Nature's
Guardians
On a hot sunny day, going under a full-grown
tree with a thick, hanging canopy of leaves can be refreshing, the air
is not only cooler but is noticeably fresher to breathe. Plants,
powered by sunlight, remove carbon dioxide (CO2) – the main greenhouse
gas – from the air to produce oxygen as part of their life cycle or
photosynthesis. During the agricultural age, air pollution was not a
serious problem unless one’s cooking fire or bonfire smoke annoyed the
neighbors, but with an abundance of trees and other plant life back
then to immediately clean the air, there really was no chance for
manmade air pollutants and greenhouse gases to accumulate in the
environment.
Unfortunately, since the advent of the
Industrial Revolution and its progress, there has been an increase in
air pollution while the earth’s forests have been diminishing.
Fortunate are the countries whose forests are protected by
National Forest and National Park reservations and where tree
replanting laws are strictly enforced on the timber industry. In many
countries, forest lands have not only been stripped bare of
trees, they have been left denuded for many years. In the
Philippines, forests
which once covered vast tracts of land and mountains are long gone and
no new trees to take their place, the result of greedy loggers and to
an extent, careless miners, especially the illegal ones. Even
if
there was a replanting effort
and saplings were indeed planted, these were probably left neglected
and died or likely cut down by others later. While some profited from
this activity, others paid the price with their lives. Trees, because
of their roots, act to keep the soil intact by holding it together and
preventing erosion even when it is raining or during storms. The roots
of trees can be strong enough to hold a mountainside intact and control
the water flowing through them. However, where there have been no trees
or very few trees left, erosion from air (wind) and water (rain) have
remained unchecked until the mountainside can eventually collapse
during a
storm and water from the mountain to likewise rush down in the form of
a
flash flood both taking lives and property. And of course, very few or
no trees to clean the air, means air pollutants stay in the atmosphere
indefinitely longer contributing to global warming or are breathed in
by humans and animals, thus leading to health problems.
Deforestation and forest degradation
together are the second leading cause of global warming, second only to
the combustion of fossil fuels. Deforestation and forest degradation
are responsible for a high percentage of some countries' national
emissions, 70 percent of Brazil's and 80 percent of
Indonesia's, for
instance.
On
December 11, 2007, a new multi-million dollar fund to compensate
developing countries for the value of their living forests was launched
by the World Bank at the United Nations' climate conference in Bali.
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility was developed “because forests
are more important left standing than cut down”, said World Bank Group
President Robert Zoellick, introducing the new facility. High on the
agenda at the Bali talks was to reduce the 1.6 billion tons of carbon
emissions caused each year by deforestation, which amounts to about 20
percent of global carbon emissions.
The new facility will build the
capacity of developing countries in tropical and subtropical regions to
reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation and tap into a
future system of positive incentives to reduce emissions.
Trees then, along with other global
efforts to reduce, minimize or altogether eliminate air pollution,
provide the only natural solution to reduce greenhouse gas levels by
capturing and storing carbon dioxide up to hundred years. With
reductions in emissions using man-made methods and a great quantity of
trees replanted to clean the air (along with all the other plants and
algae which also filter carbon) of pollutants and greenhouse gases,
any damage that has been done to the environment would slowly but
eventually be reversed. The good news is that at this period of time,
it is not too late to make the necessary effort.
The
DCV Program and Reforestation
Part of the MCV Foundation’s goal,
through the DCV Program is to plant millions trees as its
contribution to preserving the environment and reducing the quantity of
greenhouse gases and other toxic matter in the atmosphere. Besides the
tree planting programs being planned by the MCV Foundation for the
coming years, tree planting has also been made an integral and
indispensable part of the DCV Program. As part of the DCV Program,
donors or participants in the DCV Program’s Initial Stage (IS) and
Final Stage (FS) are required to plant three (3) trees each as their
compliance to the program in an area
where these can be monitored and cared for without any cost coming from
the government. The objective of planting these trees is not for their
use as timber or lumber as in a tree farm but for the main purpose of
reforesting the land and to clean the air of pollutants, as well
as reduce the
amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Since it may not always
be possible for the donor/program participant to plant any trees for
one reason or another, he/she can arrange (with a slight reduction in
the participating shares he/she will receive) to have the Foundation do
so on his/her behalf. To ensure that the trees will be cared for and
protected, a Task Force Committee of the MCV Foundation has been
created for that function to monitor the same activity.
The
DCV Program and Manna Fuel Catalyst
Another alternative way in solving
global warming and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is by utilizing
Manna Fuel Catalyst, which was designed to be a part of the DCV
Program’s livelihood opportunities where donors may avail, patronize
and endorse this extraordinary and innovative Filipino-made product. A
FILIPINO INNOVATION, utilizing locally available trees, plants and
herbs, which are practically inexhaustible (unlike fossil fuels) with
the consistent and continuous planting of our farmers on a small or
large-scale basis, this wonder product will be a big revelation and a
breakthrough of the century as far as the global reduction and capture
of carbon dioxide are concerned. This is actually the answer to what
the scientists are trying to discover as a solution to global warming
and the depletion of our ozone layer.
Made from renewable and abundant
natural resources, the fuel catalyst known as Manna, is a copyrighted
Filipino innovation. It is a mixture of ingredients
from fourteen
(14) different leaves of natural growing trees, plants and herbs
selected for specific
organic qualities that allow these to be mixed with fossil or
organic-equivalent combustible
fuels such as gasoline, diesel and bunker fuel. In addition to the fuel
catalysts, a catalyst for optimizing engine oil (or motor oil) is
available.
The innovator's concern of the
greenhouse gas emissions produced by motor vehicles and its damaging
effects to the environment and human health, has resulted in the
development and production of this fuel catalyst which has been
carefully tested and proven by different government and private
agencies.
Manna, when added to fuel will result
not only in improved engine performance (more or less 12% fuel savings)
and
longer life between overhauls but also in significantly reduced
emission of air pollutants, smog and greenhouse gases (more or less 88%
reduction) as confirmed by independent lab tests.
IT IS THE SOLUTION to our current-day problems such as:
- Worsening AIR POLLUTION in our country and other parts of
the world;
- Increasing high cost of engine repair and maintenance,
resulting to high cost of transportation for public commuters;
- Respiratory and skin diseases caused by air pollution;
- Increase of Greenhouse gases resulting in global warming
leading to climate change and adverse weather conditions (droughts,
floods and severe storms).
Since Manna Fuel Catalyst is made from
renewable plant sources such as tree leaves, the production of the same
for mass use will be backed up by the tree planting program of the MCV
Foundation through the DCV Program. This is the DCV Program’s way of
solving the inter-related crisis of air pollution/greenhouse gas
emissions, deforestation and poverty using two different approaches,
with the
planting of millions trees to clean the air of the accumulated
pollution that has been destroying our health and environment and with
Manna Fuel Catalyst to clean the fuel we use and likewise keep the air
from being excessively polluted in the first place.
Visit
the Manna website here for more details.
Download Manna Catalyst
Product Flyer
Alternative
Energy
Beyond tree planting and ways of
reducing carbon and other toxic emissions, the MCV Foundation is
considering various forms of alternative energy. These technologies may
range from exotic means to harness and contain energy to more available
organic solutions such as highly enhanced clean bio-fuels and advanced
production technologies of these to other forms that will have little
or preferably no toxic emissions at all. The MCV Foundation plans to
develop these and introduce the technologies within the decade.
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