Name: CHONA C.

BURGOS Subject: SCIENCE

Student ID: E19-4269 Section Code: EB059A
Course: BSOA-OM Professor: ENGR. RENATO M. VERGARA

Assignment No. 1

Instructions: Follow the direction for each question. Submit your output on or before the
second contact session. Answer taken form the net/copy paste answer will be strictly
monitored. Late submission will not be accepted.

1. Biodiversity is life of our life. Explain by enumerating three 3 concrete reasons.

Biodiversity, short for biological diversity, refers to all the variety of life that can be found on
Earth (plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms) as well as to the communities that they
form and the habitats in which they live.
Biodiversity is life of our life, because all species are interconnected or depend on one
another.
- Sources of food.
In order to live, animals eat plants or other animals. Humans also get their food from
plants or animals. Example is the food chain, grass is eaten by rabbit, then rabbit is
eaten by snake.
- Sources of materials for shelter
Plants, specifically trees, can provide shelter to animals and humans for them to survive.
Shelter protect them from harm and hot or cold temperatures.
- Sources of medicine
There are also significant benefits of biodiversity to our health, because most of the
medicine were based on plant or animal sources.

2. Does Biodiversity Make Communities More Resilient? Explain your answer by citing at least
three (3) important evidences

- The food webs with many species are more resilient than those with few species because

since there are more species, they have more options of which ones to eat. That means,
if one of the species becomes extinct for whatever reason, the other species would have
other options of food.
- Ecosystem with higher biodiversity is more resilient because they can easily adjust to
changes. Biodiversity is important for species as it provides food, shelter, industrial
materials and medicines.
- Agricultural biodiversity can produce varieties that resist pests, diseases and are drought
tolerant, providing more protection against crop failure.

3. Watch the two videos entitled “The Great Global Warming Swindle” and “An Inconvenient
Truth” (After watching the two documentaries, provide evidences coming from the film that
convinced you in believing that climate change is real or not. (Minimum 300 words)

Climate Change according to Oxford Dictionary, is a change in global or regional climate

patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20 th century onwards and
attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use
of fossil fuels.
Based on some evidences from the film, “An Inconvenient Truth”, I was convinced that
climate change is real, and it is happening now. Evidences are deadly typhoons that hit the
Philippines, more intense El Niño phenomenon and flooding in different parts of the country.

Some of the evidences presented on the film were:

o The Keeling curve, which shows graph of increasing carbon dioxide level in the
atmosphere since 1958~2000
o Retreat of glaciers as shown in before and after photographs
o Data from Antarctic ice cores showing carbon dioxide concentrations higher during
the past 650,000 years
- The temperature in northern hemisphere and CO2 concentration fit together,
meaning, the more CO2, the temperature gets warmer.
o The ten hottest years ever measured in atmospheric record had occurred in the
previous fourteen years (2005~present)
- Temperature in ocean also gets warmer that caused more intense tornados/
typhoons
- Unusual flooding in some areas
- Severe drought in some areas due to lack of rainfall
o Sea-ice extent has drop by 1.5 million km 2 since 1970 (diminished by 40% in 40
years)
o 2004 survey concluded that global warming are caused by humans

According to Al Gore, each one of us is a cause of global warming. Meaning, human is the
main contributor to climate change. The solution is in our hands, by choosing the things we
buy, the cars we drive, and we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emission to
zero. We just have to have the determination to make it happen. He also added that global
warming can be successfully reversed by releasing less CO2 and planting more vegetation to
clean up existing CO2.

