Wood-burned charcoal is very used nowadays. It lights houses, buildings, and streets; offers domestic and industrial heat; and powers most equipment and machinery used in homes, offices, and factories. Coal is the most abundant source of electricity worldwide. In the Philippines, it serves as a safety crutch in its quest for energy security. 

However, the constant use of wood for charcoal becomes a major problem for many. Even though it is available it has never been cheap, clean, and renewable. Since it is a natural resource, many people are afraid that due to the growing population it will not sustain the necessary supply or rather many more trees will be needed to cut down.

There are skilled people who cut down trees, burn them, and bwala, they will now have charcoal, also known as “uling”. This job might be a great opportunity for them to earn, however, it has many consequences like…

• Flood
• Deforestation 
• Hampers ecological balance
• Bushfire or Wildfire
• Burning woods can cause negative effects on our environment. In fact, wood-burning is the major source of particle pollution in some places.
• Climate Change
• Animal Extinction
• and if things get worse, there’s a possibility that the entire human being and all living things will be wiped out on the face of the earth.

Yes! Burning trees to produce charcoal has a huge impact in our environment. And based on our research, pagkakaingin is more dangerous than logging. 

Sadly, not everyone can afford gas to sustain their everyday needs. Don’t worry!  As a Senior High School Student from the GAS strand, we want to help you and our Nature to breathe. Me and my teammates researched some information on how we can have coal without cutting down trees, and here's what we came up with.

 - Switching to Charcoal Briquettes could save us from CUTTING TREES and could be a possible solution to all these environmental dilemmas because charcoal briquettes have a higher practical thermal value and much lower ash content (2-10% compared to 20-40% in coal).

ADVANTAGES OF CHARCOAL BRIQUETTES

• they are 40% more efficient, hotter, and longer-lasting than Firewood.
• we will not need to cut trees to produce charcoal, and in return soil erosion, floods, and imbalance in nature will decrease.
• It has higher thermal value because the moisture content of charcoal briquette is much lower than lump charcoal.
• It's free from chemicals and features long-time burning, smokeless and flavorless.
• more importantly, it could be made from recycled agricultural waste like cotton wastes; cassava peels; sugarcane bagasse, corn bagasse, and water hyacinth and is natural and always available.

Things to know about charcoal briquettes:

1. Briquettes can help re-purpose waste
   Briquettes fit nicely into circular bio-economy approaches that aim to reduce waste and spur more sustainable bioresources.
   
   
2. Briquettes offer multiple ecological benefits
   The use of briquettes also has the potential to preserve forests.
   
   
3. Briquette production can be profitable
   Briquette making requires machinery, which is easy to obtain but is costly. But once the business is established, there is profit to be made.

Charcoal briquettes not only solve our problem in finding a cheaper, cleaner, and sustainable source of energy but it could eventually help the community create more jobs. The community leaders could establish a business in charcoal briquette for all jobless men and women members of the community.

In this way, we could stop deforestation and begin the healing of our ecosystem by enabling an immediate energy transition towards clean and cheap renewable energy that could also give the community an opportunity for a better, safe, and sustainable energy resources. 

Charcoal from woods is very used nowadays and we cannot easily stop using it, however, we can change the process of producing it. Changing charcoal production is our best chance to conserve wildlife and defend the rights of forest communities. And BY SIGNING THIS PETITION, WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE!


For more information about this petition, you can visit our Facebook page All About U-ling | Facebook . 
And if you are wondering who we are and what is GAS strand, you can visit this link.