Blog Posts on things around us

garbage electricity by gifts in hiding on Apr 16, 2011The world produces so much garbage. The Environmental Protection Agency states that in the US, 220 million tons of garbage are produced each year. This is equal to 6-feet deep 82,000 football fields full of compacted garbage. One thing’s for...

in bloom by gifts in hiding on Sep 26, 2010My mom bought these flowers made of recycled materials at a bazaar. They look better than plastic flowers. I’m trying to find out who made these. My sister said they came from Baguio but she didn’t know the actual name of the shop that...

loofah by gifts in hiding on Aug 20, 2010Before writing this entry, I had always associated the word “loofah” with the scrubber used for cleaning the body.  I never thought it’s the actual english name of a vegetable, and it’s a vegetable I’m very familiar wit...

like death warmed over by gifts in hiding on Jun 27, 2010Crematoriums in Sweden found a sustainable way to cut costs and be environmentally-friendly. After cremating a body, they will be reusing the exhaust produced to keep their building warm, instead of releasing it out into the air. They are also plan...

slick solution by gifts in hiding on May 16, 2010On Aug. 11, 2006, M/T Solar I, an oil tanker, sank near one of the provinces here in the Philippines.  500,000 liters of fuel leaked out of it and into Guimaras Strait.  It damaged marine sanctuaries and reserves, and affected the provinces’...

seeing beauty by gifts in hiding on Jan 11, 2010There’s a kind of beauty that’s obvious to everyone, like the beauty of a rose or the sunrise. I think it’s a rare thing, because it manages to be appealing to most of us. It manages to shine through anything blurring our vision:...

concrete alternatives by gifts in hiding on Oct 12, 2009Aside from shipping containers, people are continually finding other eco-friendly alternatives in building houses.  With all that has been happening– extreme changes in the weather, earthquakes, tsunamis, oil shortage, I think there’s an...

container houses by gifts in hiding on Oct 8, 2009As everyone knows, a huge flood happened here in Manila about a week ago (and there’s another storm up north this week). There were several municipalities hit by typhoon Ketsana: Marikina, Rizal, Pasig and Laguna.  I’m not sure how accu...

a diamond in the rough by gifts in hiding on Oct 4, 2009Did you know that a part of us can be physically transformed into a diamond? Diamonds are created from Carbon and about 18% of our mass is made up of that stuff. It can be extracted from a lock of our hair or from a deceased person’s ashes.

birds on the wires by gifts in hiding on Sep 19, 2009Are there gifts in hiding around us?  Or do we take what we see and create a gift out of it?  Do we find them or make them?  In this picture, Jarbas Agnelli saw music instead of birds.  He translated it into a tune, using the birds as notes and s...