Walking the talk in our journey to sustainability

Ill-advised”. That is the word that immediately registered in my mind on the highly publicized presence of the president in the inauguration of a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Davao.

Had the inaugural picture, splashed in major dailies, been taken three, two or even one decade back—when many of the citizens in the world did not know or realize the deadly toxic impacts of coal in our lives and the planet, and we did not have the multilateral commitments backed by voluminous scientific data and the strong legal environmental right protection—then that image of a seemingly harmonious government-and-business relationship would not have created huge ripples of negative reactions from many concerned sectors.

Fortunately, we know better, “we” referring to a growing number of us who know that our fossil fuel-based economy and lifestyle are driving this planet to the unprecedented anthropocene era when humans are overwhelming nature and are now compelled to face the deadly consequences. Fostering coal and fossil fuel dependency is clearly not taking the smart road to sustainability. It is even a violation of our Constitution which guarantees everyone’s right to a healthful and balanced ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.

Being the president of the one of the ten most highly impacted countries in the world by climate change (who in the world does not know Supertyphoon Haiyan/Yolanda as the strongest typhoon to hit land and crippled the affected communities, some even until now?), his presence was another big letdown in mainstreaming a clean energy revolution here and elsewhere.

Inaugurating coal power plants seems to be a favorite presidential activity. He was in Cebu in June 2011 for the inauguration of the new coal power plant in Naga, amid the controversial indiscriminate dumping of hazardous coal ash that was taking place in Cebu.

It is not as if he has no mandate to seriously enforce our vast arsenal of world-class environmental laws in the first place. Being the president, his duty is to obey the Constitution and ensure the implementation of our Renewable Energy Law, Climate Change Law, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act and a plethora of environmental laws enacted to protect the citizens and the environment.

A month after the euphoria of the COP21 accord reached in Paris where he even spoke, was he fully conscious of the repercussions to him and the country in this continuing and inconsistent love affair with this major climate change driver called coal? The Philippines is the chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (V20), a partnership among 20 developing countries highly vulnerable to the disastrous effects of climate change. V20 advocates to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level by 2100, to be included in the climate agreement in COP21.

President Aquino is the chairperson of the Climate Change Commission (“Commission”), which naturally did not lift a finger to stop the estimated 30 or so coal power plant applications approved under his administration. The commission is proving to be a white elephant in the room. Has it created positive and strong impact to address climate change since its establishment?

Since so much is at stake in the country’s urgent response and concrete action to the climate crisis, there should be a completely autonomous and functioning commission, free from the clutches of politics and business-as-usual mind frame. We need a highly credible institution with bold and courageous commissioners to boot, and a chairperson who is not the president.

Exemplary local government units, although still a handful, like Albay under Gov. Joey Salcedo, provide a ray of hope.

The province declared itself as a coal-free zone. That is sending a strong message to all that it is aware of the toxic impacts of coal to the integrity of natural ecosystems and the environmental, social and economic costs to the constituents. The province clearly prioritizes sustainability as the framework for development. It might be the first province in the country to frame a Sustainable Development Guidebook, a road map for resiliency for both people and ecosystems to adapt and minimize climate and environmental challenges.

Cebu, when will you awaken? Allowing more coal power plants, and one proposed in a protected seascape at that, seems like a perfect recipe for further ecological disasters, considering further that the LGUs have not crafted the assorted plans for sustainable growth and resiliency required by our environmental laws.

Sen. Loren Legarda knows where she speaks in urging our government to walk the talk in the climate issue. She declared that “The Philippines is contradicting itself when it says it wants a strong agreement in climate change yet is allowing the proliferation of new coal power plants. Effectively, by such proliferation we are contributing to our own destruction and we lose the high moral ground as we call on other parties to reduce emissions.” (https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/697333/legarda-slams-coal-plant-projects)

The ongoing battle to drastically cut the carbon concentration in the atmosphere and restore our degraded ecosystems, by reducing and eventually stopping fossil fuel use, should be everyone’s crusade.

It is not a passing fad; it is a fight for our survival.