Semin-arrgghh...

I just survived a two-day seminar. This weekend, NISMED gathered in its augusts halls, a multitude of educators and pseudo-educators coming from all parts of the archipelago... and yes, Kenya. Today saw the finale of the seminar as it also saw the collective heaving of a sigh of relief of a throng of conspicuously asphixiated participants. But today is particularly special because NISMED invited a Taiwanese and a Malaysian to give the plenary lectures. And oh boy... you have to imagine pristine beaches and verdant hills to hold your flares from undergoing spontaneous combustion! What do you make of over three hours of bad English!? You see, it is clearly a misconception equating English proficiency with Science deftness. These grammatically challenged Science educators are really good. Oh yes, the seminar is about misconceptions in Science and Math and how to address them. Not a bad topic for a seminar at all, mind ya...

This morning, I ran into a debate with a professor of De La Salle University who claimed that Evolution's misconceptions arise from the teacher's inability to reconcile Science and Religion in the discourse. I countered that if evolution is to be taught properly, it should be taught using only the accepted priciples espoused by the scientific establishment. And by scientific establishment, I do not mean the likes of Collins and his confused complots, but the likes of Dawkins, Ridley, Sagan, and Hawking... Of course, I am of the belief that Science and Religion have their distinct linguistic situations. It will be difficult to explain for instance the molecular basis for adaptive radiation if your reference is Chapter 1 of the Bible. In the same manner, a preacher will not quote Chapter 1 of Lehninger's Biochemistry book to explain the creation of man on the sixth day. In the first place, the good professor should've asked herself first if she is qualified at all to pontificate on the Scriptures to shed light on the intricacies of adaptation and speciation.

Lastly, I likewise mentioned in that brief academic tussle that I am also of the belief that all these studies in Biology are as equally enlightened as the Scriptures in the Bible. I mean, what do you make of learned conclusions that speak of the truth? If at times, these conclusions claim exactly the opposite of what the Bible claims, I think it is not for Science to reconcile the disparate views. To do so, is to temper the natural predisposition of the brain to inquire about the world and the truths that hide behind its existence... Indeed, to do so is to promote closedmindedness.

It is the role of religion to espouse the notion of a scientific God who, in His omniscience, is able to accept an inquiring mind for what it is... an inquiring mind. Then misconceptions are no more... and the Kenyans are still clueless...

The Environmental Kuznets Curve

Article: Do Developing Countries Enjoy Latecomers’ Advantages in
Environmental Management and Technology? – Analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve

Author: Hiroyuki Taguchi

Journal: International Review for Environmental Strategies. Vol. 2 No. 2,

Winter 2001. pp. 263-276.

Hiroyuki Taguchi anchored the premise of his thesis question, “Do developing countries enjoy latecomers’ advantages in Environmental Management and Technology?” from an “intriguing hypothesis” advanced by Simon Kuznets in 1955. The hypothesis states that in the course of economic development, income disparities rise at first and then begin to fall.

As applied to environmental management and technology, the Kuznets premise is used to buttress up the hypothesis that environmental degradation rises at first and then falls in the course of economic development. Indeed, Taguchi used an analysis of the Environmental Kuznets (EK) curve to determine whether developing countries have, in the course of their industrialization, capitalized on the experiences of developed countries.

Taguchi defined latecomers’ advantages as the availability of capital, skills, and technology of more advanced countries to the maximum extent possible.

The idea behind Taguchi’s study centers on the premise that it comes as a matter of course for developing countries to suffer setbacks in environmental conservation as they proceed through the process of industrialization. But as these countries become more wealthy and their industrial means become more sophisticated, their citizens become more environment conscious and their governments start implementing tougher measures in protecting the environment.

But unlike the route taken by developed countries through their industrialization, developing countries have the assumed advantage of learning from the experiences of more developed countries, and starting off an industrial program that can readily capitalize on existing funding, skills, and technology that were harnessed through time.

Based on the data gathered from a regional survey on developing East Asian Countries, Taguchi’s study concludes that in fact, developing countries enjoy latecomers’ advantages in environmental management and technology.

