Kamayan para sa Kalikasan

Holiday Habits Harming Earth! 

“CHRISTMAS is for children!” goes the cliché. And through the entire set of “merrimaking activities” that we usually engage in during this holiday season – idling our vehicles for hours through gridlock traffic from the house to the shopping areas, shopping for gifts till we drop, getting the gifts wrapped and ribboned, then idling our vehicles for hours through gridlock traffic from the shopping areas back to the house. – many of us say we do all that for the sake of the kids. To have a merry Christmas, “for them." This once-a-year merriment “for the kids” is done routinely this time of year every year, while we ruin the future of these very same kids we love to shop for. Yes, you read right; read it again!      Full Story

A LEADING activist of the  environmental movement in the Philippines took over the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last December 15, vowing to stick by her principles.  Sec. Elisea ‘Bebet’ Gozun was named to what a very recent Kamayan Forum Journal editorial calls a hardship post.   Full Story

EDITORIAL

ECHOES 

BOXED FEATURE:

FOOTER QUOTE:

Christmas with Our Inner and Outer Environment 

Clean Air front heating up: Coal Plants, Vehicular Emissions

Messages From "Ma'am Bebet"

“I would not spend any single day forgetting where I came from; where my authority emanates.” – YSDA Chairperson Roy Cabonegro, telling Sec. Gozun what he would do if appointed to head DENR for 1.5 years (excerpted from an e-mail message). 

  EDITORIAL      

  FORUM FOCUS         

Holiday Habits Harming Earth! 

“CHRISTMAS is for children!” goes the cliché. And through the entire set of “merrimaking activities” that we usually engage in during this holiday season – idling our vehicles for hours through gridlock traffic from the house to the shopping areas, shopping for gifts till we drop, getting the gifts wrapped and ribboned, then idling our vehicles for hours through gridlock traffic from the shopping areas back to the house – many of us say we do all that for the sake of the kids. To have a merry Christmas, “for them." 

This once-a-year merriment “for the kids” is done routinely this time of year every year, while we ruin the future of these very same kids we love to shop for. Yes, you read right; read it again! “But we’re doing everything for the kids, we work all year long for them,” you might say, “and come vacation time, we do everything to make it a happy one for them!”  Well, yes, but much of the holiday habits  to make  for merriment --  not exactly happiness – during this season are ruining the world that these kids are to grow and build their families in.  All the fossil fuel exhaust sent into the atmosphere while moving and idling through urban traffic worsens the global warming problem. All those gifts, mindlessly chosen, tend to worsen the attitude atmosphere, like those toy guns we give to the little boys.  

    And all those sparkling gift wrappers that the kids excitedly  tear apart  on Christmas are going to be part of waste disposal problems of these kids’ own generation, because these are non-biodegradable.

    These matters are set to be discussed at the December 20 session of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan, with the participants themselves, including inventors and promoters of herbal and other healthy-living products, to  share ideas and experiences in trying to shift to “Earth-Fiendly Gift-Giving.” This is viewed as a profound gift to Mother Nature and all her dependents, including ourselves and our children. DENR Sec. Elisea Gozun has accepted the invitation to come to the expectedly-festivexChristmas1affair. 

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  FORUM ECHOES           

Clean Air front heating up: Coal plants, vehicular emissions

THE immediate implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1999 got a big boost recently with the appointment of no less than the chairperson of the civil society Partnership for Clean Air as the new secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (see related story).

Earlier, adminsitration officials reportedly aligned  with a campaign  to delay further the implementation of this law. Last month’s Kamayan para sa Kalikasan forum on coal-fired plants, where representatives of the DENR’s Environment Management Bureau admitted that the department did not have the  capability  to effectively monitor compliance with the requirements set forth in the coal-fired plants’ Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECCs). This condition is not expected to last very long under the new DENR secretary.

The forum was attended by Bencyrus Ellorin, the co-convenor and spokesperson of the People’s Campaign Against the Mindanao Coal-fired Thermal Plant (People’s CAMP), who came all the way from Cagayan de Oro City to expose Malacañang’s alleged pressures on DENR to issue an ECC for the plant. Ellorin also said Sen.Aquilino Pimentel has called for a Senate investigation into this allegation.  Meanwhile, another group has joined the clamor for such probe. Last December 6, the Civil Society Counterpart Council for Sustainable Development (CSCCSD) passed a resolution asking the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PSCD), chaired jointly by the DENR and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), to investigate the way the ECC was issued to the Misamis Oriental Plant.

Earlier, the newly-formed Partnership for Clean Air issued a Statement of Outrage (carried on page 2 of Kamayan Forum Journal, November 2002 issue) over the actions of administration officials, Transportation and Communications Sec. Leandro Mendoza and some legislators, in trying to delay the implementation of the Clean Air Act scheduled for this January. 

Air pollution has been an increasing heath problem for the county.  One of the most well- known studies on the effects of air pollution on the body is the 16-year Harvard University "Six Cities" study, undertaken in 1974-1992, which positively associated PM-10 exposure with death from lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease.

