Responding to the Cry of the Earth: The Use of Willingness-to-Pay Methodology for Assessing Environmental Policies and Programs

This essay examines public support and individual preferences for green finance through the lens of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ and his exhortation to respond to the cry of the earth. Green finance focuses on fostering environmental sustainability and is closely aligned with the themes of caring for our common home and responding to the cry of the earth. However, green finance needs funding to address the exigencies of climate change and is currently facing a climate funding gap. One innovative strategy to close this gap posits the robust use of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes, which can estimate the environmental effects and costs/benefits of proposed projects. These assessments can better inform policy decisions and project evaluations, as well as guide resource and budgetary allocations. Notably, these assessments are not limited to environmental initiatives and extend to any project or business venture with potential environmental implications. EIA decision-making necessitates understanding individual preferences, and specifically the value placed by the public on environmental goods and services. In this context, willingness-to-pay (WTP) methodologies offer a novel valuation technique for assessing the monetary value individuals place on goods and services, such as clean air and water, which lack market prices. Incorporating WTP into cost-benefit analyses can help policymakers evaluate the feasibility of environmental policies and interventions. These WTP estimates can provide guidelines for budgetary allocations for green financing and can also be useful in assessing the optimality of existing environmental regulations and policies. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the potential of WTP as a tool for addressing the climate funding gap. To this end, several studies that utilized this methodology were surveyed. Additionally, this essay explores how WTP methodology aligns with the principles of Laudato Si’, translating ethical advocacy into actionable, multi-stakeholder approaches for sustainable development

Seeking Paradise in Early Twentieth-Century Mindanao: The Philippine Experience of Vic Hurley

Vic Hurley worked in Mindanao in the interwar years. In this article I examine two of his nonfiction books, Southeast of Zamboanga (1935) and Men in Sun Helmets (1936). These books demonstrate how the discourse of tropics as paradise motivated Americans and Europeans to become colonialists. They also provide an example of why white settler colonialism failed in Mindanao, a failure that consequently enabled the rise of a Manila-based Filipino elite. Hurley’s depiction of colonialists not as heroes but as exiles also demonstrates the strengthening of a discourse that sought the separation of Filipinos and Americans based on supposedly fundamental racial differences

Assessing the Performance of GSMaP and IMERG in Representing the Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in the Philippines during the Southwest Monsoon Season

The Philippines faces the challenge of having a limited number of rain-gauge stations, which are a vital source of observation data. Satellite-based precipitation data is a viable alternative; however, it is necessary to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these products over various regions in the Philippines. This study analyzes the performance of two leading products from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, namely: GSMaP_G v08 and IMERG_F v07. In particular, the diurnal cycle of precipitation in the Philippines during the southwest monsoon season (May to September) from 2013 to 2018 is assessed, in terms of precipitation amount (PA), frequency (PF) and intensity (PI), which has not been done in previous works. Results show that GSMaP_G outperforms IMERG_F in capturing the diurnal cycle for PA and PF, whereas IMERG_F better captures PI as GSMaP_G tends to underestimate PI consistently. In terms of timing, peak values for PA (PPA) and PF (PPF) have similar patterns for both station data and satellite products where these events develop during the afternoon to evening hours (15 to 18 Local Standard Time). Further examination of the possible drivers of these observed patterns suggests that for both station data and IMERG_F, short-duration events have the highest frequency contribution (≥ 60 %), while GSMaP_G has higher contribution (≥ 40 %) from long-duration precipitation events. However, in analyzing the contributions where intensity is considered, both station data and satellite products were observed to be dominated by short-duration light precipitation events (≥ 60 %). These results indicate that during the southwest monsoon season in the Philippines, the main drivers for PA and PF are short-duration light precipitation events, whereas PI may be driven more by localized rain showers. This may indicate that GSMaP_G is more suitable for examining hourly precipitation events that are more frequent but have a lower intensity, whereas IMERG_F may prove to be more useful when analyzing hourly precipitation events with higher intensities such as localized rain showers

Pain, Pleasure, Preference: “Consider the Lobster” andDilemmas of Animal Narratives

dearth of intervention when addressing these issues. Anchoring on decolonial feminism an

Ricœur’s Ethical Philosophy: Becoming Oneself as Another

This philosophical précis elucidates on key concepts surrounding Paul Ricoeur’s “little ethics.” The notes focus on the relationship between ethics, morality, and practical wisdom, on the one hand, and the self, the near Other, and the Third, on the other hand. These are the concepts that will allow us to understand Ricoeur’s notion of the “capable human being.

