READING MATERIALS IN TRENDS SY 2021-2022 FIRST QUARTER

LESSON 1.1

Rapid change is a constant feature of our lives. One can see the various evidence
of development in our society, which include scientific, technological, social, and political
transformations that will continue to influence human lives in the future. Many of these
patterns are shaping the road ahead of us. Such phenomena are also manifestations of
innovative thought on the part of humanity. When human beings grow, we become
educated and competent in our everyday actions. Consideration of the patterns and
trends of the decisions and behavior we make requires a careful analysis. Being aware of
these phenomena, understanding their features and characteristics, will contribute to the
declaration of the common identity, social responsibility, and global interconnectedness
of people. As global citizens, you will need to adapt and participate as a required condition
for engaged critical thinking on some of these trends.

Trend is defined in various ways. In the field of arts, fashion, and music’s, it
is a prevailing style or preference such as realism movement in art, emergence of
miniskirt, and popularity of jazz music. In economics, it is a general movement
registering statistical changes for a long period such as the increasing cost of living and
rate of unemployment. In politics, refers to a tendency, drift, or bend toward a certain
stance, thought, or policy as when democratic Southeast Asian countries favored
authoritarian government at a certain point in their histories. Other areas also exhibit
prevailing preference such as in sports (wearable devices that monitor training
performance), food (rise of oatmeal products, inclusion of moringa or malunggay in food
products), medicine (stem cell treatment and vaccine), cosmetics whitening
supplements), travel (paperless tickets and online check-in), manufacturing (3-D
printing), environmental management (home solar electric system), in other words,
a trend is a pattern of behavior demonstrated by a big number of people within a
particular period.
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Sociologists view trend as a collective behavior or mass involvement which is

acceptable to society and shows a “line of historical continuity,” as it can be
downplayed today but can resurface sometime in the future. The tight pants, for instance,
was the trend toward the end of the 1960s, after which, the bell-bottom pants relegated
the former to the side. Nowadays, tight pants have made a comeback, especially in the
form of skinny jeans.
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LESSON 1.2
In our present world, which is intensified by the globalization process, we know that the
future generation will be different from that of the present in so many ways. Rapid
changes in technologies, legislation, and social values can alter or damage traditional
lifestyles, communities, and the way we relate ourselves to the world. To understand
ourselves better in the face of these giant leaps of humanity, it is imperative to study
trends both in the local and global scenes for us to survive.

Number of Pattern of
Participants Behavior
Elements
of Trends

Long Period Cause and

of Time Consequences

According to Rehn and Lindkvist (2013), hierarchy of trends explains why trends seem
to be have varying reach, effects, and influences on people. This hierarchy is a
representation of the scale of the development of a trend.

 Micro trends (3-5 years): are “little things,” that happen all around us all the times,
the tiny shifts that occur in everything from clothes we wear and the snacks we eat
to the way we work, play, and love. These trends happen right now and are outright
observable. For others, micro trends are synonymous with fads. The importance of
micro trends is that they offer a glimpse about the future through the clues they
possess.
 Macro trends (6-9 years): on the other hand, are “aggregated micro trends or
more sweeping changes that are affecting society.” They provided major changes
that are perceptible quickly fizzle out.
 Mega trends (decades): are “macro trends that have grown up and moved out.
They are big and bold, and affect the lives of great swathes of the human race.” They
can last for decades and are “so pervasive as to be generally known.” Because of this
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condition, mega trends are regarded as so obvious and evident. In other words, they
have become the prevailing condition that has become too normal.
 Giga trends (era): are “trends that are so general that they affect most areas of
human life. – or, at least, more than one aspect of life or more than one industry.”
Giga trends are usually identified to define an era.
 Tera trends (enduring): these are the trends that are existent prior to human
civilization such as: Natural Processes, Cycles, and Calamities.

Trends can also refer to movements, ideologies, concepts, beliefs, and more. The
important thing in studying trends is to observe them closely for subtle and sudden shifts
that ultimately affect people, cultures, and societies in general.

