nga ukom iti Sandigang Bayan, Ni Erap ket napaneknekan a not guilty beyond reasonable doubt iti kaso a Perjury, ngem napaneknekan a guilty beyond reasonable doubt iti kaso a Plunder wenno panaglabsing iti Republic Act # 7080. Gapu iti daytoy, impataw ti Sandigang Bayan a sagrapen ni Erap ti dusa a Reclusion Perpetua wenno pannakaibalud iti uppat a pulo (40) a tawen. Malaksid iti pannakaibalud, imandar pay ti Sandigang Bayan nga isubli ni Erap iti gobierno dagiti amin a sanikua ken kuarta nga Innalana kas napaneknekan ti korte.

Ania dagiti Linabsing ni Erap segun ti Napaneknekan ti Sandigang Bayan?
Kalpasan iti Agarup innem a tawen a pannakausig ti kaso ni Erap Estrada, ken kalpasan a naiparang ti depensa ken prosecution dagiti nagkaadu a testigo ken dokumento a kas ebidensiya, tiningiting ti korte dagitoy a testimonia ken ebidensiya ket napaneknekanna nga awan duduana a ni Erap ket nagbasol iti Plunder gapu kadagiti sumaganad:]
Immawat ti P545 milyon a kas pasuksok manipud jueteng.
Immawat iti P130 milyon a kas pasuksok manipud Tobacco Excise Tax ditoy Ilocos Sur.
Immawat iti P189.7 milyon a kas pasuksok manipud Belle Corporation.
Agtagikua iti P3.23 bilyon a naideposito iti Equitable PCI-Bank, Binondo, Manila Branch, iti parbo a nagan Jose Velarde.
Amin dagitoy a gatad ti kuarta ken naurnong ken inawat ni Erap kabayatan ti panagtakemna a kas Presidente. Ket nainget nga iparit ti linteg a maaramat ti saad a kinapresidente tapno agkamkam iti adu a sanikua.

Ania ti Koneksyonna daytoy a Pasamak iti Bukodtayo a Probinsiya?
Naakusaran ni Erap a kas Lord of all Jueteng Lords. Segun iti Korte, napaneknekan nga immawat iti pasuksok manipud iti kuarta a nagtaud iti jueteng ken pondo ti RA 7171. Nabayag a naibalud ni Erap agingga ita a nasentensiaanen. Ngem ti makariribuk a kinapudno ket agtultuloy met ti jueteng ditoy probinsiyatayo. Siasino ti pudno a jueteng lord? Siasino ti umaw-awat iti jueteng? Ania ti napasamak iti P130 milyon a pondo ti RA 7171 a kuarta dagiti mannalon? Kadagitoy a pasamak, adda kadi met hustisia ditoy probinsiyatayo?

Ania ti Rumbeng nga Aramidentayo?
Ti jueteng ket pespesenna ken kurimesenna amin a kuarta dagiti napanglaw, ket bumaknang ti sumagmamano ti korapsyon ket takawenna ti kuarta a rumbeng koma a maipaay kadagiti tattao, tapno bumaknang laeng dagiti adda iti saad ti bileg ken turay. Jueteng ken korapsyon ti dua a kangrunaan a mangpakaro ti kinapanglaw ditoy ili ken probinsiyatayo. Dagitoy ti lapped ti hustisia ditoy ili ken probinsiyatayo.
Rumbeng ngarud nga isardengtayo ti agpusta iti jueteng. Ket ti gobierno probinsiyal, isardengna a maminpinsan ti jueteng kadagiti amin nga ili ditoy Ilocos Sur. Kasta met nga Agridam ken siputantayo ti pannakagasto dagiti pondo tapno malapdan ti korapsyon. Amirisen ken kitaen a nasayaat ken umiso ti pannakaisayangkat dagiti proyekto. Saan a sub-standard a pangliksaban ti dakkel a komisyon. Rumbeng a maigasto dagiti pondo iti ituyang ti linteg, saan a ti kayat ti agturay.

