Green and bear it

All year round, there’s bound to be a fiesta in some barangay somewhere in the Philippines. In good as well as bad times, we always find an excuse to celebrate. It’s part of our culture, of who we are. It’s the main event in the often ho-hum life of a community. People will beg, steal or borrow to celebrate a fiesta. They will open their homes to friends and strangers, and blow their savings on this once-a-year indulgence (never mind if they go hungry the rest of the year).

Over food and booze galore, neighbors rekindle the ties that bind them as a community and pay homage to their cultural roots.

But alas, where there’s a big fiesta, there’s always an even bigger waste dilemma, so sighs the Ecological Waste Coalition of the Philippines (Ecowaste Coalition), who has come up with some practical guidelines for a "zero waste celebration of faith and life."

Celebrations of this proportion not only strain the community’s resources to the limit but can also cause severe damage to the environment and public health.

Ecowaste Coalition warns that exploding firecrackers or burning fiesta discards such as plastic buntings, stage props, and party disposables discharges persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and other harmful chemicals that can harm our ecosystems and impair the health of humans and other beings.

Our fiesta organizers (and other concerned sectors) can’t afford to be unmindful of the environmental and health costs of our extravagant festivities. It’s time everybody paid serious attention to making fiestas simple, less wasteful (and less sinful?), and non-polluting.

Says the Coalition: "We can make our fiestas a fitting expression of our communion as stewards of Mother Nature by reducing waste to zero or darn near, putting a stop to all polluting practices, conserving water, electricity and other finite resources, and saving funds for basic needs and charities."

To assist the Comite de Festejos and others involved in preparing for a fiesta, the Ecowaste Coalition offers these invaluable zero waste ideas and recommendations:

• Zero waste fiesta plans. Plan the fiesta with the environment in mind and agree on concrete steps to keep the celebration simple, safe, and waste-free. Go all out to inform community members about the requirements and benefits of an earth-friendly fiesta, inspire and involve everyone to make it happen.

• Zero waste decorations. Decorate with materials that can be reused, recycled or composted to minimize waste and conserve resources. Promote decorations fashioned out of locally available biodegradable materials. Beautify with plants and other greenery instead of plastic streamers, buntings or balloons. Remove, wash, and store reusable decorations for future use.

• Zero waste events. To reduce waste to the minimum, think about and make use of reusable and recyclable materials. Implement a simple and convenient system for recycling discards in festive events such as variety shows, beauty pageants, talent contests, and street parties. Put up well-located recycling stations where the public can put their biodegradable and non-biodegradable discards into their separate bins. Form "ecowaste patrols" to assist in enforcing the ecological management of discards.

Food concessionaires and vendors should be persuaded against using disposable containers and utensils, and encouraged instead to use reusable or biodegradable alternatives such as banana leaves.

• Zero waste religious processions. Use candles that do not yield excessive soot and avoid candles with metal wicks that can release toxic substances like lead. To reduce the need for candles, consider a daylight procession instead. Refrain from bursting firecrackers or pyrotechnics that will only aggravate the air quality. Do not litter the church patio and processional route.

• Zero waste salo-salo. Simple planning and creativity can lead to a greener and more gratifying fiesta salo-salo. Here are some practical ideas on how to feed your guests without busting your purse or causing injuries to Mother Earth:

• Plan the menu and buy only what is necessary to satisfy the appetites of your household members and visitors.

• Buy condiments in bulk and store in reusable bottles, shakers or dispensers.

• Serve meals and drinks in reusable containers.

• Use cloth napkins that can be washed and used again.

• Offer water or healthy drinks made from lemon grass (tanglad), young coconut (buko) with pandan or ginger (salabat) with calamansi.

• Share excess food with neighbors. Reach out to the homeless and those who lack adequate food and nutrition.

• Save food discards for animal consumption or composting.

• Segregate and recycle discarded resources. Do not mix, dump or burn your discards.

For more information, call the Ecowaste Coalition at 929-0376 or e-mail Manny Calonzo at manny.gaia@no-burn.org.

* * * Footnote to footbaths

This e-mail comes on the heels of another e-mail that draws spa-cial attention to those footbaths that are very popular these days.

Dear Consumerline,

I have been following all your articles on health and am very happy that this type of lifestyle has caught on and is the chosen path for many of our countrymen.

I decided to write to you to comment on a letter that appeared in this corner from an Eve Lee. Yes, she is correct, there are footbaths that are marketed today as health products, but most of them are simply electrohydrolysis. These are all copies of the original and Q2 energy foot spa, which is more than simple electrolysis. Q2 uses quantum field science – the reason people get results that cannot be duplicated by the copies. This has been proven scientifically. Please check the website www.q2.com.au – this is the company website that originally and has scientifically proven that you can have what is called a change in your bioelectric field through the Q2 energy spa and get healing in the process.

We do use the Q2 in our clinic and we have been informing our clients that it is very different from the ion cleanse from China or acm units from Korea. These footbaths emphasize the change in the color of the water and if you check their websites, they do not explain the process but use the words "may happen" or "probably will" for their claims.  

Q2 has a science behind it and, as most gadgets, it is copied. But sad to say, they have not been able to duplicate the BEFE or bioelectric field enhancer capability of Q2. The Q2 has been featured in many alternative medicine books and has been called the tao of detox by Daniel Reid. It was included in the second edition of the Alternative Medicine book and it was the subject of the book Recharge your Biological Battery by Dr. Howard Peiper.  

The best thing that I really like about the Q2 is its ability to remove unconscious and conscious anger, hostility, anxiety, and depression. This was the scientific study made by a company in San Francisco. The name escapes me now, but the company is Biocybernaut Institute Inc. San Francisco, headed by Dr. James V Hardt. Complete study is available for review.  

All the other copies do not have any science to their health claims and I am glad that one of your readers has now questioned this practice. 

Lastly, it is interesting to note that the people in Lourdes bathe in the special water that flows in the spring there and the energy of that same water has been found to be the same as the one that is generated by the Q2 units but never by the copies.  

Please note, too, that we do not give any emphasis on the color of the water as there are so many variations that can cause the color changes. The important thing is the bioelectric field that is generated by the orb that initiates the healing process.  

Beth Micaller
Organix Neutraceuticals Int’l Inc.
306 Grace Building
West Greenhills, San Juan

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