How friendly are you with Nature? Self-Administered Test (True or False, 25 Items)

  How friendly are you with Nature?

Self-Administered Test (True or False, 25 Items)

Man is a recent creature on Earth. If the 5 billion years of the earth’s existence is compared to a calendar (365 days), man came into this world only on the eve of December 30. Man is only one-day old on earth. (True or False)

                                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

                         Living with Nature Art Gallery, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

1. "Going back to nature” means we have to live the lives of our ancestors and renounce our modern living.

2. We can actually transfer genetic materials from one organism to another irrespective of species or class or sub kingdom by means of genetic engineering, resulting in the formation of what we call as GMO.

3. Genetic engineering actually started with Gregor Mendel, the father of the science of genetics and heredity some two hundred years ago.

4. There is no question about a human clone of not having a soul because, the soul of the parents transcend to offspring which is the clone.

5. We live under different ages all at a given time - atomic age, computer age, age of genetic engineering, space age and artificial intelligence (AI) – all rolled into what scientists called the age of postmodernism.

6. “Tailor the land to the crop, and not the other way around,” is a cardinal rule of "treaty between man and nature."

7. Man is a recent creature on Earth. If the 5 billion years of the earth’s existence is compared to a calendar (365 days), man came into this world only on the eve of December 30. Man is only one-day old on earth.

Mini-diorama of a coral reef, made by students in humanities 

with the author as adviser. Former St Paul University Museum QC

8. “Our lives are being run and outrun by science and technology.” This statement is generally true.

9. "Universities without walls" or "distance education" will enable mass education to the grassroots. It will break the cartel or control by elite universities and colleges.

10. Toxic metals abound on land, sea and air – from kangkong to tuna to fowls – unless we control the emission and spread of these toxic metals.

11. Going back to nature is to become a strict vegetarian – giving up animal products. Unless we do this we can’t truly say we have gone back to nature.

12. “Ecological paradigm of salvation” means “we express our love and care to people by protecting nature.” Plant a tree, for example, is reverence to nature and therefore to the Creator; kill a tree and you commit a sin – more so it caused flood and erosion leading to death and destruction.

 Nature in the living room, painting by the author. 

 Courtesy of Mr and Mrs Elmo and Remy Jinenez, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

13. Support and actively participate in movements such as Clean Air Act, Clean and Green, Green Revolution, Carless Day, Car pooling, Biofuel, Saving Endangered Species, Greenpeace, and the like.

14. Convert deserts into woodlands and pasture; empty shorelines into resorts, given the tremendous resources to accomplish such gargantuan task.

15. Petrodollar is the life of the world economy – so that we support the idea that there is plenty of oil yet to be discovered. There should be no letup in tapping these reserves.

16. We should implement stricter laws such as: absolutely no logging (total log ban); impound all smoke belching vehicles; no conversion of agricultural to industrial lands; no hunting of wild animals; and the like.

17. Even without the human species, Planet Earth will continue to “go round” so to speak, in the same way as it did in the last 5 billion years – and perhaps go on for another 5 billion years. We just don’t know what will be the kind of dominant species after us humans.

18. Homesite for the golden years is feasible in the rural as well as in the urban areas; it can be modified according to area, design and structure – but not purpose.

19. It is good to go back to classics without aristocracy, spirituality without religious dogmatism; philosophy without ideological bias; realism without barbarism – to have a better view of life, and a firmer basis of our decision and faith.

20. Science and technology has imprisoned us in many ways – that is why we are not truly happy. We need a direction – a definition of life’s meaning. Logotherapy is as relevant as in a situation where we are kept helpless in a prison camp.

21. Science and technology has actually eliminated the scourge of the human race – disease, poverty and ignorance. Actually we are only begging for more benefits discreetly.

Trivia: Identify this organism.  Answer is found below.

22. Today it takes weeks for man to make diamonds in special oven chambers the size of a washing machine, when it would take nature thousands of years to make one.

23. Reports have been verified of the presence of bromate in sugar, sulfite in wheat flour, nitrate in meat, human hormone in milk, MSG or monosodium glutamate in noodles and viands.

24. Alternative vegetables are not to be recommended because we have barely studied them unlike conventional vegetables.

25. Homeostasis means dynamic balance – Nature’s way of renewal, renaissance, seeking stability as continuing goal. ~

Farm Life mural painted by AV Rotor 

ANSWERS: 1 F, 2T, 3F, 4F, 5T, 6F, 7T, 8T, 9T, 10T, 11F, 12T, 13T, 14F, 15F, 16T, 17T, 18T, 19T, 20T, 21T, 22T, 23T, 24 F, 25T

Rating: 

20 and up - You are indeed friendly to Nature. 
15-19 - Good.  
14 and below - Visit this blog more often. spend more time with nature.

