“Our Next PH President Should Know About Climate Change” – Rodel D Lasco. “S/He Should Only Be A Smart Thinker” – Frank A Hilario. Above All, “Thinking Is Power.”

Thankfully, via email today Saturday, 19 March 2022, my good friend JAQ suggests our Presidentiables should somehow be climate change-conscious even now. Unfortunately, not one of those many candidates for President has spoken anything close to that subject.

Specifically, JAQ sent me the link to Rodel D Lasco’s column of today (Saturday, 19 March 2022) in the Inquirer, “Toward A Climate Resilient Development” (inqm.news), where after explaining the latest work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Mr Rasco says:

Our next president’s term will coincide with this critical decade for climate action. Thus, one relevant criterion for our vote is the candidate’s qualification to steer the country toward a climate resilient path. As one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate hazards, we cannot afford to make the wrong choice.

I agree that we are now in that “critical decade for climate action” as according to the IPCC report mentioned. But if Mr Rasco is implying that the next PH President should know the science of climate change, I say:

No, we do not need a Scientist President. Whom we need next is a President who has a mind wide open about climate change – after some immersion – and has a decisive manner of governance so that s/he can select her climate change advisers.
(“Thinking Is Power” image from ssla.co.uk)

Among the most significant conclusions of the report is the need to pursue climate resilient development… which refers to the “process of implementing greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation measures to support sustainable development for all.”

That is, considering the storms, typhoons and floods that visit us too often and too murderously, the next PH President must see to it that adaptation and mitigation measures are mapped out at once so that the country can proceed to “sustainable development.”
(“Sustainable Development” image from topper.com)

Mr Rasco does not explain it, but “sustainable development” is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UNESCO, en.unesco.org). That’s too vague; this is more workable for me (un.org):

Sustainable development –
results achieved by what is done that is:
technically feasible, and at the same time
environmentally sound, and at the same time
economically viable, and at the same time
socially acceptable.

Now then, I will interpret Mr Rasco’s presidential requirement – “the candidate’s qualification to steer the country toward a climate resilient path” – as the wisdom to effect overall management so that the country’s climate change programs and projects result in sustainable development.

“To steer the country toward a climate resilient path” – Perfect! Considering all of the above, I would advise the next President to declare that, nationwide, the climate-intelligent path to agriculture is organic.

Right away, we must stop chemical agriculture and switch to organic agriculture. Why? With organic agriculture, there are zero, none, nil, no greenhouse gases emitted from farms and gardens. Sooner than later, that would change climate change!@517