SIMPLE ACTS SAVE THE EARTH
The lights were turned off for an hour last March 31. Cities around the world, including landmarks and offices in Metro Manila, went dark for 60 minutes. Now what?
Of course, the Earth Hour is a commendable event as it raised (once again) the much needed awareness of saving the planet from man’s destruction.
But what must we do next? What can we – as an individual, a member of a community, or a decision-maker – do to save the environment?
A lot of people will be surprised but it does not take much. You don’t have to be rich, well-connected, or influential to help save the environment. A simple lifestyle change – such as refusing single-use straw in your softdrink – can go a long way.
There are a lot of things that one can do. In the social media world where listicles are prevalent, lists of this-andthat to save the earth are plenty. In reality, there is no dearth in knowledge, only a shortage of action. Though being an “online warrior” is in vogue these days, it is a totally different experience to actually join a cleanup drive, to plant seeds of native trees, or to listen to true eco warriors explain how land reclamation can endanger biodiversity.
For inspiration, one does not have to look to foreigners or refer to international organizations. Filipinos have demonstrated time and again that they can rise up for the planet, and say, enough is enough.
A decade ago, eminent eco crusader Odette Alcantara passed away. But she has deeply planted the seeds of environmentalism that her advocacies and words continue to reverberate to this day. At the same time 10 years ago, an environment lawyer by the name of Antonio A. Oposa Jr. received the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Award for his passionate advocacy to enforce environmental laws.
A lot of people, especially the millennials, are not aware that the drive to clean Manila Bay did not just start with the current administration. In the late 90s, Oposa discovered that the raw sewage of Metro Manila – about 16 million liters a day – was being dumped in Manila Bay.
In Oposa’s book Shooting Stars and Dancing Fish, he wrote: “Nine out of the 10 things found by fishermen in the harbor were just garbage like plastic, rubber slippers, Styrofoam, etc. Manila Bay was being used as a garbage can and toilet bowl.”
After 10 years of litigation, from January 1999 to December 2008, the Supreme Court ordered all the defendant government agencies (around 11) to clean up Manila Bay.
In the book, Oposa detailed the arduous process and logistical nightmare when the case went through the judicial mill and concluded with the Supreme Court decision. Amidst weariness, Oposa remembered asking Alcantara these questions: “Tita Odette, what am I doing? Am I doing right?” To that, Alcantara answered: “Don’t worry Tony, a lawyer who defends the Earth has God for a client.”
Now, in 2019, one does not have to drag one’s feet to court to fight for the environment. To help ease the burden on the planet, it is easy if one can change his or her lifestyle and mindset.
In a foreword written by Oposa for a book, he wrote: “Studies have shown that if we all – eight billion of the world’s population – lived the highly-consuming lifestyle of an average American, we will need the resources of nine Earths. Last time I checked, we only had one. Thus, we need to stop copying the lifestyle of the Western world. In fact, we should not only aim to reduce our wastes, rather our goal must be to completely remove it from our mental vocabulary. There are not enough sources of life that we can afford to waste.”
With all the reminders and information available, there is no excuse to waste our finite resources. To start, one must have the discipline.
“The most basic element of nation-building is discipline. And the most basic form of discipline is cleanliness of self and of surroundings. For after all, how can we dream of a clean country if we continue to throw away paper that came from trees, plastic sachets from fossil fuels, and other materials that came from the bowels of the Earth?”
And as a final reminder, Oposa has these words on how to start a green journey – “Waste in all its forms must be stopped, full stop.”
Indeed, in a world where environmental challenges seem so overwhelming, the easiest way for all of us to have a large impact is to reduce our individual waste, once and for all.