Trivia: Balloon frog, or Tukak bat'ug (Ilk) related to the banded bullfrog (Kaloula pulchra)

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, with Dr Abe V Rotor and Ms Melly C Tenorio Monday to Friday, 8 to 9 evening on 738 DZRB AM Band.  

Listen to the Sea in the City

Listen to the Sea in the City

 Dr Abe V Rotor

A coed listens to the sea with a giant conch at the former SPU-QC museum.

Listen to the sea in the city

hushing in monotony;

of roaring wheels and feet.

on concrete walls and street;

close your eyes to see

yesterday by the beautiful sea,

to fill up emptiness

with make-believe tenderness. ~

Barbed-Wire Figurine Speaks (Article in Progress)

Barbed-Wire Figurine Speaks

Dr Abe V Rotor

Figurine (14" tall) made of barbed wire and tree relics of World War II, artwork by the author 2025

It speaks not of war among brothers as enemies,

but war between man and nature in our midst.

It speaks not of trophies and medals of victory,

but nature's defeat by man's greed and folly.

It speaks not of an arch commemorating honor,

but a crumbling one, of a long forgotten valor.

It speaks of loss of forests, valleys, grasslands,

in their prime in the hands of early humans.

It speaks not of rivers flowing onto the field;

but of yield not enough to meet people's need.

It speaks of Nature as silent as Carson's spring,

at a season the birds would arrive and sing.

It speaks of high-tech, not in simple language,

a program people can understand and gauge.

Tree of Thorns and Rosary Beads (Article in Progress)

Tree of Thorns and Rosary Beads*

On display at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

 "The thorns which I have reap'd are of the tree I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed. I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed," - Lord Byron

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Artwork made of wild thorny cherry and rosary beads 

against a mural background. (5 ft tall)  AV Rotor 2025.  

Dutch Proverb: "Roses fall, but the thorns remain."
French Proverb: "No rose without a thorn."
Turkish Proverb: "Thorns and roses grow on the same tree."
Benjamin Franklin: "He that sows thorns should never go barefoot."

Rumi: "A rose's rarest essence lives in the thorn."

-

* In life, thorns symbolize hardships, challenges, pain, and suffering, contrasting with the beauty of roses (joy/success), teaching resilience, humility, and growth, often representing necessary obstacles that strengthen faith, provide course correction, or test our character, as seen in biblical and philosophical contexts. They signify that struggles make positive moments more meaningful and can be catalysts for spiritual or personal development. AI Overview

Microcosm of the Web of Life

Microcosm of the Web of Life*

Painting on display at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm—a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven." - Charles Darwin

Microcosm of the Web of Life in acrylic patterned after an image 

under the microscope  by the author (23"x24") 2025

Nature is a huge encompassing network: 

    living and non-living in dynamic union

in unending and reversible transformation,

    from Genesis to our time still at work.

God's greatest mystery - peace in diversity,

    from monerans to the highest order;

each indispensable, related to one another 

    in a trilogy: diversity, harmony, unity

 

  Closeup showing the intricate and interconnectedness of the living network. 

Constellation likened to mycelia under the lens, 

    in Gulliver's travel in Lilliput and Brobdingnag

a giant yet dwarf in another world, how sad,

    not to know the meaning of our fifth sense.

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” - Chief Seattle Leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes

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* Microcosm: Derived from Greek words "mikros" (small) and "kosmos" (world or universe), the term signifies a smaller entity that mirrors a larger one.

Pearly Shell Savings Bank

Home Savings Bank Revival, 2026 Resolution

Pearly Shell Savings Bank

On display at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

“The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.” – T.T. Munger

Version of the "piggy bank" (9" height x 9"diameter) made of Green Mussels (tahong) shells, glass marbles. corals and stones, mounted on whole coconut shell. This indigenous piece of art is an expression of evolving art in our postmodern era.  It is a unique school and community project, home decor of recycled materials, and more importantly, it brings to mind the importance of frugality, austerity and "saving for the rainy day" addressed to both the old and young.  

Tradition in the midst of postmodernism;

like earning and saving once inseparable,

now lost in the tender trap of capitalism;

happiness and wealth are incompatible.

Save the values of old before it's too late;

The Ant and the Grasshopper, remember?

Give a touch of art, like resin into amber,

help mold the young for heaven's sake.

Assignment: Why don't you design and make your own version of a "piggy bank"?  Be creative and original.  Make one as a gift to a family member, a friend, or simply a child, and "spread the good word"?      

