Planting small but constant things that will save the world

Gregg Yan has always loved the environment. When he was in college, he counted bats for the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF) as part of the non-government organization’s (NGO) campaign to save wildlife. Not too many years later, he officially joined WWF and went on to become its Information Education and Communications Officer. In between talks to protect the Philippines’ marine biodiversity and papers for WWF, he climbs mountains and plants trees. On one of his recent mountain treks, he was surprised to see around a hundred dying saplings, still in plastic and not planted properly.

Those who planted those saplings surely had good intentions. They probably wanted to help combat climate change, an urgent environmental problem; but they did not do it properly. They probably thought that by planting trees, they are already saving the earth. They had it all wrong.

Climate change?

Today, the problem of climate change is a concept even elementary school students know, but if people fully understand the problem is an entirely different matter.

According to Natsource, a leading provider of asset management, origination and advisory, and research services in global emissions and renewable energy markets, “global warming is the progressive gradual rise of the earth’s surface temperature thought to be caused by the greenhouse effect and responsible for changes in global climate patterns.”

Weather patterns have dramatically changed. The extreme change in the climate pattern of the earth is slowly leading to the world’s demise.

For an archipelago like the Philippines, this threat is very real. There is a chance of our islands disappearing faster because of the sea level rise. True enough, Yan of WWF-Philippines asserts that we’re losing a couple of islands every couple of decades. The Philippines is made up of 7 107 islands but at its highest point, it was around 7 150.

Anna Oposa, a young environmentalist, and daughter of pioneer environmental lawyer and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Atty. Antonio Oposa Jr., laments that our typhoons are getting more frequent and stronger. The erratic weather patterns are affecting our biodiversity and wildlife. Coral bleaching is happening at an alarming rate, which affects the livelihood of fishing communities. Crops are also affected by the confusing weather patterns, and this is problematic for a country like the Philippines, where many people depend on agriculture.

Yan claims that climate change is an overarching problem since most environmental problems ultimately lead to it. However, the real culprit to climate change is actually something else.

What is the culprit, and what now?

Yan blames it on the ballooning population. The Philippine population, for example, is at around 90 million. There is high demand for resources like food and energy but there is low supply. Just the constantly increasing population increases carbon emissions, which already contribute to global warming. WWF, the world’s oldest environmental NGO, considers these facts when they attack the problem of climate change.

First is through climate mitigation where they try to reduce the consumption of power. While he admits that we can’t reduce that much because the population growth is not enough to offset the reduction of power usage, we can still slow it down a bit.

Second is through climate adaptation where WWF helps coastal communities to relocate or build more solid structures for their homes. The philosophy of WWF is if we adapt to what’s to come now, we can save more. “Preserving the quality of life requires thinking ahead,” Yan cautions.

Thinking ahead is also required when doing any large-scale environmental project. “Ask the experts,” as Emmanuel Garcia, chemistry professor at DLSU, would say. Tree-planting is an example. If we plant trees that are not endemic in a certain area, we may be disrupting the habitat of certain species. Tree-planting, if not done right, may be doing more harm than good.

Garcia goes on to criticize fun runs for the benefit of the environment. “These projects make very little impact and require collateral,” he explains. Just recently, the student government of DLSU organized Greenovation for the benefit of One Million Trees and Beyond, DLSU’s advocacy to plant one million trees by 2011, the University’s centennial year. To attract students to join, singlets were given to those who registered.

Making those singlets, which are made of non-biodegradable material, required energy. Whatever funds acquired after the fun run may not be enough to counter the resources that were already used to make those singlets.

Human nature states that to encourage people to join, you need to give something back—a collateral. That’s what the DLSU’s student government did, and they too had it all wrong.

What is right then?

For Nicole Villarojo, Student Council president of DLSU in SY 08-09, you have to consider two things before you organize something for the environment. It has to be habit-forming because through habits, people can decrease their carbon footprint, which is a great solution to climate change. Second, it should be incorporated into policy. Unless it’s integrated into policy, it will only come and go.

These were Villarojo’s principles when she started the “Zero-styro” campaign in 2008. It was this brainchild that made her one of Bayer’s young environmental envoys that year.

She admits that while the “Zero-styro” campaign did not completely happen in one school year, it was already in the consciousness of the students that they were already moving to something bigger.

True enough, this year, all the University canteens are still prohibited from using styro. Students are also prohibited to bring styro inside the campus and are encouraged to bring reusable containers and utensils. This has significantly improved the University’s solid waste management system.

Villarojo gives credit to the administrative support she got for the success of her project. Years after Villarojo’s term as student council president, she has left a legacy in the University because her project had the necessary backbone, the administration.

