Achieving Economic, Ecologic Balance
(Original)

Ramon Lorenzo Luis Rosa Guinto
(Age 20, The Philippines)
University of the Philippines Manila - College of Medicine

As I write this proposal, the price of gasoline here in the Philippines is almost 60 pesos a liter, while a kilo of our staple rice costs more than a US dollar. Yesterday, my community medicine professor told me that around 11 million Filipinos today are earning less than a dollar everyday. Likewise, our country just survived a massive typhoon last week, killing hundreds of people and destroying properties and habitats, particularly in the rural countryside. This is in addition to myriad other environmental challenges such as chemically polluted rivers and highly deforested watersheds.

Today, an imbalance of unprecedented scale between economic and ecologic factors is hurting my people. While international organizations and developed nations are actively responding to threats of climate change, developing societies such as mine have to continuously struggle with rising prices of commodities, scarce educational and employment opportunities, and ultimately, abject poverty. Furthermore, whereas climatologists say that our nation’s carbon footprint is negligible compared to those caused by United States and other industrialized countries, the Philippines is definitely not exempted from serious environmental threats, the major of which is the intensifying proliferation of garbage along streets, across rivers, and in dumping sites. Analyzing this two-fold crisis, it is surprising to discover that both words – “economy” and “ecology” – are derived from the Greek oikos which means “home.” My country, MY HOME is in dire need of doable, efficient, and sustainable solutions to our dismal situation.

Sometimes, we think that huge problems require gargantuan answers – international agreements, neo-liberalization policies, etc. But when big solutions become inadequate, smaller but multitudinous ones can be considered and applied. In my perception, the enormous disparity brought by economic insufficiency and ecologic destruction can be addressed with small, focused, community-based initiatives.

What I thought of is a comprehensive waste management program that will tackle both the garbage and livelihood problems among rural Filipinos. Unlike existing conventional methods wherein mixed domestic wastes are collected by trucks and transferred to government-owned landfills, this program aims to encourage participation among households – from segregation and composting to production of goods made of recyclables.

The process begins with village dwellers, assisted by community organizers from an NGO, convening and discussing together their communal needs and desires. A core group of concerned and passionate leaders and members must be formed to spearhead the program. This team is also tasked to visit and teach every family on how to segregate wastes into biodegradable and non-biodegradable.

Biodegradable ones can be composted in the backyard or village vegetable garden, while recyclables can be transported by families to a materials recovery facility (MRF) established in an unused building or available open space. The organizing team may invite unemployed residents to help separate non-biodegradables into plastics, glass, rubber, paper, and other categories.

Once the materials are sorted, they can be made into goods like hats and decors or sold to recycling facilities. To accomplish this, the NGO can provide handicraft training and help the community forge partnerships with recyclers. Earnings can be used as allowance for volunteers and fund for MRF maintenance. Moreover, those who engaged in organic farming may choose to consume or sell their produce to neighbors, adding savings to families.

What makes this program even more effective than traditional ones is that the community, not the government or any private enterprise, plays the role of owner and manager, fully enjoying its economic and ecologic benefits. The solidarity and dynamism resulting from this “eco-activity” also cannot be underestimated.

When this idea came to my mind, I started searching for a barangay (village) practicing this methodology. Luckily, when I was invited as speaker in an environmental forum, I met a barangay chairman who shared about his village’s experience. His barangay, Sta. Cruz, was one of the poorest and dirtiest, but when the official and his wife mobilized their constituents years ago, the community got rid of its waste problem and even raised a considerable sum of money from bags, baskets, and other crafts hand-made by a group of housewives. For these efforts, the barangay was hailed one of the country’s cleanest by the Philippine Environment Department.

Currently, my father and I are working out to replicate what Barangay Sta. Cruz has achieved. As our village’s chief engineer, my dad already introduced this idea to community leaders and started looking for vacant locations for the MRF. On my part, I prepare write-ups and visual aids for educational campaigns. I fervently pray that our neighbors will see its multibenefits and pledge their support for this collective endeavor before year 2008 ends.