PANGGIBUS:
Ti hustisia ket saan laeng nga agpatingga iti korte. Ti hustisia ket sakupenna iti umiso a panangidaulo nga agbatay iti integrity, transparency ken accountability. No ilukattayo ti panunottayo kadagiti pasamak ditoy probinsiyatayo—adda kadi integrity, transparency ken accountability? Ti makariribuk a saludsod ket—iti agdama, ADDA KADI HUSTISIA DITOY ILI KEN PROBINSIYATAYO?

SK/BARANGAY ELECTIONS

2007-10-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

TIGNAY MISYON

Kas gimong a sumurot ken Jesus iti misyon-mangwayawaya, intay agtignay a mangbalbaliw ti makaadipen a bileg ken turay a naisangal iti barangay eleksyon.
Amirisen ti makaadipen ken makairurumen a sangal ti politika. Kas ibuksilan ti napalabas nga eleksyon idi Mayo 14, napaneknekantayo a ti wagas-eleksyon ket napnoan panagsuitik. Naaramat dagiti nagtakem a nangballikug ken nangsukat ti resulta ti eleksyon tapno paboranna dagiti kandidato nga idiktar dagiti adda iti ngato. Nagbalin ti langa ti politikatayo a:

Bukodan ti agassawa wenno pagsisinnublatan dagiti kameng ti maysa laeng a pamilia (political dynasty).
Politika a pilien ken idiktar ti adda iti ngato dagiti pasurotna nga agturay (remote-controlled politics).
Politika a gatangen ken butbutngen dagiti kasangona (un-opposed candidacy), ken
Politika a patarayen ken maneharen ti kuarta a nagtaud kadagiti jueteng operators.
Barangay Eleksyon, Maaramat iti Partisan Politics

Segun ti imandar ti linteg, ti Barangay Eleksyon ket agtalinaed koma a non-partisan. Iparit ti linteg a makibiang dagiti opisyales-barangay iti partisan politics—kastoy met ti rumbeng a masurot pagannurotan iti SK eleksyon.
Ngem iti agdama, nagbalin ti Barangay ken SK Eleksyon a partisan ken ar-aramaten dagiti adda iti nangato a turay tapno ipatugawda dagiti kaduada ken agtalinaedda iti saad ti bileg ken turay.

Mapili ti ABC President ken SK Chairman a kas kadua ti adda iti saad ti bileg ken turay. Magatang, maregaloan ken mapasuksokan dagiti agbotos a kapitan wenno SK tapno mangabak ti pasurot dagiti adda iti turay. Gapu iti daytoy, makaadal dagiti agtutubo iti nakillo ken nasuitik a wagas-politika, imbes a mamuli ken matubay dagiti panunot ken nakemda iti kinapudno ken kinalinteg. Mataginayon ti patronage ken pay-off politics, imbes a panagserbi para iti sapasap a pagimbagan.

Mataginayon daytoy makaadipen a tengngel ti kinaturay babaen kadagiti paar-aramat nga organisasyon a nakaikamengantayo ken panagdadawat iti pabor. Intay umikkat iti tengngel ti kinaturay, ket datayo a bumarangay ti mangpili kadagiti pudno a mangidaulo para iti pagimbagan ti amin. Umikkat kadagiti organisasyon a paar-aramat ket liklikan ti agdadawat ken umawat kadagiti pabor a mangtengngel kadatayo.

Rumkuas tayo iti makaadipen a wagas ti biag-politika

"EL SANTO CRISTO MILAGROSO"

2007-10-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

In this Church of Sinait, Ilocos Sur, Philippines, is a life size Black Crucified Christ which is believed to have come from Nagasaki, Japan in 1620. The early Spanish Missionaries must have brought images for the early Japanese Christians. Christians were persecuted in 1597, the Japanese converts must have the anger of the rulers and not to be detected as Christians.