Micro trends can become macro trends if they affect more lives and societies. Macro
trends can become a mega trends if it can affect a much larger group for a longer period
like a decade. Mega trends can become giga trends if they have ever-lasting effects and
influences. Therefore, it is evident that a larger thing (the whole) consists of smaller
things or parts.

In less than a decade, many trends are recognized to be rooted in our daily lives.
These trends revolutionize individual lives, communities, and societies. These changes
equate to great opportunities for humanity. We can prosper from them if we can spot
and adapt to these major global and societal transformation changes, which
trendsetters call mega trends.
Coming to an awareness of the meaning of a trend and how to spot it is only and
first step to understanding future opportunities in our work and personal lives.
Here are some mega trends, based on a recently completed Frost and Sullivan
analysis titled, “World’s Top Global Megatrends to 2025 and Implications to Business,
Society, and Cultures.” Can you supply the micro implications of these mega trends?
How do these big trends affect our day-to-day existence?

TOP MEGA TRENDS

1. CONNECTIVITY AND COVERGENCE
Five years from now, there will be over 5 billion internet users who will be using
their gadgets for connecting and communicating worldwide.
2. BRICKS AND CLICKS
Retailers are enjoying the bricks (offline) and clicks (online) business model,
where their traditional business outlets are complemented with the provision to
shop online making a two way profit and ensure that all kinds of customers
around the globe access their product and services.
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3. FUTURE OF MOBILITY
Moving people, goods, and services requires efficient and intelligent
transportation that integrates smart technologies, driverless vehicles with smart
apps, on demand vehicles that are economically and ecologically efficient, and
seamless transport network.
4. URBANIZATION
Cities are being transformed into mega cities, mega regions, and even mega
corridors. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “India is to be found not in tis cities, but
in its 700,000 villages.”
5. CHANGING SOCIAL TRENDS
Changing social trends like iGeneration, migration, brain drain, aging populations,
women’s rights, ecological movements, and globalization will stir up deep socio-
economic impact in the future.
6. HEALTH, WELLNESS AND WELL-BEING
Many countries are reinventing the notion of health care and quality of life as
they address health care costs among the majority of their population. Human
well-being will shift to the wellness not just of the body, but also the mind and
the soul.

7. INNOVATING TO ZERO
The world’s future energy needs a miracle to avoid planetary destruction that is
why many world leaders and visionaries shift to the mega world of “zero concept,”
where products and innovation technologies come to real life: zero emissions,
zero defects, zero casualties and zero accidents.
8. SMART IS THE NEW GREEN
The shift in smart products will definitely improve efficiency and optimize
operations in organizations and companies in the world. Smart products in
clothing, watches and phones are advance sensing technologies that has the
capability to understand process and report allowing the product to react and
communicate to the changing environment.

9. VALUE OF MANY
With the increasing access to the internet and mobile subscriptions, the value of
many business mode becomes a trend where one can make a product, sell and
connect too many. The concept of make one, sell and connect many encourages
businesses to produce and sell the same products globally using the internet or
mobile devices.
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10. FUTURE OF ENERGY

The planet has a wealth of energy resources to choose from including renewable
energy technologies. These energy sources, albeit may not be considered today,
will be the next energy wave in the next few decades showing the decarbonization
trend and highlight the use of hydrogen, which humanity started in wood,
followed by coal, then in oil, next in gas, and hopefully in pure hydrogen and
solar energy.

LESSON 3
You have learned in the previous module that the mental or thinking network and the
network of power relations in a community are lodged in local networks.
This lesson deals with global networks which cover interrelations and
interconnections of people, services, and institutions beyond the local, domestic, or
national borders and instead span the whole world. Global networks appear in many
forms such as international production networks, international security alliances,
international amnesty, global network for tropical diseases, and world watch for marine
life, among others. The networks are characterized by actors composed of people,
governments, and institutions or firms sharing common interests and exchanging and
interacting with one another.

