Sense and sustainability

MANILA, Philippines - A few days ago, I was sifting through an old laptop bag I had used during my freshman year of college seven years ago. Amid the clutter in my room, I came across one of the very first essays I had written. Overcoming the initial sense of shame and apprehension one goes through while reading past writing efforts, I was startled by the realization that I am not the same person I was seven years ago. Not by a long shot.

The essay was about the illegal whaling activities being conducted by Japanese fisherman in the Southern Ocean in Antarctica. It was an impassioned narrative on the threat humans place on our fragile ecosystem, but more importantly the essay was grounded on the concept of choice. “In any economics class you will come across the idea that as humans and society as a whole we are surrounded by choices, and for every choice we make there is an opportunity cost, that something was sacrificed in order to fulfill our choice,” I wrote. This underlying sensibility of choice is what should drive a society to become more sustainable.

This wasn’t something I was aware of when I was a child. Whenever my family and I used to travel, my brothers and I were always given a choice of attractions we wanted to see. Typical of any seven- to 12-year-old, that meant heading straight for the theme parks, zoos or aquariums. I won’t lie; my appreciation for animals began with visits to the San Francisco Zoo or SeaWorld. I vividly remember a photo of my brother and me enjoying Father Tropa’s mini zoo in Dumaguete, sitting atop a massive pawikan, an image that would appall me today. But after admiring the beautiful reptile unnoticeably struggling under us, you would see our faces so flushed with joy at being so close to such a magnificent species. Completely unaware that our choice to visit this zoo and having a photo snapped sitting on its back affected the animal and all the other animals in the zoo. Animal-based attractions often sell us this enchanting idea of the quickest way to get close to nature, and with such fast-paced and busy lives we easily buy into this shortcut to reconnect with wildlife and the environment. But isn’t it worth asking that they might do the opposite?

I believe one of our greatest shortcomings as humans is to have adopted a lifestyle that takes us out of the ecosystem. Take my childhood experiences in the zoos and aquariums, for example. For as long as I can remember those attractions were some of my favorite playgrounds when traveling, but it was only as my understanding of sustainability evolved that I came to realize that these encounters were actually disconnecting me from the landscapes and animals I was meant to appreciate. I don’t mean to take anything away from the memories families create in such places — they are important — but I believe there now exists a responsibility to help this generation and the next gain even just a simplified awareness of the different implications of human choice. I count small successes when my six-year-old niece goes on a trip to the aquarium and refuses to watch the dolphin show because “It’s not right to treat dolphins like that.”    

  I believe that it’s time to hold everyone accountable for their choices, and to make them aware of how these choices affect the ecological chain we’re all part of. However, I’m not just alluding to the implications of our choices on our physical environment. There is this common yet forgiven misconception that living sustainably is the same as living “green.” While there is some commonality, sustainability actually moves the “green” lifestyle a step further by acknowledging that we need to meet the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This entails gaining a keen awareness of the ecological — as well as the social and economic — systems that manage our choices. Moving beyond environmental upshot, it’s about making adjustments for the people involved throughout different production and distribution chains. Living sustainably means choosing to have a holistic perspective on life and being responsible for ensuring that your choices uplift other parts of the system. It can be as simple as posing the question, “Were the people who made my clothes paid fair wages?” and simply thinking twice when making a choice.

We live in a time of “faster” everything. Faster fashion, faster cars, faster Internet (although faster Internet in the Philippines wouldn’t be so bad) with an insufficient understanding of what “faster” entails for all other components in the systems of everyday life. I would openly admit that in the midst of all the “fast,” it is sometimes easier to forget to be conscious of choice. But a sustainable lifestyle is not just about buying more ethical and responsible products — in fact, at its core it is about consuming less; about having an active awareness of where your consumption came from and where it all goes when disposed. It is being cognizant of the processes and people involved in allowing you to make that choice between an imported product and local one.  

My day job as climate change researcher puts me constantly in front of the realities of the world and specifically this country. It is an experience that often shatters the romantic notions we have of being humans living in harmony with our environment, mainly because the current socio-economic systems governing us make it difficult to do so. There is a lot of discussion and intent for more enhanced sustainable development within the Philippine political and bureaucratic institutions, but it is often pushed to the backburner, challenged by increasing economic gain through traditional strategies. You need only look at the complexities of removing a fuel source that’s embedded in fossils or the destructive mining economy to observe the magnitude of the task at hand, but that is for another, much longer discussion. The point I am making is that it is and will continue to be difficult to overcome the systems in place that challenge our ability to live sustainably. I am often overwhelmed by the responsibility of making better choices. But it was this reintroduction to my younger self that reinforced why we need to keep forging ahead in this fight for a more sustainable future. It is more than just ensuring better quality lives for our generation. Rather, it is also important in creating a social fabric that is conducive for the young idealists and dreamers of the next generation who aspire to catalyze the change our society so desperately needs. I say this because we need to assure them that, once they step out of their classrooms, the world will naturally transform them and their perspectives, but the transformation doesn’t have to diminish the value they have placed on a sustainable world and their determination to strive for it.

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Manna Vargas is a Policy Researcher for the Oscar M. Lopez Center for Climate Change Adaption and Disaster Risk Management Foundation.