Ateneo de Manila University: An Advocate of the Environment

The Ateneo de Manila University has always been an advocate for environmental protection as can be seen from the wide-open spaces and limited number of air-conditioned rooms on-campus. They have also been implementing a waste segregation system, so both student and faculty will be trained to throw recyclables in one trash bin and non-recyclables in another.

Also, the Clean as You Go (CLAYGO) system was implemented in school cafeterias to ensure Ateneans had the discipline and courtesy to clean their tables, so that they can be readily used by others. Last school year 2008-2009, a new rule was implemented on-campus, in favor of ADMU’s support for the environment.

The Continued Green Revolution

In conjunction with the CLAYGO system a new system called Bring Your Own Baunan (BYOB) was implemented by the school administration with the help of the Student Council and the Environmental Science Society.

The premise of the BYOB is as follows:
• Cafeteria concessionaires will no longer be allowed to use any Styrofoam products in packaging their food. Instead, only paper products will be allowed.

• Concessionaires will also be provided with plastic plates, and metal spoon and forks, which students who dine-in the cafeteria or in nearby eating areas will use. Thus, the amount of trash will be lessened significantly

• Furthermore, students, faculty, and staff now have the option of bringing their own food containers such as reusable Tupperware. When they provide their own containers, they will receive a discount from any food concessionaire they buy from.

• Thus, not only will the amount of trash be reduced, but Ateneans will learn the value of reusing food containers as well.

On the other hand, students and teachers seem to disagree as to whether Styrofoam or paper is a bigger environmental hazard, and others also complain of the inconvenience that the BYOB system brings.

After all, you cannot take-out food unless you bring your own container. Also, the supposed discount is nullified by some concessionaires who just raised their prices in response to the project.

Nevertheless, the project was a success overall, and is a sign of the efforts the Ateneo de Manila University is making in its green revolution.

Let’s celebrate Earth Day 2009!

April 22, is Earth Day. This year’s theme Sibol: Earth Day 2009: Nurturing a Green Generation will embark the start of the Green Generation Campaign, the focus of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2010. The celebration aims to make people take steps and partake in saving Mother Earth and play a part in the following core principles of The Green Generation: A carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal; An individual’s commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption; Creation of a new green economy that lifts people out of poverty by creating millions of quality green jobs and transforms the global education system into a green one.

Furthermore, everyone is encouraged to participate and conduct their own activity in lieu of the celebration of Earth Day. Last year, our organization had a tree planting activity at Laguna Bay. We had 1000 seedlings and almost 50 students participated in the said activity. We are expecting to have another similar activity for this year and looks forward in having more participants.

Let us do our part for Mother Earth everyday even if it’s not Earth Day. Go extra-mile in saving our only Earth and revive its former air. Happy Earth Day everyone!

Earning money is easy with Recycled Paper.

Who said there is no money in recycling paper? They must be mistaking. Nowadays that the awareness of people about recycling paper has been intensified and companies even supports this campaign, many has made good money from selling recycled papers.

I can consider paper recycling as one of the oldest ways of making money from trash. It is easy especially when you have piles of used papers from school or office. Many shops are buying papers as long as it is not crumpled and wet. All you have to do is collect, save and sell, then that’s it! Easy money as they say.
I myself started to recycle paper couple of years ago. At first, it was not actually intended for selling or to make money out of it – really for the sake of recycling. What I did was I saved my school papers and reused the other side that is not printed or written on. But since it was piling-up, including the books, my mom thought of selling it. I was able to somewhat gain a small amount from it.

Recycling Papers will bring great benefits for you and for Mother Earth. If you think of making this as a business, you could start small. All it takes is hard-work, organization, and your time and you’ll find it easy to manage you Paper Recycling Business.

Before the 1930’s, Pasig River was a beautiful body of water that inspired poets, artists and ordinary people. Philippines national hero Jose Rizal was one of them. In the early 1900’s Pasig River was rich in aquamarine life giving sustenance to the people who were living along the riverbanks. The waters were clear and people got cool drinking water from it.

How did the Pasig River get polluted? With the industrialization of Manila, factories started to line up along the River. They started dumping their liquid wastes to the river. An oil depot was built along the Pandacan side of the River. People in Manila increased in number from a few thousand to 6 million.

Over the years, people built houses along the river mostly people who were from the provinces who trooped to the urban center for a dream of better life. Today, people who dwell along the riverbanks make the bulk of the urban poor in the Philippines. Since most of their houses don’t have access to government-supplied water, they use the river as their toilet.

People from inland Manila also started dumping their waste into the river because the government cannot keep up with the garbage collection system. As early as a decade ago, the solid and liquid waste in Pasig River have reached toxic level that it was proclaimed biologically dead.

There have been a number of projects aimed at rehabilitating the Pasig River: Piso para sa Pasig, Sagip Pasig and now Kapit Bisig sa Ilog Pasig spearheaded by the TV network giant ABS-CBN. The aim is to see Pasig River alive and supporting aquamarine and human life just like it was decades ago. Pasig River pollution is one of Philippines environmental issues that need the most urgent action.

Pasig River speaks a lot about who we are as a nation.

Let us give numbers to computer-related wastes we dump to our planet. How many computers do you think is manufactured everyday? How many printers? How many computers do a person buy over their lifetime? How many printers? How long is the lifespan of a computer before we dump them in junkyards? How many HP ink cartridges are recycles today?

Since I was in high school, I used 4 computers already. The first one I shared with my siblings. The second one was bought by my parents for my college dorm. The third one I bought using my first few months of salary. The last one that I have is a laptop.

I didn’t know what happened to the first computer. It was just wasn’t there anymore. The second computer is still in our house accumulating dust in the storage area. I gave my 3rd computer to my cousin who’s in college when I bought my laptop.

Now, the story of HP ink cartridges are a bit more complicated. I have been using my HP Deskjet printer since I was in college. It’s reliable although now there’s always the paper jam every other page I printed. Since I started using the printer, when the ink has run out, I discard the ink like I discard a banana peeling and then buy a new one.

It just made me realize how much the earth is burdened with HP in cartridges. Imagine how many people use HP printers and imagine how many of them run out of ink everyday. Those ink cartridges will go to our junkyards and will still be HP ink cartridges for another thousand and more years.

This is why I just realized why it’s a good idea go buy recycled ink cartridges. I was hesitant to buy because they say that the printer gets easily broken down. But a lot of people are already using them and so far their printers are still running smoothly.

So as not to burden the earth more, I will start using recycled HP ink cartridges. I hope there’s a more permanent solution to that but in the mean time, I think it will help a bit.