GLOBALIZATION
Clearly, one of the goals of globalization is for the world to become more
interdependent. Peoples and countries of the world are closely woven together, especially
in the economic aspect. Globalization is the most powerful force for change in the world
today affecting all societies in the planet.
More so, globalization, a concept given various meanings and which spans
variegated dimensions. It comes from the word globalize which refers to the rise of global
networks of economic systems. Generally, globalization is a process involving the
interconnections, diffusion, and exchange of goods (production), services (technology),
ideas (communication), and people.
In line with this definition, social theorist Paul James (2014) identified four different
forms of globalization:
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embodied - refers
to the movement or
migration of people.
disembodied -
which covers the agency-extended object-extended -
diffusion of ideas, - which deals with which involves the
knowledge and the dispersion and mobility of goods,
information such as exchange of commodities, and
dos and don’ts of representatives of other objects of
dating, good study various institutions, exchange such as
habits, philosophy politics and money, machinery
across the world. organizations. and food items.

The interconnectivity brought about by globalization is manifested by, for example,

a local event in a country affecting and creating impacts in another country. Sociologist
Anthony Giddens (1991) defined globalization as “the intensification of worldwide social
relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by
events occurring many miles away and vice versa.”
The process of globalization is said to have begun thousands of years back but
attained its modern from in the 19th century as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution
when dramatic advances in transpiration and communication occurred. Advances in
international business followed and in the 1970s, globalization evolved to its current
meaning.
Globalization led to the shrinking of international space and the increasing
consciousness of a whole, single world society as it facilitates the “widening, deepening
and speeding up of global interconnectedness” (David Held, et al. 1999).
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Globalization is multidimensional however, due to its complex nature, discussions,

writings, and research usually focus on a single dimension or component of
globalization. These dimensions mirror the comprehensive reach and effects of
globalization. The dimensions of globalization include of the following:
Economic Globalization. This refers primarily to international business which
covers all contracts and negotiations concerning sales, investments, mobilization, and
transactions undertaken by two or more regions, countries, and nations outside their
political territories. These regulations involve economic resources, including human
power and capital necessary for the production of goods for global consumption and
maintenance of services such as banking, insurance, engineering, construction,
information technology, and other profitable ventures.
The forerunners of economic globalization are the multinational companies (MNCs)
or transnational companies which have branches in two or more countries. Popular
MNCs include sportswear manufacturers such as Nike, Adidas, and Reebok; beverage
companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi; vehicle manufacturers such as Toyota, Ford,
and Mitsubishi; fast-food chains such as McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and
Jollibee; fuel companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Shell; and business
outsourcing companies such as WNS Global, Teletech, and Convergys.

Economic globalization increases the process of economic integration among

countries leading to the creation of a common market such as the European Union
(EU) or a free trade area such as the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the
ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), and Mercosur in South America. Integration
among economies, whether developed or developing, if facilitated by foreign
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investment, diminishing trade barriers, reforms in tax and financial policies, and
standardization of rules and regulations, among others.

Cultural Globalization. It refers to the spread of ideas, values, and meanings

across countries, broadening and increasing social relations. It paves the way for the
creation of shared norms as well as of broader and deeper knowledge of other cultural
identities. This facilities increased interrelation and interconnection among variegated
cultures and populations and a better appreciation for one another. Religion language,
cuisine, fashion music, and dance, and other ramifications of pop culture are the elements
in cultural globalization.

Social Globalization. It covers the diffusion of beliefs, practices, and issues

concerning population growth, media, urbanization, tourism, education, and sports that
also drive nations, institutions, and governments to expand social relations. High
population growth has been the concern of the world because it affects the peace and
quality of development, food prices and supply, natural resources, energy supply, and
health of the global community. Increased human consumption of fish and other seafood,
for instance, has significantly reduced fish population, thus continuously creating
disequilibrium in the marine ecosystem.
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COVID-19: A Pandemic