Despite convincing results in favor of Taguchi’s conclusions however, his study could have given more justice to the link between environmental conservation and economic development had he figured as elemental to his study, the nature of the environment as a system that is a closed continuum in itself. Which means that while it may be valid to assert that sulfur and carbon emissions are logical indicators of environmental degradation, it cannot be claimed with certitude that the positive sloping in the EK curve is solely effected by these elements. Alternatively, sulfur and carbon emissions may yet prove to be just a part of a bigger cause or a wider effect that may be linked to other environmental processes that carry the same positive sloping in the EK curve.

The implication of this qualification is that, the positive sloping of the curve, which denotes environmental degradation, must be similarly situated as the negative sloping, which denotes recovery. Which means that if degradation is on account of sulfur emissions and the industries or machines that produced them, recovery must translate into a decline of sulfur emissions (not other emissions) and the stoppage of sulfur emissions by industries or machines that initially produced them, and not by some other means like active volcanoes (with high concentrations of sulfur emissions) suddenly becoming dormant.

The importance of the above qualification centers on probable avenues for intervention in flattening out the peaking of the EK curve. In other words, if the link between economic development and environmental conservation is valid, the same link is only as important as the available measures taken by developing countries to leapfrog over environmental difficulties with progressive environmental management and technology.

Another aspect to Taguchi’s study that needs further analysis is the question on whether the latecomers’ advantages can apply to a broader range of per capita GDP. Of course, a lower GDP means less resilience for environmental recovery and more dependence on skills and technology. But even skills and technology are commodified. Which brings the concern to another aspect of the study. There needs to be an authentic technology transfer to make leapfrogging not only possible but sustainable as well. Are the developed countries willing to facilitate technology transfer for the developing countries’ environmental conservation efforts? Would they be willing to let go of trade restrictions particularly on those that involve Intellectual property rights?

The strength of Taguchi’s study is undeniably his use of appropriate statistical tools in interpreting the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve that provides a comparative study on the link between environmental conservation and economic development taken from the economic performances and environmental initiatives undertaken by different developing countries. Taguchi though, did recognize that the geo-economic profiles of the countries he considered in his study are comparatively diverse and for which reason, he did not readily accept as direct proof, the results of his survey as establishing the existence of latecomers’ advantages. He went further on to carry out a regression analysis that rightly confirmed his hypothesis.

Taguchi has rightly intimated towards the end of his discourse, the need to consider in the Kuznets analysis, more environmental factors to validate further his conclusions of the existence of latecomers’ advantages and provide developing countries with more options to leapfrog over environmental difficulties, flatten the curve’s peak, and avoid irreversible environmental degradations.

A Trip Down Memory Lane...

I received yesterday a call from a former student of mine. I was told that she was invited by Pisay to judge in their Science Congress. How's that again!? I thought I was induced into a mild shock, I tried to recover from what I have just heard... My former student was invited by Pisay to judge in their Science Congress? I increased the volume of my phone to check that I was hearing her right. Yes, she assured me... She was invited by Pisay to judge in their Science Congress!

But of course, I should not have doubted it. Her batch is an academic powerhouse. I remember that her group back then worked on the rate of acclimatization of Solanum tuberosum for their IP... It was a novel idea in agro-science as it proved the possiblity of growing highland taro plants on the lowlands. I also remember that their group would even have to spend weekends in my place to analyze the data that they have vigorously collected over a period of six months. I can't imagine how they transformed my place into a makeshift laboratory. Unfortunately for their group, they have to make do with Fifth Place. The Top Prize went to a younger batch that looked into the antibiotic potential of certain microorganisms that are autochthonous to the hides of toads. Their IP won 4th Place at the National Intel Science Fair in Diliman. These two groups along with practically all the groups I've made in all the classes I've handled back then, frequented my place every weekend and turn our stove into a "Bunsen Burner" and our oil bottles into "petri-dishes". We called our group and our meetings, "The Weekend Society".