“Saving must become a priority, not just a thought. Pay yourself first.” – Dave Ramsey

“He who buys what he does not need steals from himself.” – Swedish Proverb

A Walk with Nature - Leisure and Therapy

  A Walk with Nature - Leisure and Therapy

Leisure and therapy. When was the last time you took a nature's trail? Camping in the wood? Walking down the beach? Nature invites you to relax, to find peace of mind - and to be healed. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Teachers on field trip follow nature trail on Mt. Makiling, Laguna

Walking is leisure and therapy when you combine and harmonize your body, mind and spirit with nature. It is an exercise that restores gait and adds strength, and it brings inner peace. The mind becomes sharper; sensitivity is honed. And just like what the Greeks believed to be the fountain of youth, it could be the missing key to “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

They say that to keep yourself healthy and active you must exercise regularly. It is one way to keep yourself fit with their environment. But more than physical fitness, the psyche must be given equal treatment. They must be exercised altogether. And the catalyst is Nature.

This is particularly true to one approaching middle age or old age. It is important to slow down, harmonizing the body and mind. Slow down in the same way jogging comes to the pace of easy walking. Make exercise not as a task but leisure.

To achieve this, first you must condition yourself to
• have peace of mind,
• be positive,
• be keen with nature’s presence and rhythm, and
• remember, it’s your day.

While the body responds to the physical world such as the condition of the road, and presence of people and objects, the mind is keen with the beauty of the surroundings and creates images that only the person concerned personally experiences. Here environment and imagery become one.

Listen to the Songs of Birds
One morning on the grounds of the University of Santo Tomas I heard a Philippine black-headed shrike or tarat or panal (Lanius schach nasutus). Its crispy calls signal the arrival of the Siberian High. It tells of harvest time and kite flying. The chilly air is exhilarating to breathe. Listening to its rhythmic calls, I soon found out that its kin had arrived at the same tree, and soon I became an audience of their concert. I stopped walking to hear and watch them until they moved to another tree.

At one time I saw another bird – pandangera (Rhipidura javanica nigrotorquis), named after its tail that constantly moved and opened like a fan. I searched for it in a nearby fire tree about to shed its leaves, and while it sang and danced, sent showers of yellowing leaves to the ground. Happier and more musical than that of the tarat, it also came with the annual migration of birds as the Northern Hemisphere approached  winter.

What an unusual experience to find these rare creatures in the heart of a crowded metropolis –  indeed a sanctuary in a concrete jungle. To me there is nothing sweeter than recollecting of farm life, giving zest to urban living.

Take time to appreciate the creatures of the air - the epitome of freedom. Watch them soar and ride on the wind. Play hide-and-seek with them among the trees. Listen intently to their songs. Pick up a tune, imitate and put them into notes. Observe their kinship. Search their nests. Birds are among the most beautiful creatures, especially the males. Study their plumage. Marvel at how nature engineered them for flight and arboreal life. Reflect on this, “If I have wings, will I find  freedom and peace?”

Understand the Ways of Nature
While strolling along the water edge of the man-made lake at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, I stopped to rest beside a mudflat where water had earlier receded. Seeds had begun germinating while minute snails combed its the slimy surface, leaving trails glistening in early sunshine. Holes suggested there were creatures living underneath it. And yet the mudflat looked like a wasteland – a paradox, because there was much water around.

Not far away was another mudflat, much older than the first because plants have colonized it and were vigorously competing for sun and space. I saw grasshoppers trapped in spider web, a house lizard stalking for its prey, beneath it was a toad, eyes half open. It was a mini forest of sort.

Taking the same route in the weeks that followed, the bare mudflat turned into greenery, while the older mudflat become part of the lakeshore which was to become part of its bank. I pondered on the gradual transformation of the mudflats every time I took the same route.

The ways of nature are mysterious. Learn to adapt to its laws and order continuously and without end. While you will never fully understand them, you will find them useful to living in many ways, enriching it with so many blessings.

Some years ago I wrote a verse and I quote:

“You are alone at your lowest ebb.

At low tide the sea reveals her shore

That bathes under the sun to its edge.

Go to the sea and learn its chore.”

                                       - A.V. Rotor, Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning

Learn the realities of life as may be gleamed from the mudflats – or from the seashore in this poem. You realize that renewal is a fact and is happening everywhere. There is renaissance everyday. The cycle of nature is dynamic aimed at rebirth and stability - so with your life.

