Winning the battle vs. recession

Everybody’s talking about it — even feeling it and living it. But recession doesn’t have to mean depression although that’s what a lot of people are feeling these days. You’re depressed at the prospect of your company closing down. Fact is, your company has just announced it’s reducing work hours to three days a week — and trimming salaries by 20 percent — until cash flow improves and giving employees the option to resign. Of course, you’re holding on to your job like the most sticky glue because you have no choice. Well, you do have a choice and you can survive the recession and even come out on top.

For starters, pay off all your credit card debts, loans, and other debts. In a recessionista vocabulary, debt is a bad word. An expert gives his two cents’ worth on the subject: If you can clear your credit during a recession, you’ll be in a better position to borrow in the future.

Touche!

Of course, if you’re already feeling the pinch (so much so that you’re already black and blue), nobody has to tell you to spend less than you make. Cut corners in every area in your household budget, be a smart budgetarian. That means everything from groceries (opt for cheaper alternatives) to family entertainment/recreation (rent movies and spend a quiet weekend at home). A breadwinner whose company was hit by recession recently announced to members of his family: “From now on, we will be eating in fast-food restaurants like Jollibee and Chowking (or less pricey restaurants) when we go out on weekends.”

To further trim your food budget, always remember to bring baon to work. It’s now fashionable to tote a lunch box to work.

And since a chunk of the household budget also goes to fuel/transpo expenses, spare yourself some gas pains by taking the public transpo or carpooling whenever you can.

If you must buy, buy only what you really need. Buy used/secondhand goods as much as possible. And learn the two Rs: recycle, reuse.

If you must talk to someone about your depression, wait till you get home so you can use your landline. Cut back on your cell phone usage.

If you have a big house, you might consider renting out a room to a friend. If you live alone, you might consider getting a roommate to share the expenses with.

Or take a priceless tip from Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic: Sell things you no longer use (or will never have use for — ever). How many pairs of shoes or bags or dresses do you really need? Have a garage sale or auction — or donate some to your favorite charity (you’ll reap the psychic income in heaven). It will not only help you declutter; it will also increase your shelf-esteem.

So what if you’re now on a four-day-work-week schedule and earning 20-percent less? Think of what you can do on the days you’re not doing anything. You can learn a new skill at a technical school. You learn how to bake and earn extra cash. The bottom line is: Don’t just sit on your ass. Do something.

Pretty soon, you’ll be patting yourself on the back for surviving yet another recession.

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A fiery warning vs. open burning

Now, this topic’s really hot: open burning. Is open burning the real solution to our mountainous garbage problem?

A big, mountainous NO, says EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog, which recently warned consumers about the grave dangers posed by open burning to the health of our country and our planet.

March being Fire Prevention Month, the e eco-group reminds the public to think not only of accidental fires but also fires that we intentionally set ourselves that destroy resources, damage ecosystems, and disperse toxins.

EcoWaste urges the National Solid Waste Management Commission and the local authorities to enforce the ban on open burning under Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Says EcoWaste president Manny Calonzo, “In our communities, it is still customary for people to sweep their surroundings, gather the mix of organic and inorganic trash into a pile, and set fire to it despite the explicit ban on open burning.”

Aside from domestic waste, EcoWaste Coalition warned against the unchecked open burning that occurs in dumpsites and even in junkshops where used tires and cables are usually burned by informal recyclers to retrieve metal parts.

With much concern, Calonzo cites the biomass burning in the countryside, particularly rice straw or dayami burning and the slash-and-burn farming or kaingin, which causes massive pollution and ecological destruction. “The truth of the matter is that burning garbage does much more harm than good. Done with absolutely no pollution control, open burning produces toxic fumes and ashes that contain extremely harmful health and environmental pollutants.”

These toxic pollutants are linked to health problems such as asthma and other respiratory illnesses, damage to the nervous system, kidney and liver, and reproductive and developmental disorders. Even the simple burning of seemingly harmless organic wastes, such as leaves and other plant matter, releases millions of spores into the air, which can be a big problem for people with allergies.

A particular concern for public health activists in the cocktail of chemicals released from open burning is dioxin, a persistent organic pollutant (POP) that has been described as the most toxic man-made substance known to science. The Department of Science and Technology has identified open burning as a primary source of dioxin pollution in the country. Dioxins are known to cause cancers and other serious disorders in the reproductive, developmental, neurological and immune systems.

To protect the public health and the environment, the elimination of dioxin has become a global priority under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, which our Senate ratified in 2004.

So, what are the better alternatives — or best bets — to open burning? EcoWaste shares some creative reuse ideas for things that people commonly set on fire:

• Grass cuttings. Grasscyle by leaving grass clippings on the lawn where they will break down naturally and, in the process, feed the soil with valuable nutrients.

• Fallen leaves. Compost fallen leaves into organic soil amendment or chop the leaves and turn them into leaf mulch for your garden.

• Plastic bags. Cut clean used plastic carry bags into strips and weave them into functional bags.

• Bottle and tin containers. Reuse clean bottles and tin cans into flower vases, pen and pencil holders, and containers for office and kitchen stuff.

• Newspapers. Use old newspapers to cover books and wrap gifts. Shred or crumple newspapers as an alternative to plastic bubble wrap, or turn them into paper carry bags.

• Candy wrappers. Turn candy wrappers into colorful party lei. Keep the candy foil (palara) for school art projects or turn wrappers into children’s clutch or wallet.

For more details, call the EcoWaste Coalition at 929-0376.

Now, let’s stop talking garbage and start thinking green.

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