Political Globalization. This involves institutions, public policies, and practices

that cut across national borders to facilitate international agreements and transactions. A
venues of globalization such as the supranational institutions in the EU, World Trade
Organization (WTO), and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have either partially
diminished the sovereignty or perceived to have reduced the power and importance of
the nation-states which created them. As such, globalization perceived to be a factor to
the erosion of some democratic structures.
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Natural environment Globalization. This concerns the environment where the

interaction of living species takes place. Many environmental problems such as water and
air pollution, overconsumption of fish and other marine resources, and global warming
need a global approach in their solutions. The intense desire for high economic growth,
foreign capital, and technological advancement of many countries has forced them to
deregulate some of their environment and resources-protection laws. This deregulation
has proven to be detrimental to the natural environment.
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LESSON 4
Change is inevitable in every aspect in life, both personal and social. Such change
is experienced by people in various ways and in different magnitudes and consequences.
The world today is significantly experiencing these changes in the field of economics,
culture, environment, politics and most specially the internet world. The idea that the
world is becoming smaller stems from the rise of advancement in technology and the
breakdown of every country.
International travel, trade, and migration served as the stimuli for globalization,
however, a new vehicle of globalization, and the fastest at that, has appeared. The
Internet both a product and a stimulus, of globalization, plays a key role in connecting
peoples and integrating politics, economies, and cultures and is unconstrained by national
boundaries. It offers individuals access to an enormous amount of information computer
users all over the world.
In 2010, computer users comprised 22 percent of the world’s population. Of this
percentage, 300 million were Internet users reading blogs, 1 billion used Google daily,
and 2 billion viewed YouTube videos every day.
Globalization has spread and affected many areas of the daily lives of families, and
the Internet is, in many instances, a conduit to this permeation. How? Consider the
following scenarios:

1) The father is in the living room watching live streaming of news on his laptop. The
hews reports are about the king of Saudi Arabia passing away; a weeklong riot
occurring in Mexico; prices of stocks in South Korea spiking upward; and Katy
Perry’s concert tour in Southeast Asia starting in Thailand with a bang.

2) The mother comes out of the kitchen, bringing with her a bowl of meal based from
a Vietnamese recipe she learned from an app on her smartphone. She brought the
ingredients in the nearby grocery; some of the ingredients were raised locally while
some were imported. Before everyone east dinner, she takes a picture and posts
it online using a photo-sharing app.

3) The older sister and her colleagues have decided to take a vacation in Cambodia.
She uses her credit card to book a flight to and from Cambodia over the web site
of an airline company. The next thing she does is search for a comfortable and
affordable accommodation while they are in Phnom Penh.
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4) The older brother, a college student, has been assigned to report on the
development strategies of Singapore. He is at home doing research about the
economic, political, and social measures that the leadership in Singapore
implemented to make the country highly advanced despite lacking natural
resources. Aside from his library research, he now googles the phrase “Singapore
economic development” and sorts out what sites he needs to read. The next thing
he does is prepare and write his presentation using the table show program.

In general, all these happen within the confines of the home. Much time, money,
and energy are saved and can be utilized for other productive activities. The speed
of communication and transaction among individuals and firms have become faster
with the aid of the Internet.

Political scientist Rosa Gomez Dierks (2001) considered the Internet as the “key
organizing principles” of globalization. Through it, people, governments, and firms around
the world are interconnecting, interrelation, and exchanging ideas, goods, and services.
However, criticisms have been hurled against globalization due to its perceived
negative effects, some of which are the following:

A. DELOCALIZATION. This covers the B. DECREASE IN THE POWER OF

decreasing face-to-face encounter NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
both for local and international Globalization is perceived to have
transactions. Telephone, mobile shrunk the power of financial markets,
phone, e-mail, and video chat have new technology, and services which
substituted for the physical tend to constrain the national
interactions of people, diminishing the governments’ freedom of action.
opportunity to establish closer and
improved relations through personal
encounters.

C. RISE OF MULTINATIONAL D. SOCIAL INEQUALITY. Unregulated

COMPANIES. Considered as the
forerunners of globalization, MNCs
establish their branches in countries
with cheaper raw materials and
workforce. They provided employment
but offer salaries lower than what they
give in their mother countries.
capitalism led to the unbalanced
economic development of some
regions. While a few countries in a
particular region gained tremendous
wealth, many were left in poverty.
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LESSON 5
If you pass by rural municipalities in the provinces, you might observe some
houses that stand out. Most often, these houses are owned by Filipinos working abroad,
referred to as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). There are some pointed differences
between such houses and the rest. The OFW houses are made of concrete materials, iron
sheet roofs, casement windows, and tiled floors. Others have two stories while most are
bungalows. This is a familiar sight in the Philippines and other developing countries. The
OFW have changed the landscape of the countryside. They are able to build better homes
for their families, send their children to school, and pay for their monthly bills. Not all of
them are fortunate to have earned high income, but their earnings prove to be much
higher than the salary of a local worker. They help address their family’s daily needs.
What comes after when they finish employment contract is another story.

