SINCE the run up to the end of last year, climate change has been blamed pretty much for everything. The great floods and the disasters that struck the country were attributed to climate change. This year, with climate change still a distant possibility, much of everything is now being blamed on a weather event that is right here right now—El Niño.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern persists until now over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This warming of sea surface temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean is expected to last into the mid-year. The impact of this phenomenon is not only limited to the Philippines but is worldwide.

At half-past six in the evening about a week ago (January 12), I was busy washing my coffee cup at the faculty lounge of the Institute of Geology when my colleague noticed that the ground was slightly shaking. As I was busy doing something else, I did not notice the tremor but I was not surprised knowing how prone our country is to earthquakes.

Coming from cold and snowy Copenhagen and braving the snowstorm and delayed trains, we are sad to report that the so-called Copenhagen Accord leaves us with business as usual and no legally binding commitment to reduce emissions in the world. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized the process of passing the accord as undemocratic. The Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America (ALBA) composed of nine Latin American countries sharply pointed out that the so-called Copenhagen Accord did not undergo the normal negotiating procedures.

The numbers we deal with everyday can range from the simple to the staggering. When confronted with issues concerning very large numbers, images and analogies become important tools for people to grasp and understand the issue at hand.

GMA News - http://www.gmanews.tv/story/174438/suits-mulled-vs-san-roque-dam-operato...
Business Mirror - http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/17204-suit-vs-dam-operators-e...
Manila Times - http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/component/content/article/42-roksto...
Inquirer - http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091013-2297...

Geography is "to view the earth as home of humans"

—Yi Fu Tuan

The contribution of the geographic discipline lies mostly in the lens that we can use to understand the complex and dynamic world/s around us, and to see beyond obvious phenomena that may seem independent from many others. Geography brings forth the fact that earth processes are embedded in sociocultural, socioeconomic, and political milieus that are themselves are affected by the physical conditions in which they operate.