Sacred Paradoxes: Embracing the Divine Tension of Tradition and Innovation in the Synodal Journey

As stated in the Final Document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the call to synodality marks a decisive moment in the Church\u27s journey toward renewed ecclesial life because it was a moment of “consultation of the People of God”1as seen in the Acts of Apostles (Acts 15:1-35). Listening to the people of God (sensus fidei)2 also means listening to the Holy Spirit as a community (Acts 1:15-26;2:1-13;6:1-7;10:1-48;15:1-35). Therefore, “the Synod on Synodality is articulated from the teachings of the early Church. Consequently, the synod provides a great understanding of the essence of communion and the mission of the Church in modern society.

Utilization of Different Protein Sources and Intestinal Histology in Yellowtail Snapper, Ocyurus chrysurus

Yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) is a marine snapper of the family Lutjanidae that has potential as a mariculture species and as a research model for Lutjanid snapper species, since it is relatively easy to spawn and rear. Hence, there is an interest in identifying the appropriate diets for its culture. The utilization of practical diets and their effects on fish growth performance and body composition are currently poorly understood. To study the effects of practical diets for yellowtail snapper with different protein sources, such as fishmeal (F), poultry meal (P), and soybean meal (SBM), a 14-week growth trial was conducted in juveniles with a mean initial weight of 2.03 ± 0.06 g. The trial included a dose-response in replacing fishmeal with poultry meal (F30, F15:P15, P30, and F15:SMB40), which were formulated to have 40 % protein and 10 % lipid levels. Histological measurements of the distal intestine mucosal length, thickness of the mucosa, lamina propria, submucosa, and serosa, as well as in the histological scoring of the lamina propria folds, connective tissue, and large vacuoles showed no significant differences (p \u3e 0.05) among fish fed F30, P30, and F15:SMB40. Results show no adverse effects on growth performance and intestinal histology in yellowtail snapper juveniles when they were fed diets containing low levels of different protein sources and high levels of soybean meal. While diets containing high levels of fishmeal as protein source were best, the results of this study indicate that yellowtail snapper can be grown effectively (i.e. with no significant enteritis or decreases in growth performance) using diets containing a variety of different protein sources allowing for potentially decreased grow-out feed costs and improved overall economic production efficiency

Impact of Primary Care Benefits on Healthcare Utilisation and Estimated Out-of-pocket Expenses in Urban, Rural and Remote Settings in the Philippines

Background This study aimed to determine the effects of primary care interventions on healthcare utilisation and estimated out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses in selected urban, rural and remote settings in the Philippines. Methodology Context-specific measures relating to expanding healthcare provider networks, augmenting the health human workforce and subsidising transportation costs were implemented to strengthen primary care systems. In this study, two key outcomes were monitored: (1) monthly healthcare utilisation measured by the total number of outpatient consultations per site and (2) change in OOP expenses from baseline to endline within a 1 year study period. Results All sites had a positive trend in monthly outpatient consultations in healthcare utilisation over 1 year. The remote site had the steepest increase in outpatient consultations, with a 401% increase compared with the baseline during the peak of consultations at month 7. The urban site had a 62% increase in outpatient consultations from baseline to month 6, while the rural site had a 251% increase from baseline to month 11, which corresponded to the peak month in terms of the number of outpatient consultations. The rural site had the largest decrease in estimated OOP expenses (50.3% reduction, 95% CI -88 to -13), followed by the remote site (33.2% reduction, 95% CI -67,+1) and the urban site (16.0% reduction, 95% CI -65,+33). Conclusion The rural site showed a significant reduction in estimated OOP expenses and an increase in healthcare utilisation. The remote site had the steepest increase in utilisation, but the reduction in estimated OOP expenses was not statistically significant. The urban site experienced the lowest increase in utilisation, and the smallest reduction in estimated OOP expenses, which was also not statistically significant. Implementing primary care benefits will necessitate contextualised approaches to avoid the inadvertent aggravation of inequities in healthcare