Folk Wisdom for Growing Up (Summer Workshop Lesson)
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Reduce, Replace, Regulate, Recycle, Replenish, Reserve, Revere
Live close to nature, enjoy her beauty and bounty. In return, reduce pollution, help in the maintenance of well balance ecosystems
1. Reduce
Pollution
management should start at the very source. Thus, the key to managing
pollution should be the reduction of potential waste materials. Before
buying anything, the main question you ask yourself is: “Is it
necessary?” Many of us are enticed by the aesthetics of goods, which
merely attracts us into buying. One strategy which manufacturers and
sellers employ is “over packaging.” A great part of the money we pay
for a commodity goes to its packaging.
Take for example, canned drinks. Two-third of the value of canned cola
goes to the can and advertisement. It is packaging, which amounts to a
large percentage of waste on one hand, and causes the depletion of the
supply of raw materials, on the other. In a study in the United States,
46 percent of the recycled thrash is packaging materials. In both cases,
it is Mother Nature that bears the brunt of pollution and depletion.
2. Replace
As a rule, biodegradable materials – those that disintegrate and
decompose under natural conditions - are environment-friendly, on
condition that they are properly disposed. As much as possible the
manufacture and use of non-biodegradable materials, such as plastics and
related products like nylon, styropore and rayon, must be limited. Some
plastic materials may have a life span that extends up to millions of
years. This means these materials will virtually remain the same – or
until our sun has expanded on its way to becoming a supernova.
Environmentalists in the US and Europe have launched a campaign to
promote products that have the least impact on the environment. In
these regions, citizens boycott establishments like fast-food outlets
that use styropores and plastics.
Fortunately we are currently witnessing the slow return of waxed paper
and paper cups. More and more people are using natural packaging
materials such as banana leaves, rice hay, seaweeds, rice hull, wood
shavings.
3. Regulate
This refers to the need of an effective governance system for waste
management. This case in point is the limited capacity of Metro Manila
Development Authority in handling the gargantuan task of pollution
management next to impossible. The outstanding amount of trash
generated by Metro Manila, a city with 10 million inhabitants, and the
peculiar geophysical, socioeconomic, and its peculiar political setup,
make the task even more formidable.
Cars are the Number One polluters of the Earth
All
over the world, there is need for effective governance in environmental
management. Time and consequence are of the essence as more and more
people are dying or getting sick, and piles of garbage are building up.
Five international conferences on environment have been called, the
first of which was in 1972 at Stockholm, followed by similar summits in
Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro and Kyoto, and lately in Mexico. All failed
to establish a global body that can regulate man’s abuse on nature and
therefore guarantee the health of our planet and that of future
generations.
4. Recycle.
Recycling refers to the process of using a material again and again,
either in its original state or in another form – and perhaps for a
different function.
Durable materials that can be recycled include wood, glass, metal,
concrete, and the like. Bottles, for one, can be used up to three times
over. Concrete is recycled in construction sites, so with steel bars.
Broken furniture can be renovated, so with many home decor. Appliances
are being repaired rather being disposed for new ones. The age of second
hands is here. We find more and more garage sales. Ukay-ukay (UK),
anyone? Kitchen refuse and farm residues are now converted into organic
fertilizer. The late Filipino inventor, Abraham Tadeja was one of the
pioneers in organic manufacturing at the Payatas dumpsite.
These days, research has discovered modern ways of recycling more
complex products. Old tires, for example, are deep-frozen and
pulverized, instead of being burned or melted. Broken glass and asphalt
are now made into glasphalt – an excellent material for road overlay.
At present, Germany is the world’s leader in garbage recycling. Germans
have developed a technology for recycling aluminum more times than
conventional recycling does. This translates into fewer demands for bauxite, the ore of aluminum.
But the downside is that the Germans have been producing more waste
lately, giving the world the impression that waste recycling must be a
good business, now actually an industry in Germany, instead of just a
recourse in solving environmental problems.
5. Replenish.
There is a saying in ecology, there is no such thing as “free lunch.”
There is always a cost of everything we get from nature.. When we cut
down a tree, we “harvest” the soil nutrients that made the wood, take
away its cooling effect on its surroundings, the oxygen it gives off in
the air, and deprive a multitude of organisms that depend on it.
Pollution should be understood on the basis of such an equation.
-----------------------------------------
“Lead, cadmium, selenium, toxic heavy metals arsenic,
chloro-hydrocarbons polychlorinated diphenyls cause behavioral symptoms,
and loss of appetite, among other effects. Lead is a highly potent
nerve poison. Although lead exists naturally at low concentration, it is
has increased to 30 times the normal level.”
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Raise
native breeds. Imported breeds require high dose of antibiotics,
expensive feeds, special housing and maintenance facilities.
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Cutting down a tree is therefore, indirect pollution.
When we destroy a tree, we contribute to the buildup of CO2 by reducing
the amount of O2 generated by that tree. This ultimately contributes
to global warming.
We destroy the symbionts of the tree, such as earthworms and termites
that convert waste materials into stable forms – forms that are recycled
for the use of the next generation of organisms.
Recycle: Refill spent ball pens; make pencil caps to extend life of pencil and for protection
Make your own mineral water with malunggay seeds, and sell it too, in the neighborhood.
Use biodegradable materials like banana leaves as substitute of plastic.
6. Reserve
The US is reserving its oil while there is oil available in the world
market. Japan is not cutting its forest trees. It imports logs from
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. More and more areas are
declared parks and reservations before they are claimed for agriculture,
industry and settlements. To reserve is to postpone the
consumption of a resource, and when there is no intention for that
purpose but keep it in its natural state, to reserve means to preserve.
Sometimes controversy rises over such logic. For example, we have not
resolved the issue of total ban on logging versus selective logging. The
economists say that mature trees when left unharvested deprive the
country of potential gain. Ecologists say, there is more to gain
ultimately from an undisturbed ecosystem. Again, this merely shows the
importance of effective environmental governance, particularly where
issues like this remain unresolved. Meantime forests are left
unprotected, and become subject to various abuses. Before we know it
this natural resource is gone. It is this attitude that is predisposing
many countries to lose their chance to preserve the environment.
7. Revere
Reverence for life.
This is the founding philosophy of both natural and social science, and
the guiding spirit of great men and women such as Charles Darwin,
Albert Schweitzer, David Livingstone, Jean Fabre, Louis Pasteur, Jane
Goodall, Rachel Carson, and King Solomon, to name a few. These people
succeeded in their mission to make this world a better place to live in,
through their examples and discoveries that lead towards loving and
caring the earth.
Let us love the Earth, our only spaceship that gives us all the things
we need to be alive and happy. Let’s give our share, even just to help
in Nature’s housekeeping. x x x