The images of the Black Crucifix and of the Blessed Virgin Mary placed in a box must have drifted in the sea until they reached the boundary shores of Sinait, Ilocos Sur and Badoc, an adjacent town in Ilocos Norte, in 1620. The Black Christ was taken to the Church of Sinait and it was locally known as: "El Santo Cristo Milagroso," whle the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken to Badoc Church known as: "La Virgen Milagrosa."

In 1656, the Black Crucifix was taken to Vigan, the capital town of Ilocos Sur, because an epidemic was raging and through the devotion of the people many were cured. Hence, it is considered as intercessor of all kinds of afflictions and illnesses. From that time on, devotion to the Santo Cristo Milagroso spread. Every Friday, many people from other places flock to the Sanctuary of Sinait for devotion and intercession especially on the Feast of Santo Cristo Milagroso on every 3rd day of May.

Tignay-Saluad-Tangatang

2007-10-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Tignay- Saluad– Tangatang:
Salaknibantayo ti Biagtayo
Manipesto Bikariato San Markos

Pakauna:

Ti pudno a makawayawaya a Pammati dagiti gimong a sumurot kenni Jesus ket Pammati nga agtignay a mangtaming kadagiti pakaseknan ti sibubukel a biag. Kas Bikariato a sumurot kenni Jesus iti Misyon–Mangwayawaya, iti maikasangapulo a Sanay Bikariatotayo, nagkaykaysaantayo ti agtignay a kas gimong iti Bikariato tapno makatulongtayo a mangatipa ti panagkaro ti Global Warming ken maliklikan ti nakaam-amak nga ibungana iti biagtayo.

I. Kasasaad-Aglawlaw: Global Warming
A. Ania ti maikagapu iti Global Warming?
Ti Global Warming ket saan a dusa nga iyetnag ti Dios kadatayo. Ti Global Warming ket saan a kadawyan a pasamak iti nakaparsuaan (Natural Occurrence). Ti Global Warming ket pinarnuay ti dakes, nakillo ken naagum a wagas ti panagbiagtayo. Ti Global Warming ket isu’t kumarkaro a panagpudot ti tiempo. Daytoy ket imbunga ti pannakadadael ti Ozone Layer ket ti pannakaurnong iti adu unay a kemikal (Carbon Dioxide) iti tangatang tayo. Ti panagpuor kadagiti plastic, panagaramat kadagiti kemikal nga abono ken pestisidio, asuk nga ipugso dagiti lugan, ken panangdadael kadagiti kabakirantayo ket isu’t maikagapu ken mangpakaro iti Global Warming.

B. Ania ti nakaam-amak nga ibunga ti Global Warming?

Gapu ti agtultuloy a Global Warming, marunaw dagiti yelo ken ngumato ti level ti danum kadagiti baybay ken taaw ket lumned dagiti lugar nga adda iti igid baybay a pakairamanan ti Ilocos Sur. Rumsua dagiti adu a didigra a kas iti napigsa a bagyo, layus, tikag ken maparnuay dagiti adu a kita ti makapatay a sakit.

Kas mariknatayo, dagitoy a bulan ket tiempo koma ti panagtutudo, ngem awan ti tudo. No awan ti tudo, saan a makapagtalon dagiti mannalon. Awan ti maapit! Umay ti panagbisin! Matikagan ken maatianan dagiti ubbog! Awan ti danum nga inumen! Ti pagtaudan ken mangpataray iti elektrisidadtayo ket danum kadagiti dams. No awan ti tudo, bumaba ti level ti danum kadagiti dams ket kumapsut wenno mapukaw ti supplytayo ti kuryente. Rumigat ti biag, mapukaw ti biag.

