It is alarming to see a growing detachment from nature especially among settlers and children living in urbanized areas. News reports on grave issues impacting the environment do not merit even a cursory glance for many, more so concerned pleas to authorities for positive actions.
A clear example is the issue on waste management. As consumers, we utilize resources and all kinds of goods: biodegradable, recyclables and those which contain hazardous substances such as batteries, lamps, plastic and the growing tons of electronic wastes like cell phones and computers. These have components extracted from nature but which we do not realize when we see the finished goods.
Each stage of the production and manufacturing process and our behavior as consumers have cataclysmic effects on our vastly threatened life support system.
How many of us are aware that some of the fish in our table were illegally harvested, that 10 of the 13 grounds in the Philippines are overfished and 80 percent of fishing areas in the world are already in critical state? Do we know that non-targeted species of fish, turtle, dolphins and other marine resources, known as by catch, are thrown back into the sea, in areas where there is strict enforcement and monitoring of fisheries?
Are we bothered that the electricity that powers homes and industries come from coal power plants that not only emit polluting carbon dioxide in the air and aggravates climate change impacts but also produce hazardous coal ash, some of which end up in our seas, riverbanks and near schools and homes?
Are we conscious of the fact that the plastic sachets, batteries, diapers and cigarette stubs contain toxic substances that should not be burned but must be disposed in a special waste treatment facility that complies with the strictest of standards? Yet, not a few of them end up in our streets, waterways and oceans and caused the death of birds and mammals that ingest them, thinking they are food.
We live in an era where technology is looked upon as the answer to almost everything, triggering even a mindset that it can replace nature. While indeed it has made life easier, a big tool for assessing the state of our forests and even monitoring movements in the seas, it is not only sheer folly to think so, it is dangerous and has led us to the unprecedented climate crisis that envelops our world.
Proponents of waste-to-energy (WTE) technology, which are waste incinerators in disguise, are again visibly active despite our admirable laws on environmental and climate protection, including the incineration ban.
The infatuation for quick fixes amid the national and local governments’ glaring failure to comply with RA 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law, is lamentable. As a frequent recipient of calamities, we sadly still refuse to connect the ecological and climate dots.
Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino is seemingly convinced that WTE technology can solve the garbage crisis as shown by his recent pronouncements. But does it?
As all “wastes” becomes fuel under WTE, it is saying goodbye to the sustainable way of reduce, reuse, recycle and compost – the basic method that RA 9003 requires from each citizen, especially the implementors.
The waste pickers will lose their only source of income which generations of their family have relied upon. The millions of tons of wastes required by WTE facilities will strip hundreds of thousands of them from their only source of livelihood.
It will require transportation of waste materials from one jurisdiction to the next. We still face the problem of the garbage imported from Canada. Does it mean we will become an open city for trash from all over the world?
Then, there is the climate and health consequence. Any form of burning causes increased carbon emission in an already carbon-overloaded world which is responsible for the climate crisis and the health and environmental woes of communities.
The burning leaves toxic by-products like hazardous lead, mercury, cadmium containing ash which again requires a well-managed disposal facility and of course the consent of the host community to operate, aside from possibly contaminating the air, the land, rivers, seas and our water sources.
Education and enforcement are our only way out of the stinking garbage mess we have put ourselves into.
Why can’t we go into massive nationwide campaign in communities, schools, government and public offices and factories on the need to sustainably manage “discards”?
Why can’t we ban throwing of biodegradables into the dumps? Every household and office should feel the shared responsibility of composting the organics. This consist the bulk of the biodegradables and our waste. Community composting areas can be designated. Or, use sacks and paso as receptacles.
Minimize the use of garbage trucks. Decentralize the collection in the barangays of biodegradables and recyclables through the use of the reliable trisikad or kariton.
As ecologically caring consumers, let go of plastic bags and bring your own and consider the packaging.
I am sure you can add to the aforementioned antidotes to the “quick fix” mindset that have contributed to the devastation of our only home planet.
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