Rikki Marie M.
Gardoce Environmental Management and Sustainable Development
ABPSY-II PY2-01 Prof. Victoria M. Segovia
August 13, 2019
Reflection Paper
1.What changes have you observed in your life since you had consciousness of things?
I noticed that life is becoming more easier and faster today than before. Before, in our
school, all sources were from books but now, in just one click I can access the information I need
by using my gadgets and the internet. If I would like to learn new things or to entertain myself, I
run to the computer or to my phone. Also, before, our generation were really fond of playing
outside but today, younger generations would rather use their gadgets than to play outside.
Unfortunately, there were so much environmental stimulation before unlike now. Observing the
people around me, they lack discipline in managing their garbage as they throw their waste
anywhere they want. Good thing I was trained by my parents on becoming responsible to my
things and garbage since I was a child. Moreover, my everyday needs are available to different
stores that surrounds me that’s why its not hard for me to meet my physiological needs.
2.What changes since you were a child have you noticed in your environment? Can you give
the positive changes? How about the negative changes?
Back when I was a kid, I remember the different kinds of trees that were planted in a
large farm around our vicinity. Some were large and tall while others were thin and cute. Being a
child with wide imagination, I think of them as a happy family since they vary in size. Mango
tree being the tallest tree was the father, the Jackfruit tree was the mother and the cute coffee
trees near them were their babies. Sadly, those trees were being cut just for the establishment of
different infrastructures such as malls, condominiums, hotels and other restaurants particularly in
Cavite, my grown-up province. Yes, the good side of it is in just a couple minutes of travel, we
can go to the mall easily not like before that we had to travel for hours just to go to there. But
this situation is much more on the negative change. Before, there were low rates of natural
disaster victims because there were enough trees to hold the soil and to accumulate the rain water
as well as clean drainage that were garbage free, but now landslides and flash floods are very
Rikki Marie M. Gardoce Environmental Management and Sustainable Development
ABPSY-II PY2-01 Prof. Victoria M. Segovia
August 13, 2019
common in the Philippines that’s why many Filipinos are very susceptible to become casualties
of such
catastrophic events. I also notice that traffic becomes presently part of our everyday life because
of over number of vehicles especially in the urban areas. Newest model of cars may sound good
but the effect of it in our country is terrible. Moreover, today we experience severe climates such
as long unusual season of summer, very damaging typhoon and acid rain that were not or rarely
happening before when I was a kid. Mining companies are also common today that destruct
hectares of land that before were prohibited. Tourist spots are becoming more and more dirty
because of undisciplined people. Making this last part little optimistic, I observed that unlike
before, there are various organizations advocating care for our natural environment. These
people are conducting projects that protects the nature and its other inhabitants.
3.What have you learned about life’s lessons from the change that you had observed?
I learned that change is inevitable, but we can make those changes for the better, not for
the worse. Change should start in ourselves as we begin to practice discipline. Indeed, there are
changes that bring good to us but there are more that make the nature suffer due to the human
activities. We humans are responsible for taking care of our environment as stated in Genesis
2:15, but what the people are doing now is the exact opposite. There are only few people who
benefit from their illegal activities but the whole humanity is seriously affected. Sadly, many
kinds of animals are becoming endangered because of bad people who hunt animals for personal
gain and due to the massive deforestation, that leads to loss of animal habitat. Today, humans are
full of greed that they no longer think of others. If humans are cause of this nature destruction,
we are also the ones who should formulate solutions as best as we can.