In my conversation with her, she asked me about certain aspects in the criteria that puzzled her like scientific and engineering relevance... haha... I don't have an answer myself. Then we traded recollections of the years that were, when they have to spend every hour of everyday of every week for so many months, just collecting data and analyzing them... sometimes ending up with insignificant results. Then they have to start all over again. In those years, I saw how tears were shed in pursuit of knowledge infinite. But the thought of having been able to contribute an idea or two for the advancement of scientific inquiry is itself their own reward.

She graduated at the University of the Philippines two years ago. Except for two classmates, their batch all went to the University of the Philippines. When after a month after her graduation, I chanced upon meeting her at UP, I asked her about what she makes of her newly minted UP degree. Her reply was curt. She said that her science education at Pisay is what defined her science education at UP.

Ah... Time... So fleeting... So evanescent.

Her call of course came at a confluence in time. At Berea, Science Congress is scheduled on the 16th of this month.

Science deserves a modicum of respect...

My mom is celebrating her birthday today... To my mind, I am fortunate to have been raised by a mom who could've easily opted to study Psychology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor but chose instead to stay solidly anchored in this nearly benighted country to personally take care of her children's education. Indeed, who I am today, including my passion for scientific inquiry... I owe them all to my mom. For which reason, I am most grateful.

Unfortunately for me, I am not in the province to share with my mom her not-exactly-a-very-anticipated day. (But for us, her family, it certainly is a most anticipated day...) And that doubles the misfortune. And when doubling of misfortune increases several fold still, you really have to be ready to wrap all of decorum and roll in reason.

Several miles from where the party is, the day for me transmogrified into an unspeakably horrendous day. I thought, science deserves more respect than what it is being accorded with at the moment. Indeed, for the many years that I've toiled in the academe in pursuit of the advancement of scientific inquiry, it is only now that a real blow has mangled all prospects of reason shedding light upon the unenlightened philistines.

The Berea Idle has taken centerstage. And I don't find it cute. Ah! What monstrosity has befallen thee, fair Berea.

Indeed, the human mind has evolved to become more predisposed to addle itself down even when confronted with the legitimate option of stretching itself a bit just to see reason's frontiers. In other words, given two options for the brain: on one hand, an activity (idleness) that you have no use for any cerebral functionality and on the other hand, an activity (research) where you need to think, the natural leaning of the brain is towards that (idleness) which renders itself inutile. The events of today is proof enough to validate this claim.

So... The Berea Idle has taken centerstage. And science saw the graveyard. Woe to reason's extinction. A big blow indeed to the philhellenes of the intellectual ferment.

In retrospect, is this how we intend to design our intellectual pursuits? Is this the beginning of academic benightedness? If so, then we start calling in the clowns for the first intermission number... and let the show begin.

Voices that matter...

WRA: I do not want to think about bidding Japan farewell. I have learned to love the place, hehe.
M: valid sentiment... i wanna see the place too... in time perhaps.
WRA: by the way, Oval`s group is planning a trip to Thailand next year. Want to sign up?
M: sure... i like that... why not earlier?
M: ate kath and i are also planning to go there sometime in november...
WRA: many still cannot afford at this time. they need to fill-up the piggy bank first. if you can go earlier, it`s okey. We`ll go somewhere else later.
M: haha... of course i'd enjoy it better if i go with the group...
M: just like the old days....
M: let's invite arnold and james as well
WRA: yap, just like the good old days, filled with bad memories but challenging experience. arnold and james are out of the country also.
M: i thought they have returned already?
M: they went to thailand but did not finish their contracts there... or so i was told
WRA: They are both in Saudi Arabia right now, savoring the richness of "black gold".
M: haha... woe to the philippines indeed... but we only have our leaders to blame. anyway, i'm glad for them... they must be amassing huge wealth by now. haha... but i'm not about to follow suit.
WRA: You don`t have to. For Christ`s sake, people like you should not join the exodus.Salvation of the Philippines rests upon the hands of people who are willing to dream and do something for the country.
M: indeed my friend... i'm so glad to hear those words from you... suddenly, i am without a word to say.
WRA: You can see and feel more clearly the real state of the Philippines when you are out of the country. From the perspective of where I am right now, its quite disheartening. Leaving the country will only compound the problems in tragic proportions. Besides, the exodus presents a very bad image of the country to the rest of the world.