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SECOND UPDATE: NUJP’s final  list of media casualties at the end of the article.

Someone on Facebook asked why people — we journalists, specifically — are saying, “Stop killing journalists” when it should, under the circumstances, be, “Stop killing” – period. That made me think, and I had to admit to myself that in the current case (the “Maguindanao massacre” or, as some colleagues insist, the “Ampatuan massacre” since it happened in the town of Ampatuan), we should really be condemning the fact that innocent people, regardless of their professions, were killed in such a gruesome manner.

The continuation of my article on information and communication technology (ICT)’s carbon footprint was preempted by the Maguindanao massacre last Monday, so let me pick up on it today. I had said last Tuesday that the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII), led by its ICT “figurehead” (or “ghost in the machine,” as he calls himself) Andre Fournier, is shifting its focus from technology per se to making technology an integral part of business. The chamber is also championing the cause of sustainability, and one aspect of that is making technology more environment-friendly.

Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/Sarangani Information Office

 

Let me express my deepest condolences to the families of media colleagues who were killed in last Monday’s massacre in Maguindanao. It was a crime that attacked not just the journalists but our very Constitution itself; as the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) put it, the Maguindanao carnage “strikes at the very foundations of democracy.”

Did you know that each time you google something, you generate 7 grams of carbon dioxide? At least, that is the claim of Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross, whose report last January caused a stir in the IT community. According to The Times of London, Wissner-Gross said the search giant Google “operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power. A Google search has a definite environmental impact.” To put it in perspective, boiling a kettle of water generates about 15 grams of CO2; that may not be much, but consider that Google handles about 200 million searches each day and it all adds up. The Times cites a report from Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, as saying the global IT industry “generates about 2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.” That is about as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines emit.

Nawan is the Subanen word for “looking forward” or “to the future,” and as the title of the intercultural Conference and Festival on Culture and Arts for Peace which starts today in Davao City, it is an apt description of just where art and culture are in terms of being instruments to achieving peace in Mindanao. As National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) commissioner Ric de Ungria himself said, artists and cultural workers are still in the process of determining what their role is in war and peace.

Z Gorres is transported out of the ring on a stretcher.

Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto certainly deserves all the attention it is getting, but it must be pointed out that while the Pacman is celebrating his win, another Filipino boxer, Z Gorres, is in critical condition in hospital after winning his bout with Colombian Juan Melendez. He had been hit pretty hard at one point during the match but still went on to win the fight — only to collapse in the end due to a blood clot. He was immediately hospitalized and operated on but had to be placed on induced coma to stabilize his condition.

For me, nothing beats watching a great player create beautiful music with an acoustic guitar. Artists like Phil Keaggy, Michael Hedges, and Eric Clapton (just to name a few of my favorites) make it look and sound so easy: for them it’s an effortless action, the music seemingly magically flowing out of a simple combination of skin, fingernails, steel, and wood. Watching a great guitarist is like watching an eagle soar through the sky.

But can you imagine what their acoustic guitars are going through?

I was in Manila last week and made several trips on board the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT). For convenience and speed, nothing beats the trains: the LRT trip from Monumento in Caloocan City to the Baclaran station takes less than half an hour, and all in air-conditioned ease. I haven’t taken the MRT end-to-end, but I’m sure it’s just as speedy.