C. Makaadipen a pammati(belief):

Gapu iti daytoy a pasamak, rumsua dagiti agduduma a patta-patta ken istoria ngem amin dagitoy a patta-patta ken istoria ket saan a pudno. Ipagarup dagiti tattao a ti panagdebosyon kadagiti sasanto, ken panagprosesyon ket isu’t mangparnuay iti tudo. Daytoy ket inuugma a debosyon a pammati. Saan a pudno daytoy. Ti kinakirang wenno kinaawan ti tudo ket imbunga iti pannakadadael dagiti rainforest wenno kabakirantayo. Iti panagkararag ket masapul a buyugan ti aramid. Dumawat tayo ti tudo ken nalamiis a pul-oy ti angin ngem masapul nga agmula tayo ti kaykayo ken saan tayo nga agpuor ti plastik ken agaramat kadagiti banbanag a makadadael ti tangatang tayo. Saan a maipagel wenno maiparit ti agkararag nga dumawat ti tudo wenno nalamiis a pul-oy ti angin ta dagitoy ket kasapulan tayo. Ngem masapul met nga ti kararag tayo ket buyugan ti aramid.

II. Tignay -Biag:

Datayo ti nangdadael iti lubongtayo. Ti nakillo ken naagum a wagas panagbiagtayo. Ket isu’t makaigapu iti Global Warming a mangdadael ti Biagtayo. Ngarud datayo met laeng ti agtignay a mangsaluad ti biagtayo. Ania ti mabalin ken kabaelantayo nga aramiden? Kas purok-gimong (BEC) iti bikariato isayangkattayo dagiti sumaganad:

1. Tunggal pamilia iti BEC ket masapul nga agmula iti kayo. Aramiden daytoy nga agtultuloy kada maikatlo nga a Domingo iti tunggal bulan.

2. Tunggal buniag, konpirma, primera-komunyon, agturpos ken agkasar ket masapul nga agmula iti kayo kas pagyaman iti biag ken ballaigi ken pannakipaset iti Tignay-Saluad– Tangatang.

3. Liklikan ti agaramat ken agpuor kadagiti plastic. Agusar kadagiti marunot (degradable) a materials.

4. Aginut iti kuryente. Agusar kadagiti fluorescent bulbs, saan nga incandescent bulbs (bombilia). Aginut iti danum.

5. Ipa-chek-up dagiti lugan, tapno saan unay a nangisit ti asukna (smoke belching) . Agusar iti bio-diesel.

Panggibus:

Dinadaeltayo ti urnos a pagbibiagantayo. Datayo met laeng Ngarud ti rumbeng nga agtignay tapno masalakniban daytoy lubong a pagbibiagantayo. Adda dagiti umiso ken kabaelantayo nga aramiden, a saantayo nga agpannuray iti debosyon wenno magic a solusyon. Agtignay itan para iti biagtayo ken biag masakbayan.

Bikariato San Markos
Parokia San Nikolas iti Tolentino Sinait, Ilocos Sur

27 Hulio 2007

Kakabsat a Papadi ken Mangiwanwan Purok-Gimong,

Ti sumurot ken Jesus ket agbiag ken agtignay para iti misyon-Pagarian ti Dios a kas naimbag a damag. Ti Pagarian ti Dios ket biag gin-awa nga agbatay iti kinalinteg ken kinapudno a mangwayawaya. Awisen ti Dios ti tunggal pamilia nga idauloan dagiti amma ken inna a makipaset iti bukodda a purok, nainsigudan nga ummong dagiti pamilia, a sumurot ken Jesus it misyon-Pagarian ti Dios.

Kas paset ti misyon-Pagarian ti Dios, agtignay dagiti purok-gimong a mangsalaknib ti aglawlaw a kas iti tangatang, baybay, karayan, kabakiran ken taltalon.
Iti naudi a Sanay Bikariato idi Hulio 24, 2007 sadiay Turod-Kapilya ni Maria, Bessang, San Juan, Ilocos Sur, nagnunumoantayo a kas bikariato nga agtignay a mangsaluad ti tangatang kontra global warming. Kas bunga daytoy a nagnunumoan, naaramid ti Manipesto Bikariato, “Tignay Saluad Tangatang” nga agserbi a kas adal ken tignay pammati.
Maisingasing a mabasa daytoy a Manipesto a kas pakdaar parokia tunggal Rambak Misa kadagiti Domingo ti bulan ti Agosto 2007, ken kadagiti taripnong dagiti amin a purok-gimong (BEC) ti bikariato tayo.
Dios ti agngina!

