HOPELESSNESS will not drive people into action. With the issues we all share and deeply care about – stronger typhoons, rising seas, unsustainable food production and wastage, encroaching of development in protected areas and vulnerable coasts, and plastic choking our waterways and flooding our streets – we may feel hopeless.
Some of us will feel frustrated and angry for many valid reasons. Why are corporations not cleaning up after their business? Why is government not providing us enough service? Why cannot we build a society that works together for solutions?
We need to see our brothers and sisters out on the streets expressing their frustrations and pressuring decision-makers in business and government. These actions are rooted from hope that things will change for the better, and not from anger nor a desire for anarchy. Yet more importantly, all of these actions we need to take cannot lead to a stalemate of hopelessness where we do not believe people or organizations or societies can change.
I share these realizations from the National Geographic (NatGeo) Explorer Encounters for Conservation Storytelling in a Digital Age, held last Saturday, September 1, at Manila House in Bonifacio Global City. The event was presented by Masungi Georeserve, Forest Foundation Philippines, with the support of the National Geographic Society.
Some of the people at the NatGeo Explorer Encounters are not new to campaigns for change especially to protect, conserve, or sustainably use resources. Some go out on the streets to protest. Some of them negotiate. Some of them collaborate with corporations and governments for solutions. Some of them dedicate their lives on scientific research to better understand species, especially how their survival relates to our own. Some use their talents in photography, filmmaking, data interpretation, journalism, and art, to tell conservation stories, which are essentially stories of hope.
As a kid, I grew up dreaming about exploring with National Geographic, either as a writer or filmmaker. That dream lives on today, and being in the same room with these inspiring storytellers – like Sally Snow and Alessandro Ponzo, Executive Directors of the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute, molecular ecologist and NatGeo Explorer Prasenjeet Yadav, photographer and another NatGeo Explorer Hannah Reyes-Morales, and those in the crowd with equally captivating journeys – moved me to remember hope is our crucial currency in conservation.
Last week’s Plastic Waste Solutions Summit held on August 28 in the City of Bayawan in Negros Oriental also felt like a family gathering. We, as organizers from SWEEP: Sea Waste Education to Eradicate Plastic, in partnership with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation (PRRCFI), Provincial Environment Management Office of Negros Occidental (PEMO), and the City of Bayawan, knew the fact that partner local governments, enterprises, and communities coming to the summit to recognize our plastic pollution problems and seek solutions, is already a cause for celebration.
Our idea of celebration was to showcase the practices, policies, technologies, and business models both existing and needed by stakeholders to reduce the flow of plastic to the ocean. It is common for us to see solving this problem of marine plastic pollution as some sort of uphill climb, especially when we see truly disappointing gaps in governance, lack of financing and infrastructure, and the “dirty” politics of solid waste management. That uphill climb is symbolized by piling trash in dumpsites that earn notice of violations from the Environmental Management Bureau. But we look around and see that many people are with us in that uphill climb – with varying strategies and levels of commitment, but together nevertheless.
The parties who attended the Summit signed the Bayawan Agreement – a declaration of commitment to act on plastic waste in three cities and municipalities – Bayawan, Sipalay, Bacolod, Cauayan, Hinoba-an, Basay, Sta. Catalina and Siaton. The commitment is to implement updated Solid Waste Management Plans that have dedicated section on actions for managing plastic waste, and to legislate policies and programs through local ordinances, so we can significantly reduce plastic pollution in these parts of Negros Island by 2020.
That signing of a commitment may be a mere ceremony, but even before the summit, we see the model of Sipalay City and its political will in public hearings for local legislation to reduce single-use plastic. Bacolod City has a 2011 Plastic Bag Regulation Ordinance that authorities are moving to implement again and amend for updated regulation, thanks to Bacolod’s advocates working hard for it. We know that the summit, or any similar event, should not remain ceremonial. We need to and we can make these changes happen. A mantra for us: Hope is our currency.
But to have hope is not just a romantic or poetic pursuit. Our friends at movements like for zero-waste, sustainable tourism, and/or organic food know that hope is action. Hope is every little effort we make. Hope is learning from the past but not dwelling in it. Hope is nurtured by compassion and wisdom, translated to innovation needed for our shared future.
This week is a journey of hope for Danjugan Island, too. Our team with our head guide from Bulata will be visiting Masungi Georeserve in Rizal as part of a learning exchange between the two landmarks for conservation tourism. I will be happy to tell the story in the next column. On September 8, I will be sharing our community’s humble quest in “Reducing the Flow of Plastic to the Ocean” at the Diving Resort Travel (DRT) Expo in SM Megatrade Hall in Mandaluyong.
When we tell conservation stories in these gatherings, it is not necessarily success that we speak about. We cannot speak as if we know the shining solution to any societal problem, but we can only speak from desired faith in our hearts and innovation in our brains. It is for us to seek clarity of mind to “be the change you want to see in this world”, and for that to happen, we cannot afford to be bankrupt in our currency of hope.