GOING BEYOND THE HOUR
Celebrating successful ecological initiatives in the Philippines
Today, the world will once again switch off the lights for Earth Hour, an annual event wherein several cities around the globe show their commitment to combating climate change and preserving the planet.
For the past 10 years, Earth Hour has successfully created greater awareness on the need to reduce emissions from fossil fuels that harm the planet and about the crucial role we play in reducing such emissions.
Nevertheless, the success of Earth Hour goes beyond turning off non-essential lights for an hour once a year. The larger goal of preserving our planet’s ecological balance for the benefit of future generations require more sustainable actions that have far-reaching and more significant impact.
It is for this reason Earth Hour began encouraging participants in 2011 to conceptualize and execute activities that “go beyond the hour,” meaning, activities that contribute more to the larger mission of the event aside from just turning off the lights. This endeavor is symbolized by the logo “60+” to highlight Earth Hour’s shift from being an annual lights-out event into a global movement with comprehensive approaches to achieving its goals.
The Philippines is one of the most active Earth Hour participants. Every year, the number of Philippine cities joining in the annual lights shut off increases and the country was even named an Earth Hour Hero Country from 2009 to 2013. With Earth Hour shifting to endeavors that go beyond the hour, the Philippines also followed suit with several non-government organizations launching respective projects that help care for the environment and reduce the adverse impacts of climate change. SOLAR LOLAS POWER AETA HOMES
One endeavor that goes beyond the hour comes from the unlikeliest of places — an Aeta village in Subic, Zambales. Here, 52-yearold grandmother Evelyn Clemente teaches fellow Aetas how to assemble a solar lamp out of materials supplied by non-government organization Women in Resource Development Inc. (DIWATA). Because their village has no access to the electricity grid, the village folk used assembled lamps to light up their home. One might wonder where Clemente learned how to assemble solar lamps, considering her limited educational background. She was one of five grandmothers from different Aeta villages in Zambales and Tarlac that DIWATA sent to Rajasthan, India in 2014 to study in Barefoot College, an educational institution that seeks to teach illiterate and unskilled individuals to make and use technology that can benefit their respective communities.
Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010, founded the college in 1972. In the past 40 years, the college has already trained more than three million people from rural and depressed areas in developing countries, enabling them to acquire employment opportunities for the modern world.
At the college, Clemente and the other Aetas learned various skills that became useful to the villages. They learned how to make solar-charged controllers, solar lanterns and solar mobile phone chargers, as well as other products like mosquito nets and sanitary napkins from biodegradable materials.
Upon returning to the Philippines, Clemente and her fellow Aetas — now dubbed the Solar Lolas — were given the task of sharing their acquired knowledge to their respective village folk. Such skills have enabled remote, underprivileged communities to enjoy ecofriendly and sustainable lighting that does not emit carbon emissions. TEACHING BETTER FISHING SKILLS
Climate change is drastically changing the condition of the world’s oceans. With rising temperatures brought about by the greenhouse effect, the world’s oceans are becoming more acidic, thus making them more inhospitable to a variety of fish species and other animal life.
This poses a grave threat to the livelihood of the world’s fisherfolk who are already reeling from the adverse effects of overfishing in the past few decades. With 85 percent of the fishers in the Philippines being small-scale fishermen, the more they stand to become greatly affected by climate change.
To alleviate the problem, conservation group Rare International has adopted 12 communities in the Philippines to become part of their global program called “Fish Forever.” While program does not directly tackle the growing problem of climate change, it tackles and eliminates the other bigger threat to fisherfolks’ livelihood: overfishing.
Through Fish Forever, Rare International empowers fishing communities to become stewards of their own sustainable and productive fisheries. The group teaches local fishermen how to establish fish sanctuaries in their community, and provides them with the necessary know-how that will be helpful in monitoring and protecting their sanctuaries. In that way, the community can be assured of plentiful fish stocks once fishing season arrives.
But more than creating an environment that could produce more fish to catch, Rare International also teaches fisher folks how to become responsible fishers. They are taught various sustainable fishing techniques that do not harm the health of fish sanctuaries, enabling them to continue providing fish for decades to come. They are also taught to report the use of illegal
fishing methods to their local government. As such, all fisherfolk in the community can equally reap the blessings from the ocean. ONE HIKE TO CLEAN OUR MOUNTAINS
Hiking in the Philippines has experienced resurgence in recent years. It’s common to see adventure-seeking millennials going on hikes to the nearest mountains during the weekends. The advent of social media has made organizing such hikes easier, with various Facebook pages offering all-in packages for various hiking destinations.
But the popularity of hiking trips has also posed a threat to our mountains. Many hikers leave all sorts of trash: plastic and glass bottles, paper plates, plastic eating utensils, soiled wet wipes, plastic wrappers, cigarette butts, among others.
The accumulation of garbage in our mountains poses a serious health risk to the wildlife. Animals such as birds can mistake colorful wrappers as food, which could kill them when ingested. In the dry season, hiking activities could also inadvertently cause forest fires that can destroy acres of rainforest and kill large numbers of wildlife in a matter of days, such as what happened in Mount Apo in Davao del Sur in 2016.
To avert such destructive scenarios brought about by irresponsible hiking practices, Gideon Lasco of PinoyMountaineer.com, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and various mountaineering societies and hiking clubs organized the first National Mountain Clean-up Day on May 10, 2014. Held in over 50 mountains and other sites in the country, the event gathered thousands of volunteers to pick up litter, demolish man-made structures, and remove vandalism from trees and other areas in the designated mountain sites.
The National Mountain Clean-up Day has since become an annual activity in the country and has helped reduced the number of manmade waste accumulating in our mountains. The event has also created greater awareness about the importance of Leave No Trace ethics during hiking activities, something that every mountaineer and hiker should be aware of.
From mountains to seas, the Philippines proves that it is up to the challenge of going beyond the hour for Mother Earth. As another Earth Hour is set to happen tonight, may we continue to be inspired to create and implement more sustainable and helpful projects that protect and preserve our natural environment, so that future generations can still see and appreciate its sheer beauty and benefit from it.