Dryland farmers and climate change

2007-08-31T16:05:00.000-07:00

Dryland farmers and climate change

William D. Dar

A combined effort to deal with climate uncertainty, land degradation, and water scarcity is needed.

This year, the global community was alarmed by the prospects of global warming and climate change when the former United States Vice President Al Gore’s movie, The Inconvenient Truth, won the Academy Award. The movie sparked debates, but more importantly, brought global attention to the issue of climate change.
At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), we believe climate change will make dryland agriculture even more risk-prone especially in the developing world. Thus, for farmers struggling under the burden of cultivating land under the ever-present threat of drought, floods, mid-season dry spells, land degradation, and water scarcity, such problems associated with climate change will have to be answered more frequently.
Unless the livelihoods and resource base of such vulnerable rural communities can be made more resilient, coping with climate change may be next to impossible for poor dryland farming communities. Working over decades with poor farmers in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa , ICRISAT’s research shows that a combined effort to deal with current climate uncertainty, land degradation, and water scarcity is the only way by which the resilience of these communities can be brought about.
With improved tools becoming available in studying climate uncertainty, it has now become possible for decision-makers and investors to formulate a development agenda integrating short, medium, and long-term timeframes. Short-term seasonal forecasting enables farmers and other stakeholders to plan more effectively and fine-tune their strategies for the coming season. Medium-term understanding enables them to predict the impact and profitability of improved agricultural practices. Long-term understanding helps them predict the likely impact of climate change on rain-fed farming systems, and their future development and productivity.
This integrated climate risk assessment and management framework is fundamental to ICRISAT’s collaborative research on managing climatic uncertainty and adapting to climate change. This will enable investors (governments, donors, researchers or farmers) to understand better the risks and opportunities and get greater returns from more diversified and targeted investments.
Overcoming land degradation
Land degradation, which is a persistent problem in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa , can be further worsened by climate change. ICRISAT has been working with partners for years on combating land degradation in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa . The following are some of ICRISAT’s effective interventions:
Desert Margins Programme: Working with five other Centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research ( CGIAR ) and other partners, it is a collaborative initiative among nine African countries — Botswana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. This programme is guided by the principle that desertification in areas bordering deserts can be avoided and reversed by enhancing the resilience and biodiversity of the agro-ecosystem; and improving farmers’ livelihoods through more productive, profitable, and stable land management.
Fertilizer microdosing: Research has shown that poor soil fertility is a major food production constraint across much of the West African Sahel. When plants are malnourished, their roots cannot collect enough rainwater. Microdosing is the practice of providing the growing crop with the appropriate quantity of fertilizer at the right time. Microdosing is a technique that enables farmers to measure the right amount of fertilizers in the caps of soft drink or beer bottles and placing these along with the seed. This innovative technique has reintroduced fertilizer use in Zimbabwe , Mozambique , South Africa , Niger , Mali , and Burkina Faso .
Drylands Eco-Farm: An innovative trees-crops-livestock system for rain-fed crop production, it involves intercropping fast-growing trees with annual crops. Also included in the system are livestock that are appropriate for the agro-ecosystem. Profits from the eco-farms are three to five times higher than the current farming systems.
Increasing water scarcity
In agricultural research, water is often considered in two distinct categories. “Green water” represents the moisture contained in the soil profile from rain or irrigation, whereas “blue water” accounts for the run-off from rain or irrigation and contained in water bodies such as dams, rivers, lake, and aquifers. Climate change is expected to make some regions of the globe even drier — that is, make water even scarcer.
Lack of water is also the cause of major food crisis, like the one experienced in Niger because of drought in 2005. This type of crisis is a “green water” crisis, and is usually an extreme consequence of an erratic rainfall pattern in the semi-arid tropics. It is rendered more acute with current climate change trends, where soil moisture limits yield and eventually reduces food supply. Green water scarcity can be compensated by blue water if irrigation facilities and water are available. Unfortunately, given the limited volume of blue water available, the scope for increasing the area already under irrigation is limited. Agriculture in these areas will likely remain rain-fed.
At ICRISAT, we work to promote rain-fed agriculture in the drylands, and generate innovations that ensure food security and income generation, adapted to the limited green water availability, and capable of coping with extreme climatic conditions. Our research, which focusses on integrated genetic and natural resource management (using conventional and biotechnology-assisted crop improvement along with soil and water management), has been working to optimise both blue and green water, so that the dryland farmers can increase agricultural productivity.
ICRISAT’s watershed development programme, which has become a model for up-scaling in India , China , Vietnam , and Thailand , has optimised the conservation and use of blue water. While run-off water is harvested through small water conservation structures, the optimal utilisation of this resource is ensured through suitable crop rotation.
Working on generating more crop per drop of green water comes naturally for ICRISAT since its mandate crops are those that grow in the drylands — pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut. These crops have built-in capacities to grow in water scarce environments. However, ICRISAT’s continuing research efforts are to breed improved varieties and hybrids that can cope with lesser water availability.
Whenever climate change in a longer timeframe is discussed, there are global debates whether the changes in average temperatures, water availability, and crop growing conditions will actually occur or whether the claims are exaggerated.
Even while this debate continues, farmers in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa face the day-to-day reality of climate uncertainty, land degradation, and water scarcity.
ICRISAT’s research empowers these farmers to meet present day uncertainties. Armed with the ability to deal with present day realities, the farmers of the drylands will find it easier to deal with future climate change, when it happens.
(The writer is Director-General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics [ICRISAT], headquartered at Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh.)