I was more convinced that climate change is real in “An inconvenient truth” than in “The
Great Global Warming Swindle”, which showed the following evidences:
o Level of CO2 continue to increase since 1940, as well as the global temperature also
continue to increase, which is one also of the evidences of “An inconvenient truth”
o Water vapor has a largest impact on planet’s temperature, which make up 95% of all
greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, which only comprises 0.054% of the Earth’s
atmosphere.
o Volcanos, dying leaves, and ocean produce significantly more CO 2 than humans.
o Influence of the sun on climate change (solar variation theory), which indicates that
solar activity is directly linked to changes in global warming.
o The current episode of global warming is nothing unusual and temperatures were
even more extreme during the medieval warm period
4. Elaborate the phrase “Plant Is The Only Machinery That Can Eliminate Climate Change”. Cite
several examples and activities / project local and international.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2), is one of the main causes of global warming. According to Christina
Nuñez (2019), CO2 continuous to rise every month. It enters the atmosphere through
burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), solid waste, trees and other biological
materials, and also as a result of certain chemical reactions (e.g., manufacture of cement). It
accounts for about 82% of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to United States
Environmental Protection Agency or EPA (2017).

Total Emissions in 2017 = 6,457 Million

Metric Tons of CO2 equivalent.

United States Environmental Protection

Agency (2017)

Addressing climate change could require many solutions. But I still believe that plant is the
only machinery that can eliminate climate change. According to EPA (2017), Carbon dioxide
is removed from the atmosphere (or "sequestered") when it is absorbed by plants as part of
the biological carbon cycle. According to Nuñez (2019), planting trees, restoring seagrasses,
and boosting the use of agricultural cover crops could help clean up significant amounts of
carbon dioxide.

Climate change is a worldwide concern considering the impact of global warming on the
environment and on people. According to DILG’s report on Climate Change: A Primer for
Local Government, The Philippines is the world’s 3rd country that’s most vulnerable to
climate change. To help combat the impact of climate change, according to Benel D. Lagua
(2017), 195 countries, including the Philippines, decided to take common climate action by
signing the Paris agreement on climate change on December 12, 2015. As defined by
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse-gas-
emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016. The Paris Agreement's long-
term goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above
pre-industrial levels; and to limit the increase to 1.5 °C, since this would substantially reduce
the risks and effects of climate change. Under the Paris Agreement, each country must
determine, plan, and regularly report on the contribution that it undertakes to
mitigate global warming.
Lagua also stated that six years earlier, Republic Act (RA) 9729 known as the Climate Change
Act of 2009 was enacted. This policy of the State aims to afford full protection and the
advancement of the right of the people to a healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and
harmony of nature. In this light, the State has adopted the Philippine Agenda 21 framework
which espouses sustainable development, to fulfil human needs while maintaining the
quality of the natural environment for current and future generations.

According to DILG’s report on Climate Change: A Primer for Local Government, there are 3
integrated approaches to climate change and disaster risk. These are Adaptation, Mitigation
and Disaster Risk Reduction.
Adaptation is action that helps people cope with the effects of climate change.
Mitigation is action that will reduce man-made climate change.
Disaster risk reduction is an action taken to reduce the risk of disasters and the adverse
impact of natural hazards, through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causes of
disasters, including through avoidance of hazards, reduced social and economic vulnerability
to hazards, and improved preparedness for adverse events.
Putting it all together: an approach to risk resiliency.
Risk resiliency is a measure to ensure that programs, projects, and activities target the
communities and areas that are most vulnerable to climate change and disaster risks. It
requires that government and citizens make risk resiliency a priority, set up the policies and
mechanisms needed to make it happen, and integrate it in planning and budgeting
These approaches, is currently being used in our LGU.

References:

Christina Nunez. (2019) National Geographic. “Carbon dioxide levels are at a record high. Here's what you need
to know.”, “Global warming solutions, explained”. Accessed on September 13, 2019:
[Link]
[Link]

United Estates Environmental Protection Agency. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Overview of Greenhouse Gases.”
Accessed on September 13, 2019: [Link]

Department of Interior and Local Government. “Climate Change: A Primer for Local Government”. Accessed on
September 13, 2019:
[Link]

Benel D. Lagua. (2017) BusinessWorld Online. “Climate change mitigation or adaptation?”

Accessed on September 13, 2019: [Link]
change-mitigation-or-adaptation&id=147525