Guides for a greener tomorrow

While the Philippines is trying to showcase its abundance of natural resources to attract tourists and investors and increase trade, it faces a long and mostly-ignored environmental crisis: Deforestation has reduced our forests by 70 percent from a century ago. More than ten percent of our rivers cannot support life within their systems anymore.

Manila, one of the most polluted cities in Asia, generates two and a half million tons of solid waste each day, up to 40 percent of which goes uncollected, ending up in gutters, drains and waterways. The government spends hundreds of millions each year in treating sicknesses brought about by pollution. The list is long and disturbing, but still largely ignored by the public, which is why environmental preservation in urban areas is difficult: in order to solve a problem, people must be willing to admit they have one.

A group of young people have taken it upon themselves to advocate and explain to people these environmental issues. Called the Young Professionals Network For Earth-Friendly Action (ypnet), it is composed of over a hundred volunteer-members, aged 19 to 36. Some are working students, some work in the private sector, and some work in government agencies and ngos. What binds these disparate individuals is a real drive for environmental preservation.

Mary Anne Velas, development management consultant, writer, training specialist/educator, PR practitioner, founder and president of the organization, says, "Why young professionals? Because it’s an untapped source that has huge potential. Younger people have the time and resources and energy to spare, to devote to advocacy. Young, skilled and dynamic professionals can be an effective lobby for the environment."

ypnet implements advocacy through mass media, like the internet and newspapers, conducts seminars and talks, in the belief that preservation should begin on the local community level: school children, the members of the barangay, local governments. They have barangay clean-up projects, in which its members make time each weekend to clean small areas. They have already taken this program to several barangays in Quezon City, and recruited many local people to join in making their communities cleaner.

ypnet also lends its members to schools and other local organizations to give talks and seminars about environmental awareness and local waste management, and also cooperate with other environmental advocacy groups and their campaigns, like the Clean and Green Foundation, Inc. and the Haribon Foundation. Its members receive training in speaking, writing, and public speaking about ecological matters, attend seminars for networking, and creativity workshops.

Back in 1999, the group lobbied and encouraged public support for the Clean Air Act, taking out ads in newpapers to raise public awareness of the act, and to ask legislators not to defer it. After the ads saw print, some of the members were asked to appear before the public hearing and share their views with the lawmakers, who eventually approved the act–a small victory for ypnet and other environmentalists, but a significant one.

As advocates for awareness, its members act as educators, negotiators, and liaison officers between local governments and their constituents. "Most people seem to think that being environmentally friendly is expensive, something rich people do, like buy recyclable materials. But everyone can contribute. Right now we’re working with several urban areas in trying to implement garbage segregation. The main complaint of the people who live there is that even if they comply with segregation, when the garbage collection arrives, all their garbage ends up in the same truck anyway. Now we’re trying to get segregated, color-coded garbage bins for them, and have the collection service also segregate the trash," according to Velas.

This is the main thrust of ypnet–to educate, and to make aware, so people will be able to make informed, ecologically-friendly everyday decisions, by encouraging them to look for better alternatives to the things they are used to.

Velas explains, "We’re setting up a project in which we encourage grocery stores to give incentive to shoppers to come with their own bayong for their groceries. That way the shoppers won’t have to take more plastic bags home. They can put their groceries in their bayong each time, and we’re working on implementing a sort of promo, so that every time they do that they get a small discount for their next purchase." Several other projects involve trying to convince malls and local businesses to cut down on their use of styrofoam, plastic and other non-biodegradeable materials.

Also on the agenda is the issue of renewable energy, or alternative sources of power that doesn’t involve the burning of fossil fuels. They hold up as a shining example Barangay Laolao in Magindanao, which used to have no access to electricity, because the area was the site of constant conflict between the military and milf rebels. The organization Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (amore) provided each house with solar power and taught the people how to care for them and ensure their maintenance. The return of electricity was a sign of progress for the small community, and not only did they learn to work for their progress, but also to protect it: the locals took up the responsibility of brokering ceasefires and truces between military and rebels so that the new power source would not be damaged. A parable of the true meaning of assistance, it wasn’t just another handout to those who needed it but instead was a shift in the recipients’ beliefs and attitudes: the poor man has not only been given a fish, but has been taught how to fish.

This is the nature of ypnet’s endeavors. In guiding people’s beliefs and attitudes about ecological issues, they can be taught not only what must be done for the evironment, but also why it must be done. When ypnet’s members share their passion for the environment, the people they teach learn to actively participate in solving the problems.

They’re a bunch of caring, dedicated individuals, and they have to be, to take time out during weekends and busy schedules for ypnetactivities. They are also a close-knit community. Activities of the group include not just seminars and training for its members, but also small parties, socials, field trips, and badminton tournaments where the members can simple enjoy each other’s company. "We’re about the environment, but at the same time we’re about community-building," Velas says.

This is because the Young Professionals Network for Earth-Friendly Action is not just caring for the air and animals and rivers and trees, but, ultimately, for the people around them.

Learn more about ypnet, log on to www.digitalsolutions.ph/ypnet or text Ms. Velas at 0916-5833890