10 THINGS YOU CAN DO AT HOME TO CURB GLOBAL WARMING

2007-07-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Conservation International
Do your part to ensure a healthy planet by incorporating these ten simple actions into your everyday life.

1) Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Look closely at labels when buying light bulbs. Those marked as CFLs last 10 times longer and use 66 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs while delivering the same light levels. As a result, CFLs accrue net savings between $30 and $45 over their lifetimes, depending on your cost of electricity, the wattage size of the CFL, and the lamp's lifespan (manufacturers make CFLs that last 6,000, 8,000, or 10,000 hours). The return on investment is 15 times higher than leaving your money in a bank account or the average return on Dows-Jones stock investments. CFLs also reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions and are safer because they burn at a lower temperature (160° F or less) than incandescent and halogen lights, which can burn at temperatures up to 500° F.

2) Turn down the thermostat just three degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer. You can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

3) Inflate your car tires. When walking or biking isn't feasible, you can do something to better protect the Earth while driving. Take a step in the right direction by inflating your car tires. Pumping them up can improve your gas mileage by about 3.3 percent -- a savings of about 7 cents per gallon. It's the right thing to do for your wallet and the right thing to do for the Earth.

4) Turn down the hot water heater. Set your water heater to 130° F. While you're at it, turn down your house thermostat during the winter to 55° F when you go to bed or leave home. These simple actions can have enormous positive consequences, preventing the emission of more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of the year, while cutting your energy bill by more than 10 percent. And that's just from you! Get your friends on board, and the benefits will multiply.

5) Choose your seafood wisely. We can't afford to wait until 2008. The world's seafood will be entirely depleted by 2048, according to an early November report in the journal Science. That means the moment to shape up is now. By buying and eating certain types of seafood, you can discourage harmful fishing practices and avoid the more depleted or threatened species. Take a look at Seafood Choices Alliance or Seafood Watch to make smart choices.