The issue of globalization is linked with migration and with movement of capital and
commodities.
Migration is said to be as old as human civilization, and there is a clear proof that
globalization is inextricable related to it. The growing demand for laborers of most
capitalist countries precipitated the migration of many families from underprivileged
communities. This goes with the hope of alleviating their economic condition and
experiencing a good life financially and economically. Nicole Sayres, the Senior Director
for Field Representation of the Asia Foundation, stated that according to estimates, more
or less 20% of the labor force in the Philippines want to leave the country in search for a
job abroad. Some of them become victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), migration is
the movement of a person or groups from one territory to another for the purpose of
seeking temporary or permanent residence. Such movement can be considered as
voluntary or involuntary, long-term or short-term. This process has transpired throughout
history.
WHY DO PEOPLE MIGRATE?
People migrate for various reasons. These reasons may fall under four categories:
environmental, political, cultural, and economic. Within these migration categories are
the so-called “push” and “pull” factors as categorized by the International Organization
on Migration. The push factors are those that motivate people to leave their place because
of difficulty such as food shortage, war, flood, among others, while the pull factors are
those that attract them to their place of destination.
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Types of Migration

The differentiation of migration stems from the fact that the movement of people from
one place to another is of a different nature and reason. The international
Organization on Migration identified the common types of migration:

1) INTERNAL MIGRATION – This includes persons or groups moving to a new

place within one’s own country. Filipino Muslims migrate to the Visayas region to
void the heavy militarization in the area.
2) EXTERNAL MIGRATION – This is moving to a new residence in a different
country, state, or continent. Some Asians migrate to Europe because of its pleasant
climate.
3) EMIGRATION – This consists of persons or groups departing from one country
in view of settling to another. For instance, John’s Family emigrated from Thailand.
4) IMMIGRATION – This is a process where individuals or groups move in to
another country for settlement. For instance, after getting married, Romel and Lisa
immigrated to Canada

Studies on International Labor Migration (ILM) reveal its multidimensional

consequences on the individuals, families, societies, and economies. Urgel (2012)
mentioned some of the major findings.
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2. Utilization of
modern
technology to 1. Evolution of new family and
sustain family household structures.
bonds across
time and space.

4.
3. More political and
Reconfiguration
economic empowerment in
of family
the family and community for
arrangements
women.
and roles.

5. Proliferation
of families with
unstable
marriages and 6. Culture of Migration
separated or
divorced
parents.

LESSON 6
Planetary Networks refer to the interconnections and interrelations among the
various elements in the natural environment enveloping and affecting Earth as well as
elements beyond Earth’s surface. It includes the rain, the wind, the sun rays, gases, and
other climate-related elements. It also cover natural resources such as forests, mineral
deposits, lakes, oceans, hills, and mountains as well as the flora and fauna and other
living organisms which when heavily exploited and exhausted shall cause detrimental
effects on Earth’s natural cycle and functions.

STARTER
In Australia, more children and adults are suffering from skin cancer caused by the
sun UV rays. In Indonesia, forest fires last for weeks, causing haze that could reached
neighboring countries. In the US, sauna-like conditions have been experienced with
soaring temperature like heat stroke. Severe water and power shortages happen almost
every year, especially during summer. All these abnormal conditions are signal the
existence of climate change.
Production and Consumption Patterns Affecting Climate Change
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Since the 19th century, the warming of Earth has already been felt. Aside from the
burning of fossil fuels, other causes of climate change can be traced from the production
patterns and the consumption patterns of humans.
Production patterns refer to how people generate and manufacture the
products they need to use, sell, or consume.
Paper comes from a tree pulp or glass fiber; rubber shoes come from the sap of
the rubber tree; machineries are produced from mined minerals; bread is made from
wheat; cassava, or rice flour, and textile is woven from plants such as cotton, abaca, and
ramie and from animals such as silk, wool, and cashmere.
If production pattern is characterized by heavy dependence on coal, the problem
of climate change will all the more aggravate. China, for instance, has large coal mines
and relies on them for its energy requirements. This makes China one of the most polluted
countries on Earth. Dependence on petroleum in the manufacture and production of
goods makes U.S. produce 23% of global emission. While it makes Eastern European
countries, including Russia, produce 14% of carbon emission (Harper, 2001).

