Changes in man's consumption patterns key to conservation

CEBU, Philippines - Changes in humanity’s patterns of consumption is key to reversing the trend of overusing natural resources that has eventually led to imbalance in the Earth’s ecosystems.

This was learned in yesterday’s screening of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s documentary film entitled “Home” at the Onstage, Ayala Center-Cebu, which is an ode to the planet’s beauty and its delicate harmony established by nearly four billion years of evolution.

Bertrand, a professional French photographer, captures images of how man’s excessive practices have led to the depletion of water and food sources across 54 countries since humankind learned to grow his own food and invented machines to aid labor and improve productivity.

Unknowingly, the desire for improved machines and tools has slowly backfired with the changes in weather patterns in the last four decades; with the melting of snowcaps of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Himalayas and of continental ice sheets resulting to rise in sea levels.

As the docu-film provided hard data on the environment and resource depletion that humanity has caused on the biosphere, it also gives a positive and encouraging message on the emerging change of attitude that is taking place.

Environmental awareness now centers on reversing the trend of wasteful consumption patterns. Says blogger Dan Kupinski, “human footprint doesn’t end after we buy and consume things; the final impact occurs when we discard items.”

To show how much wastes – plastics, papers, bottles, clothes, cans – hurt the environment, he cited how Americans discard four-fifths of a ton of trash per person, per year.

“Americans generated an average of 250 million tons of trash in the last two years. Our per capita trash disposal rate was 4.6 pounds per person, per day. Sixty-five percent came from residences, while 35 percent came from schools and commercial locations such as hospitals and businesses.”

But because the docu-film would want to emphasize – instead of shocking the world with doomsday scenario - that it’s not yet too late to be optimistic and that within another ten years, certain changes would enable humanity to put mitigation in place and for beneficial use, it has also presented the achievements of harnessing wind energy in Denmark, wind energy technology in various parts of Europe, solar panels in temperate zones, segregation and reduction of solid wastes even here in the Philippines.

In Cebu City for example, barangay Luz is a model of proactive attitude towards dealing with solid waste. Also, SM City-Cebu and Ayala Center-Cebu have both spearheaded the putting up of waste markets where people can earn cash from trash and prevent hazardous items from getting their way into the city’s landfill.

Further, the Cebu provincial government has also set aside funds for the putting up of a Materials Recovery Facility in every barangay in the province. In fact, capital assistance worth P50,000 are up for the barangays while the municipality will be receiving P15,000 per barangay.

Dubbed as D’Gwen Program, for Disposal of Garbage and Waste Enforcement for Nature, the barangays will purchase recycled materials from households using the capital assistance received from the province. The municipalities, in turn, will purchase recycled materials from the barangays using also the capital assistance.

The province, on the other hand, will purchase recycled materials from the municipalities. Under the Solid Waste Management Law, providing for the setting up of an MRF, it mandates that 25 percent of solid waste must be diverted to reuse and recycling; and that composting activities shall be adopted for waste that decomposes and or breaks down.

There are also calls to align building principles with Green Architecture by first providing tax levies and incentives to construction companies that work within the framework of green building. This brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources like using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off.

On top of these moves to save an ailing planet - our very own “Home” - mankind is “simply asked” to fish only what he could eat in a sitting, to think of those arable lands where people have to dig deep down aquifers just to replenish supply and irrigate their fields; to think of the poor countries, for every time they step on the wheel, who also have to pay for the price of greenhouse gas emissions.

Green Resolutions, in fact, campaigned for the making of each year as the year of the planet with small, simple steps like resolving to buy more items in bulk to reduce packaging and waste less money; by switching to natural body care products to reduce the amount of synthetic chemicals to which both the environment and man are exposed; by supporting a ban on single use of plastic checkout bags; by reducing the amount of food waste thrown into the garbage; using recycled office paper for the printer and copier both at home and at work to save trees, water and energy; recycling all printer cartridges to keep these resources out of landfills; shopping locally to travel less and buying locally produced goods so these travel less, thus reducing also the overall contribution to greenhouse gas emissions; and by reducing meat intake by one meal a week to reduce the impact of one’s lifestyle on the environment.

Like partaking in a one-way buffet meal, if we are to serve our plates only with what we can consume, there would be enough for everyone to share; which means leaving sometime for food resources like fish and plants to regenerate.

So are the forests with selective logging and controlled cutting for charcoal purposes; the mountains with sustainable mining; and plenty of other initiatives that could find realization with our adaptation to a communal psyche of “greeniology”. — Maria Eleanor E. Valeros (THE FREEMAN)