Abigail Favis, faculty-in-charge of the Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition (AEMC), also lauds the administration of Ateneo de Manila University for its inception of AEMC. Favis regrets that there have been many environmental projects at the Ateneo in the past but these were not united. “It was only until the administration formed AEMC that the environmental initiatives became more consolidated and streamlined,” she says.

AEMC was able to remove disposable food packaging materials in the Loyola Schools cafeteria and provided diners with reusable wares. Everyone was also encouraged to bring their own containers. This has significantly reduced solid waste in their campus.

Both Villarojo and Favis admit that changing the lifestyles of students was not easy. Villarojo can attest that is does not happen overnight. It took “Zero-styro” a couple of years before it has gone full blast. Villarojo and Favis explain that change is difficult because it goes against the culture of convenience that students are used to, but the success of “Zero-styro” and AEMC are proof that students can be convinced.

By changing habits, which are constant, you are able to also constantly counter the negative loop that slowly kills the planet. Since habits sustain themselves, there is no collateral in the process.

People power

Villarojo believes that if the environment-friendly mechanisms are available for people, they will change their ways. After she did her “Zero-styro” campaign at DLSU, De La Salle Zobel, another La Salle school, did the same campaign. The entire city of Muntinlupa, where Zobel is situated, followed suit.

Villarojo’s optimism is echoed by Anna Oposa, a young environmentalist. She believes the best in people. “People really don’t want to pollute; they just don’t know what to do or they don’t where to go to volunteer their skills,” she argues.

For Oposa, anyone and everyone can be an environmentalist. “I also think there are levels of environmentalism; it’s a spectrum. First step is to make better choices. Choose the alternative. Bring your own ecobag, buy refillable pens and ink cartridges, turn off the lights when you’re not using them,” she enumerates. It is these habits that say that being an environmentalist is for everybody.

However, being an environmental advocate is something more than that since it requires influencing others. “Starting with yourself [though] is something anyone can do,” Villarojo quips, and that’s what Oposa does. She has been influenced by her father, a pioneer in environmental law, and now she starts with herself.

As an environmental advocate, her approach is always positive. “I never impose on people and tell them, ‘Do this!’ or ‘Stop doing this!’ People get turned off that way. My approach is, “This is what I do. This is what I love. And when I tell you my story, I hope that you can learn to love this too. And here’s what we can do to work together,” she shares.

The young Oposa is also proof that working for the environment transcends educational backgrounds. It may be a must to consult the experts when organizing projects for the environment but it does not mean that a science degree is required for those who wish to do something.

Anna Oposa is an English major from the University of the Philippines. She is a writer and theater actress. She does her share by blogging about ecotourism and environmental issues, and teaching kids, through the arts, to care for the planet.

Gregg Yan of WWF-Philippines has the same philosophy. “If you’re a Political Science major, be a good environmental lawyer. If you’re a Business major, start a green business. If you’re a communicator, communicate solutions,” he challenges.

The real score

Young environmentalists like Oposa and Villarojo took it upon themselves to do something for the environment. They, together with the many others who refuse plastics when they buy their groceries, bring their own food containers when they go to school and don’t use their air conditioning units when the season is already cold, are saving the environment one learned habit at a time.

This is the private sector working to fight the overarching problem that is climate change. For Yan of WWF-Philippines, this is quick change. Slow change, on the other hand, is on the government’s hands.

The government and the environment are inevitably tied together. It may be easy to get jaded with corruption in the government, but WWF is certain that it is necessary to engage with the national government first.

The government can provide backbone to existing advocacies for the environment and when these advocacies get properly incorporated into policies and laws, the WWF will be helping not just the environment but also the people.

Villarojo believes that just like what happened in the city of Muntinlupa, “if we just do it big enough and consistently enough, and the government decides to really push for it,” change really will happen.

Emmanuel Garcia, a chemistry professor, also stands firm in the government’s role. “People, because of so many other circumstances like poverty, [don’t make the environment] their priority,” he laments, but if the government addresses that problem, it will eventually be capable of addressing other problems like food standards, packaging technology, quality of work force, food security and population growth, which in fact, greatly aggravates the carbon footprint.

The new Aquino administration is young. With just half a year into office, and piles of other problems that have come up, we have yet to see how his government will address environmental issues and problems. One thing is certain.

Last year’s onslaught of the typhoon Ondoy taught the Philippines one thing. It can happen to us. The government eventually has to do something and they can’t have it wrong.

Meanwhile, people can do what always works—plant, not just saplings, but environmentally responsible habits, because those who do that are those who have it right, and if there is any generation who can’t have it wrong, it’s this one.