Undoubtedly, these countries contribute much to the depletion of the ozone layer
and, consequently, the worsening of global warming and climate change.

REDIRECT!
1. How does it take to melt iron bars and how much iron is required to turn it into
a car engine?
2. How many trees should be felled to become timber used in construction?
3. Are the goods produced with minimal use of energy?
4. What kind of energy was used for production?
5. How many barrels of petroleum per day are utilized to manufacture one car?
6. Have you resorted to alternative sources of energy and related facilities like wind
turbines?
1.

Consumption patterns involve the use of economic or consumer goods and resources.
Consumption patterns can be categorized as individual, family, company, and
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governmental consumption. These categories have similarities in the items consumed

such as food, clothing, footwear, education, house and furnishing, fuel, transportation,
communication, recreation, entertainment, health care and medicine, tobacco and
narcotics, as well as insurance.
Consumption patterns are considered as the key driver to the use of resources.
Ecosystems and landscapes are influenced by consumption patterns. Ecosystem
resiliency, the ability of the ecosystem to regenerate, sustain, and adjust what is lost,
destroyed, or added in the environment, is affected by the way the land is utilized.
Overexploitation and depletion of land resources can diminish the resiliency of the
ecosystem.
The quality of the landscape or the natural scenery of the land reflects how the
demand for resources is being addressed. Is forest depletion due to the excessive felling
of trees? Are the mountains leveled for quarrying or for giving way to subdivision? Are
the rivers poisoned and wildlife displaced due to gold extraction?
Spatial planning refer to zoning or dividing the city or town into sections for
various purposes (such as residential, commercial, educational, recreational,
governmental, botanical and zoological). This can be initiated by governments in
cooperation with private firms.
A consumerist attitude contributes to the depletion and exhaustion of natural
resources, which thus creates a chain – the more consumption, the more demand; the
more demand, the more production; the more production; the more extraction of natural
resources; the more extraction of natural resources without replenishment, the faster the
degradation and exhaustion of the resources. Running parallel is a chain on consumption
– the more consumption, the more demand; the more consumer demand, the more
production; the more production; the more use of coal or petroleum being the most
abundant and cheapest; the more use of coal or petroleum, the more GHG emission; the
more GHG emission, the worse the global warming will be.
Another major cause of climate change which can be associated with production and
consumption pattern is carbon footprint, “a measure of the total amount of carbon
dioxide and methane emissions of a defined population, system, or activity… within the
spatial and temporary boundary of the population, system or activity of interest” (Wright,
Kemp, and Williams, 2011).

WAYS TO REDUCE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT

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Source: https://worldculturenetwork.com/how-to-reduce-the-carbon-footprint/

Planting
green Reduce the Cutting
Eat more
wherever carbon down on
organic food
you are footprint meat
living

Walking or
Use Laptops instead of cycling to
Recycling
Desktop computer the nearest
destination

Turn the lights or any

energy off when not in use
Conclusion
Making small changes can make a lot of differences. Not telling you that totally cut
down yourself on meat or stop using AC’s just appealing to an audience if they can at
least try to make changes in your surroundings that would contribute towards reducing
global warming, it would not only make them better but also it would make the
environment healthier.
Excessive is always dangerous, using products or energy in an adequate way would
also lead to full satisfaction.

