As humans evolved from hunter to farmer to factory worker, little thought was given to the fate of the seemingly endless resources of mother earth. Only at the end of the 19th century, when the horrors of the industrial revolution could no longer be hidden from view, were environmental concerns finally given voice in the public forum.

    Today, we literally sit on the precipice of a new age, an area of information and technology. On the surface this appears to be an epoch with a gentler impact on the blue marble we call home. In some corners, one can almost hear a sigh of relief from mother earth as more land and waterways are cleaned, and natural habitats restored. While the balance has yet to be found, innovative approaches are being explored in an attempt to merge development and environment.

    But scratching through the surface, we see that the economic benefits derived from the info techno revolution have been decidedly asymmetric. The least developed countries have clearly missed this new wave, and survival remains a primary motivating factor for tens of millions. Environmental pronouncements ceremoniously spewed from the printing presses of the developed nations are of no significance to the subsistence farmers of the Amazon basin and the Mindanao jungles. And yet the message of ecological responsibility does ring true. The great dilemma for the less developed nations is that ecological preservation seems hopeless when cast against the stark needs of survival.

    F. Scott Fitzgerald, writing at the time of the Great Depression, made a most profound observation that is quite relevant to this discussion. The economic situation, he noted in his day, would suggest that things were quite hopeless. Banks and business were failing, droughts were turning fields into deserts, and there was nothing on the horizon to suggest that economic growth would again be realized. Against this backdrop he defiantly wrote, "One should be able to see that things are hopeless, and yet be determined to make them otherwise."

    It was a grand conundrum that Fitzgerald proposed some 70 years ago in the framework of an economic depression. It is his same grand conundrum that you must surmount today in the context of the ecological resurrection of your islands, and the ubiquitous resurrection of your nation. Your challenge is to hold completely opposed ideas in your mind at the same and still function; you must recognize that things are hopeless, and yet be determined to make them otherwise.

    The American President Franklin Roosevelt looked out over his nation at the outset of World War II. An unprepared America was sticking its collective toes in hot and turbulent international waters. You have nothing to fear, he said, but fear itself. His admonition echoes through the ages to all peoples at all times. He speaks from the dust you and to me - we have the ability within us to improve our environment, to raise our standard of living, to increase the quality of our lives. It is time for you as Filipinos to step up to the plate, to take responsibility and achieve your own manifest destiny.

    I sense that many young Filipinos do not believe in their ability to achieve this end, for a variety of reasons, but that is simple not true. Know that collectively, you have the ability to develop new and better responses, unique and creative alternatives, imaginative and ingenious options. The great dilemmas of our day do not have singular solutions, but the solution do share a singular dimensions a need for you and me, collectively to respond and not wait for someone else, for some outside force, to intervene. We must, as we read in Hamlet, take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them.

    Great challenges lay ahead, for your nation and mine. There are reefs to be saved and people to be fed, forests to be protected, life in all forms to be preserved, and rights to be wronged in many spheres. In your contemporary quest of that which is great and good, more will be asked of you than has been asked of any generation of Filipino. I wish you well in your endeavors as you extend the limits of your abilities through collective creativity, and will watch with excitement as you stretch your abilities and actively take a more prosperous and stable role in the world arena.