Choices

When that story came out about the discovery of seven Earth-like planets revolving around a star similar to our sun, a common reaction I heard was, “Can I move there?”

Unfortunately for the prospective space travelers, we can’t stop the Earth and get off; we can’t resettle on another planet like Pinoy workers finding jobs and building new lives overseas.

We’re stuck with planet Earth, and we have to live with what we have, and preserve its finite resources from degradation.

As any green-minded citizen of the planet knows, this is easier said than done. A well-meaning act to save one species or habitat can threaten another species and fragile ecosystem.

The urgent need to preserve the environment must also be balanced with the need to extract resources from the planet to meet an ever-growing demand for minerals, forest products and other raw materials. The urgent need to save the planet must also be balanced – according to defenders of one currently beleaguered industry – with the need to create jobs and livelihood opportunities.

The debate has brought one prominent environmental advocate against the powerful mining industry. And unfortunately for the industry, Gina Lopez is not your ordinary green warrior. Aside from belonging to one of the nation’s wealthiest clans – an advantage she’s using to the hilt – she also enjoys (as of last week, and at least in public) the backing of the appointing power, President Duterte.

It’s fascinating to watch the elephants fighting. Now it’s up to Du30 to see to it that in this fight, the grass doesn’t get hurt.

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The key in resource exploitation is sustainability, which is possible in agroforestry, agriculture and fisheries. Visiting clean, green New Zealand, I was amazed to see vast tracts of land planted to fast-growing trees that I was told would be harvested for lumber both for domestic and foreign markets. The tree farms were sectioned off: in some areas the trees had just been cut down, and the sight wasn’t pretty; in others the ground was being prepared for replanting, and in others saplings were growing in neat rows.

But sustainability is complicated when it comes to mining. You blast a mountain with TNT and strip it of ore and the minerals don’t grow back.

As designated official guardian of the environment, Gina Lopez is armed with video, photos and data that provide a compelling argument for saving watersheds. Last week she visited The STAR, complaining that she wasn’t getting a fair shake from much of mass media.

She was impressive in her passion. If what she presented to us was similar to what she told Du30 after the elections, I can understand why he decided to pick her as his environment chief.

He obviously didn’t expect the firestorm that his appointee would trigger. Some of the nation’s wealthiest are groaning and never knew what hit them.

“I know what money can do,” Sec Gina told us. “I find politics very chaotic and unpredictable (but) I decided to do this because it has to be done… Who has the balls to do this? You could get killed!”

A reliable source said Duterte is thoroughly amused that he is turning the screws on certain “oligarchs.”

A political maverick, Du30 also probably genuinely empathizes with Sec Gina, whose years with Ananda Marga and belief in spirituality have given some quarters the impression that she is flaky.

If Du30 means what he says about his concern for the environment, then he might share with Sec Gina her belief that eco-tourism can be an alternative to mining in terms of job generation and livelihood opportunities. He will be fascinated instead of finding it flaky when Sec Gina talks about watching dolphins and fireflies.

And he could support her desire to measure economic growth in terms of social justice and what in Bhutan is called Gross National Happiness, whose performance indicators include not just economic growth but also public health, peace and order as well as the environment.

“Make your choice,” Sec Gina probably urged him, as she told us. “The problem here is making the right choices.”

With even some of his closest friends and advisers crying OUCH!, however, there’s talk that Du30 may no longer reappoint Sec Gina this week.

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Last year the President told The STAR that he appointed Gina Lopez after she dropped in on him in Davao City and went on for four hours about environmental issues. Probably it was one of his hyperboles. Sec Gina grinned and told us it was in fact a much shorter conversation over lunch.

Miners have an image problem: it’s hard to find an active mine that doesn’t look ugly. We’ve told this to the miners before, and suggested that they present a case study, even in another country, where a shuttered mine has been fully restored and made viable for farming or agroforestry and the community has benefited from post-mining development projects.

So far the miners have two principal arguments. One is that mining may be ugly but it’s necessary: every manmade thing we touch has a mineral component (including, as one broadcaster pointed out, the gold heirloom earrings Sec Gina wore to a TV interview). Another is that mining revenue is large and the income and jobs readily available, while eco-tourism will still take a lot of work.

Sec Gina acknowledges the revenue-generating power of the mines, which she says has made the government “so addicted to mining.” You can see why this observation might resonate with Du30.

But Sec Gina counters that the number of mining jobs is small compared to the jobs threatened in agriculture, fisheries and agroforestry. She cites the cost to public health of polluted water. She presents figures to show that 95 percent of mining earnings go out of the country, and how the figures pale in comparison to the economic losses from a threatened environment.

“We have so much. We are so blessed,” Sec Gina told us. “You see the biodiversity and you treasure it, you protect it.”

Watersheds are particularly vulnerable to permanent damage, and even concrete containment for mining waste would eventually be degraded, she told us as she showed photos of open pit mines.

“Is this really where we want to go? Why can’t we have an economy where everyone will benefit?” she said. “That is where I want to go.”

The question is whether President Duterte is also prepared to take the nation there.