6) Purchase EnergyStar-labeled appliances. EnergyStar products are among the top 25 percent most efficient and can provide a 30 percent return or better through lower utility bills.

7) Wash and rinse in cold water. If everyone in the United States alone switched to cold water with their washing machines, we could save about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- and more than $3 billion in energy costs, collectively. And what's more? Cold water cleans your laundry just as well as hot water.

8) Buy locally produced meats and produce. Sounds like a good idea, but you don't know where to start? Just type in your zip code on Local Harvest's website to see a list of farms and farmers' markets close to home, as well as nearby restaurants committed to supporting their neighbors. Buying locally produced food cuts out the middlemen and the vast amounts of energy required to get your products onto store shelves. Most produce in U.S. supermarkets travels an average 1,500 miles before it is sold!

9) Drink more water from reusable glassware. It's great for your bank account, your health, and your planet. The average American consumed more than 400 beverage bottles and cans in 2006, leaving behind wasted glass, plastic, steel, and aluminum. That adds up to excessive amounts of fossil fuels and hydropower for mining, processing, refining, shaping, shipping, storing, refrigerating, and disposing of those materials. Of course, changing your drinking habits both at home and at work is applicable to just about every other habit, as well. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

10) Walk, bike, and carpool. In the United States, the car represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. However, you don't have to give up your car for a healthier planet, just expand your transportation options. You can significantly reduce your emissions by commuting to work. Try combining trips to minimize emissions, which are greatest at the beginning of a journey before the engine has reached optimum temperature and efficiency. When purchasing your next car, make it a fuel-efficient one. Hybrid cars can get twice the fuel efficiency of the average new car, cut greenhouse gas emissions by half or more, and reduce urban air pollutants. Carpooling saves energy, cuts on additional pollution, and allows you to take a turn as a passenger instead of driving everyday. Car-sharing (not pooling) is available in numerous U.S. cities. Car-sharing enables you to rent a car just when you need it. Each car-share vehicle displaces four to eight privately held cars, requiring less parking area and creating less road congestion. If you live within an hour's bicycle ride to the office (~10 miles), consider biking to work one or more days a week.

NOT THE SUN

2007-07-24T20:06:00.001-07:00

By Brian Handwerk for National Geographic NewsJuly 12, 2007
Cyclical changes in the sun's energy output are not responsible for Earth's recent global warming, a new study asserts.
Instead the findings put the blame for climate change squarely on human-created carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases -- reinforcing the beliefs of most climate scientists.
The sun's output waxes and wanes due to a variety of mechanisms. Its power rose during much of the 20th century, but it has declined over the past two decades.
"Up until 1985 you could argue that the sun was [trending] in a direction that could have contributed to Earth's rising temperatures," said study author A. Mike Lockwood of the University of Southampton in Britain.
Two decades ago, "it did a U-turn. If the sun had been warming the Earth, that should have come to an end, and we should have seen temperatures start to go the other way," Lockwood said.
Yet Earth's temperatures have continued to climb since that date -- making a strong solar role in warming appear unlikely. (What is global warming?)
"I think it's quite conclusive," said Lockwood, who co-authored the report appearing in the current issue of the U.K. journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
Ancient Climate Change
For centuries scientists have pondered an intuitive link between the sun's intensity and Earth's climate. When global warming became an issue in recent years, the debate heated up. (Related: "Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says" [February 28, 2007].)
Recently one hypothesis suggested that cosmic rays from the sun could be responsible for significant warming. The star's cosmic rays deliver particles to Earth's atmosphere, around which cooling clouds may form.
During periods of high solar strength, the Sun's magnetic field blocks some of these rays, which in turn could hamper cloud formation on Earth and cause the planet to warm. (Explore a virtual solar system.)
But the new data seem to be at odds with that theory.
"In terms of the last 30 years I'd have to agree that there's nothing in these records that suggests solar variability could be giving rise to warming global temperatures," said Carl Wunsch, a climate expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who was not involved in the study.
"Nobody can show that there is no solar/Earth climate connection," he added. "But having said that, if there is one and if these records are representative, whatever connection exists is weak."
In the latest study, co-author Lockwood does report evidence for a past solar role in shaping Earth's preindustrial climate.
"I even believe that you can detect in the climate record a solar influence up until about 1940," he said.
"The trouble is that [in] about 1960 solar variability started to become dominated by fossil fuel burning and greenhouse gases."
Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and an editor of the blog http://www.realclimate.org/, agreed.
"Basically, there simply isn't a trend in solar activity that would explain the rapid warming that has occurred in recent decades," said Schmidt, who was unaffiliated with the study.
That isn't to say that there isn't a solar influence on climate change in the past, or that there isn't still uncertainty in possible mechanisms, he added.
"But for what we are concerned about now, the sun is not too blame.
"Think of the sun as a criminal suspect who has a long record, but a cast iron alibi for the latest crime," Schmidt said.
"And meanwhile, the fingerprints of CO2 are all over the murder weapon."