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  SPECIAL REPORT          

‘Bebet’ Gozun takes DENR helm

A LEADING activist of the environmental movement in the Philippines took over the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last December 15, vowing to stick by her principles.  Sec. Elisea ‘Bebet’ Gozun was named to what a very recent Kamayan Forum Journal editorial calls a hardship post (click here).

Bebet chaired the civil society Partnership for Clean Air, and was the executive  director of  the Earth  Day Network  in the Philippines. She was also with the Philippine civil-society delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Aftica last August. Gozun is a World Bank consultant on environment-related programs. 

She also headed the Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (COCAP); Philippine representative to Clean Washington Center; director of Aquagem Consultants Inc. and Saracat Ecology Corp.; and member of Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines, Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines Foundation, and Air and Waste Management Association-Philippines. Colleagues in the environment movement have expressed their congratulations, support and even “sympathies” for Gozun.

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  BOXED FEATURE          

Messages from “Ma’am Bebet”

Sec. Elisea Gozun gave this extemporaneous talk before a gathering of about 60 leading environmentalists at the Miriam College Environmental Studies Institute in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, last December 11, according to the best-efforts re­collection of CLEAR President Vic “Kalikasan Vigilante” Milan.

I AM OFTEN ASKED what my priorities are.  Everything is priority. But I do want to say that the implementation of the Clean Air Act is close to my heart.  And there is a personal reason for this.  I am a classic victim of polluted air. My doctor has just told me that my coughing is no longer just a viral thing but a case of asthma, caused by the polluted air that we breathe.  There is no history of asthma in my family.

The Solid Waste Management Act is also important. Proper waste management will mean clean water, clean air, clean food, clean environment… I thank you for your pledges of support. I know I can always count on you. I ask for understanding, as Vic Milan said he has cautioned some of his colleagues, I might not be as accessible to you as I used to be.  There will be many problems that will need my attention; I hope you will bear with me then.

We have worked together on many projects. You know where I stand on environmental issues. I foresee however that I cannot expect that we will always agree on how I decide on some matters, but I assure you that in the process of deliberation you will always be represented.

If I make a decision that you may not completely agree with. All I ask is that you find it in your hearts to give me the benefit of the doubt. I will decide based on what is the best for all. And I will hold myself responsible to God for whatever decisions I will have to make.

In many cases I will strive for a win-win solution, I will strive for partnership with industry, with sustainable development as the basis for decisions.  The DENR is not a police agency, better to work with industry than to be seen as an enemy of development.

*   *   *

This was emailed to the Kamayan Forum Journal acting editor after Sec. Gozun read again the editorial of last month’s issue of this Journal, which described the DENR as “a hardship post” That editorial is now available on line, at http://earth.web.ph.

Tama naman ang sinabi mo, Ding.  While I hope you all understand that, as a representative of government, I cannot listen only to the NGOs and that I should look at all the perspectives and weigh what is good for the country, I also believe that I should stand by my principles.  We know that not everything is black and white.  While this is true, you can rest assured that I will not compromise my principles.  Should it reach that point, then makakatiyak kayo na aalis ako from government.  That's the only way i will be able to live with myself also.

In a response, also e-mailed, we told Bebet: “Cheeeeers!  That’s how clear anyone can get!  And because that response deserves to reach many more of our "other friends, "I've taken the liberty of forwarding it to the email list groups i belong to.  Rest assured, too, Bebet, that as NGOs we recognize the responsibility to also consistently "look at all the perspectives and weigh what is good for the country."  I believe most of us have been consistent trying to do precisely that; our distinction from government functionaries has been our best efforts at excluding considerations of party politics, presidential predispositions, and foreign-capital pressures, from such weighing.

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  SPECIAL ITEM          

We share the Christmas spirit

by building Smiling Synergies all around!

We hug you with our smile!

Cheers from…    …and the rest of

the newly-formed Pamayanang SanibLakas

( Advocates of Cooperative Education on Synergism (ACES), Filipinos for Life; Katipunang DakiLahi para sa Pambansang Pagsasanib-Lakas, Lambat-Liwanag Network of Centers for Empowering Paradigms; LightShare e-Group; Love Life Philippines, Sanib-Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (Salika), SanibLakas CyberServices; SanibLakas InfoShare; Sanib-Sikap Initiatives Network; Sanib-Sining Movement for Synaesthetics, Sanib-Sigla Movement for Holistic Health, Suriang Ugat-Loob (SULô), and all other groups and also individuals who declare themselves to be working for living synergies among the people. )

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All are invited. to the  Kamayan para sa Kalikasan Environmental Forum held regularly since March 1990 on the 3rd Friday every month, 10 am-2pm at the Kamayan Restaurant along-EDSA, Mandaluyong City. It is convened jointly by the Communicators’ League for Environmental Action and Restoration (CLEAR) and Sanib-Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA), fully sponsored by Kamayan.