The mudflat became part of the shoreline and soon enough, became strong to protect the lake from erosion and siltation. How do we compare this with life? Similarly the foundation of life undergoes an orderly process, seasoned with time, and aimed at a goal. Stop now and then, and reflect on the dynamic evolution of the landscape and life itself.

A Short List for Sharing
How do we share our experiences with others?

Take these practical clues. Take notes and seize the moment. A scribble here, a scribble there will certainly refresh thoughts and memories. They enshrine feelings and capture imagery. Here is a list I made from my observations on the UST campus and while strolling at the Parks and Wildlife Center.

1. I discovered germinating seeds along the sidewalk and under the trees, pale green in the early sun rays, shy and delicate but daring to meet the world. Get close to them and observe the beginning of life.

2. It is the olfactory sense that works this time: the white, clustered flowers of dita (Alstonia scholaris) are most fragrant at dawn and dusk. They are inconspicuous during the day. Stop and smell their fragrance.
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As the mind keeps us up in our work, so does it makes walking with nature an enjoyable experience.
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3. Nymphaea water lilies come in white, yellow, red and purple, and are most beautiful if they come out spontaneously in the same pond. The flowers open slowly with sunrise. Sit down by the pond and observe them. Bees hover and alight on the open flowers, taking time to gather pollen, and kissing the dew and nectar.

4. The fire tree (Delonix regia) casts a dainty veil in the sky. What a contrast with the fire it breathes in summer! Shy, the veil is the finest of all foliage, filtering the morning sunlight into long fine rays converging in the misty air below. Such are the contrasting characters of this tree – one associated with fire and blood, the other of calmness and humility.

5. The traveller’s palm (Ravenola madagancariensis) is supposed to guide a lost traveler, providing him direction and precious water. But the fan-like arrangement of its leaves are in disarray, apparently because it has lost its sense of direction in the crowded garden. How many of us have also lost direction in our lives in crowded cities?

6. A giant African snail (Achatina fulica) leaves a slimy trace during the night, and remains docile during the day. Introduced by the Japanese soldiers during WW II, it has become an orphan and a pest, an enemy of gardeners. What a way to live!

7. A house lizard darts on flies and gnats. Either it is a late or early feeder. For the house lizard is nocturnal and sleeps during the day. But early morning finds them still on their prowl. Creatures have different biological clocks.

8. Balete (Ficus benjamina) – I find it a villain, strangling its host tree with massive prop roots. The parasite uses its host as prop and trellis until it has gained enough body to stand by itself like any tree. Man can be as cruel as the balete. Don’t get within the strangler’s hold of the balete.
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Being a biped is an advantage of man over all other creatures, for at this level we are most keen to what is happening around.

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9. The Philodendron is kinder, it is a soft vine, it snakes up into the branches to catch the sun, its roots clinging on its host, but not harming it. As summer arrives, it retreats, leaving but some stems from which new buds grow the next season.

10. Old camphor trees are as old as two generations, I saw them for the first time I came to Manila in the sixties. They were already mature trees then. Now they senile and dying. It is the polluted air that is killing them. So with the agoho trees (Casuarina equisitifolia). I don’t find the old ones anymore.

Oasis: Fancy or Myth?
It used to stroll at the Sunken garden of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. On a couple of occasions I conducted an on-the-spot painting contest for a summer workshop here. Even during summer this one place remains like an oasis in the desert. It is because it is the basin of the surrounding watershed. The ponds are always full. Ducks are friendly to picnickers, cicadas sing in the trees unafraid, and frogs even croak in the day. Some people throw something in the water, a coin perhaps, wishing for something.

I looked at the calm water. It was perfect mirror. I took a piece of paper and wrote my thoughts.

Tell me your throes,

Worries and woes;

And to the fishes

Your wistful wishes.

I laughed at what I wrote and threw a pebble. Ripples erased my thoughts.

Now and then you look for a “oasis” because there is drought around. Here you feel detached, even while others suffer, even if the world is in trouble. While you prefer the lighter side of life, you can’t remain in the comfort zone of the oasis forever. Otherwise you miss the many challenges of life that bring about its true meaning.

Walking is not a means of escape. It is not one when there is trouble at home, or when we want to evade responsibility. It is not recourse either. You simply can’t reason out, “Sorry it’s time for my leisure.” Even if it is in keeping with good health and groom. There must be something bigger that should aim at.

Keep on walking. Pass through the UST botanical garden, walk on the banks of the Parks and Wildlife lake, and promenade in lush greenery of the Sunken Garden. While you take time in these places, keep on walking into a bigger world to meet people, to share with them the great experience of walking with nature. It is yet the best walk you did on earth. ~

Author walks among pine tree saplings. Tagaytay 2008