GLOBAL WARMING

2007-07-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Planet is Heating Up—and Fast
Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.

We call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. As the Earth spins each day, the new heat swirls with it, picking up moisture over the oceans, rising here, settling there. It's changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely upon.
What will we do to slow this warming? How will we cope with the changes we've already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out, the face of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms and snow-capped mountains—hangs in the balance.
Greenhouse effect
The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse.
First, sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed and then radiates back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, “greenhouse” gases trap some of this heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped.
Scientists have known about the greenhouse effect since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that the Earth would be much colder if it had no atmosphere. This greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth's climate livable. Without it, the Earth's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. In 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius discovered that humans could enhance the greenhouse effect by making carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. He kicked off 100 years of climate research that has given us a sophisticated understanding of global warming.
Levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have gone up and down over the Earth's history, but they have been fairly constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures have stayed fairly constant over that time as well, until recently. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other GHG emissions, humans are enhancing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth.
Scientists often use the term "climate change" instead of global warming. This is because as the Earth's average temperature climbs, winds and ocean currents move heat around the globe in ways that can cool some areas, warm others, and change the amount of rain and snow falling. As a result, the climate changes differently in different areas.
Aren’t temperature changes natural?
The average global temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide (one of the major greenhouse gases) have fluctuated on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years as the Earth's position relative to the sun has varied. As a result, ice ages have come and gone.
However, for thousands of years now, emissions of GHGs to the atmosphere have been balanced out by GHGs that are naturally absorbed. As a result, GHG concentrations and temperature have been fairly stable. This stability has allowed human civilization to develop within a consistent climate.
Occasionally, other factors briefly influence global temperatures. Volcanic eruptions, for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the Earth's surface. But these have no lasting effect beyond a few years. Other cycles, such as El Niño, also work on fairly short and predictable cycles.
Now, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the industrial revolution. Changes this large have historically taken thousands of years, but are now happening over the course of decades.
Why is this a concern?
The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it is changing the climate faster than some living things may be able to adapt. Also, a new and more unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life.
Historically, Earth's climate has regularly shifted back and forth between temperatures like those we see today and temperatures cold enough that large sheets of ice covered much of North America and Europe. The difference between average global temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), and these swings happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years.
Now, with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth's remaining ice sheets (such as Greenland and Antarctica) are starting to melt too. The extra water could potentially raise sea levels significantly.
As the mercury rises, the climate can change in unexpected ways. In addition to sea levels rising, weather can become more extreme. This means more intense major storms, more rain followed by longer and drier droughts (a challenge for growing crops), changes in the ranges in which plants and animals can live, and loss of water supplies that have historically come from glaciers.
Scientists are already seeing some of these changes occurring more quickly than they had expected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eleven of the twelve hottest years since thermometer readings became available occurred between 1995 and 2006.