1) How does the environment’s condition influence the quality and survival of life?

2) Describe your local government's response to environmental issues in your

community.

3) Explain the essay written by the late poet and environmental advocate, Jose
Victor Penaranda, entitled "Silent Emergency", about how our relationship with
nature needs some rethinking:

“Our alienation from Nature is subtle and barely recognizable, but it

has reached the level of emergency. Societies have shaped a culture that
values Nature only in terms of its usefulness to human beings. And so we
refer to „natural resources‟ rather than to aquatic and terrestrial life. The
word „resources‟ implies utility. Those belonging to the mineral, plant, and
animal kingdoms are dispensable and can be exploited absolutely to serve
the needs of humankind. We have imposed our self-centeredness on the
planet quite successfully and have detached ourselves from Nature by
completely forgetting that the sacred breath that gives life to human beings
is the same breath that gives life to the whole Earth.”

Let us be more mindful of how our actions and behavior affect the
environment. We may be facing a silent emergency, but it‟s still an
emergency, albeit without the siren.