LESSON 7
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Change is inevitable. The era of globalization has certainly contributed in changing

the landscape of the world and its inhabitants. Amid this growth and advancement in
technology, the environment seems to bear and suffer the consequences. Every day, we
are confronted with issues and problems related to the environment. The issue on climate
change is one concrete manifestation and realization that the age of globalization and
rapid industrial and technological advancement has taken its toll on the natural
environment.
At the governmental level, at least three schemes have been initiated to reduce
carbon emissions: (1) the Kyoto Protocol, which was enforced in 2005; (2) the emission
certificates; and (3) carbon offsetting.
The Kyoto Protocol specifies legally binding targets and time frames for reducing
or stopping the GHG emissions of the industrialized countries that ratified the protocol.
For instance, from 2000 to 2012, ta target reduction for EU was 8%; for the US, 7%; and
for Japan, - 6%.
The emission certificate guarantees a product’s resource efficiency which can
help in increasing sales, decreasing cost, and boosting brand loyalty. The certificate
enables a manufacturer to gain international recognition by governments to calculate a
product’s carbon footprint and to issue the certificate.
Carbon offsetting is the reduction of carbon footprint by using other options such as
wind or solar energy. It is said that the best way to diminish carbon footprint is to
either cut down the amount of energy consumed in production or minimize the
dependence on carbon-emitting fuels such as coal and petroleum. Among the energy-
generating technologies, hydroelectric, wind, and nuclear power produce the least
carbon dioxide emission per kilowatt hour.

1) CIGARETTE SMOKING
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A smoker consumes two packs of cigarettes a day. His fingers have discolored to
brown for holding cigarette sticks for almost the whole day. His lips have also turned
dark. He used to smoke even inside the house, but his family prohibited him from doing
so because his daughter became allergic to smoke and his wife complained of dizziness.
He is heard coughing more often now as he continues smoking in their veranda.

2) FOOD WASTING

A classmate loves to eat in a fast-food restaurant. She orders in big servings.

However, she picks out only the ingredients she likes and does not consume all the food.
She leaves some portion of the meat or fish and finishes only half of the rice. She does
this even at home. Why does she always leave some portion of the food? She thinks that
eating all the food in her place gives the impression of greediness or being deprived. She
refuses to believe that eating all the food reflects good manners.

3) IRRESPONSIBLE USE OF ENERGY

A neighbor often does not switch off the light when leaving his room. At night he
leaves the lights on in the rooms he uses like the living room and kitchen. He also leaves
the TV on even without anyone watching or while he is doing something in another room.
He does the same with the electric fans. When he goes to a nearby grocery, he opts to
drive the car than walk. Sometimes, he leaves the engine and air-conditioning system on
when he is out of the car.

4) PAPER WASTING

Another classmate is fond of doodling. When he is not satisfied with his doodle,
he crumples the paper and thrown it in the trash bin. He never uses the blank back page
when writing. He also throws away paper bags instead of folding and keeping them for
future use.
READING MATERIALS IN TRENDS SY 2021-2022 FIRST QUARTER

Sociologist Charles Harper (2001) enumerates some of the threatening impacts of

Climate Change:

1 Reduction of agricultural yield and grain productivity which

can lead to food shortage.

Rise of sea level which will endanger the

2
population living in the coastal areas, will
submerge rice farms in the river deltas, and will
push high tides and storm surges further inland.

Decrease in freshwater supply caused by

3 reduced stream flow and water salinity will
make an upstream movement.

Increase in human health risks posed by heat

4 stress as well as wide and faster spread of
tropical illness.

Consistent warming patterns mean an increase in

5 energy consumption for air-conditioning,

hydropower shortage, and diminished revenues
from fisheries and tourism.

Enormous cost of prevention, rehabilitation, and adaptation

6 to climate change can take a heavy toll on the global
economy.

ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION AND AGREEMENT

READING MATERIALS IN TRENDS SY 2021-2022 FIRST QUARTER

Correcting the wasteful consumption and production patterns is one of the keys to
a sustainable environment and to prevent the worsening of climate change. Here are
some of the big steps among our world leaders and in the Philippines in mitigating and
alleviating Climate Change.
READING MATERIALS IN TRENDS SY 2021-2022 FIRST QUARTER

SOME ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN THE PHILIPPINES

 Republic Act 9729 Climate Change Act of 2009

Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2009/10/23/republic-act-no-9729/

 Republic Act 9003 Ecological Solid Waste Management Act

Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2001/01/26/republic-act-no-9003-s-2001/

 Republic Act 6969 Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control
Act of 1990
Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1990/10/26/republic-act-no-6969/