I’ve made no secret about my support for Nicanor Perlas, who is neither my relative, family friend, nor ninong.
Glad to see others are recognizing the same:
Perlas best bet to solve water woes, survey shows (Inquirer, 23 March 2010) — Environmental groups EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace show the results of their “Green Electoral Initiative” (GEI) survey, which ranks the presidential candidates’ green value based on their platforms on clean water. Highest mark of 8.7 points (out of 10) goes to Nick Perlas. Sen. Jamby Madrigal is second with 7.8 points, followed by Gordon with 7.2 points.
P30,000 water system solution–Perlas (Inquirer Visayas, 16 March 2010) — Nick Perlas gives a solution to water problem for farms that costs P30,000, can be set up in three days, and can irrigate three to five hectares of farms.
NOTE: This site got hacked last month and boo that my back-up didn’t include the latest 4 posts (lesson learned: back-up everyday!). I’m resurrecting this third of four posts (original publish date: January 2010) from loose emails and saved drafts.
Look at these ingenious jeepneys spotted in Leyte!
Got these pics in the email last January 2010 from Dorothy Llariza, who said they were passed along by an acquaintance from India. At first glance, friends and I were quick to dismiss these jeepneys as “surface green”–they use bamboo and other indigenous materials, but still have the same constitution as their CO2-guzzling cousin…. or so we thought.
An online search just now led me to the site of TOTI Eco, which as it turns out is another ingenious project by a local government official (and also the source of the pics doing the email circuit)!
Feeling the need for a low-cost, fuel-efficient, safe, and environmentally-friendly alternative mode of transportation (versus the accident-prone habal-habal, a motorbike usually overloaded with passengers), Tabontabon mayor Dr. Rustico Balderian created the Tabontabon Organic Transport Industry (TOTI) Eco cars, which proudly claim to be a revolution in transportation:
Important Points to Keep in Mind About a Bamboo Car vs. Vehicles of Steel
-Our bamboo cars run 100% on coco-biodiesel.
-90% made of bamboo.
-Bamboo is indigenous & renewable.
-Bamboo is stronger in tensile strength than steel.
-It takes 5 tons of ore to make 1 ton of steel plate.
-Consider the heat needed to process 5 tons of ore.
-Made by Tabontabon’s Out-of-School Youth
ECO 1
ECO1 can seat 20 people including the driver. It can run on ONE gallon of Biodiesel fuel for 8 hours. It can climb more than 20% grade. It is covered in banig the Filipino woven mat.
ECO 2
ECO2 is made of bamboo, seats 8 passengers, and has a stereo with sound system. It also runs on one gallon of biodiesel fuel for 8 hours.
Future Models
Other models in production include another vehicle made of bamboo…including the chassis.
Estimated cost of Eco1 amounts to P200,000. Not sure how this compares to the steel Sarao…
Other projects by Mayor Balderian include the production of shredders, boilers and bio-reactors for solid waste management (package cost is at P650,000) and livelihood projects that reuse plastic waste into slippers, bags and bricks.
Bamboo Bikes by Kawayan Tech (Oct 2009). Video below shows clips of the bamboo bike building workshop by Craig Calfee held in the Yap Farm, San Jose, Tarlac last July 6-11, 2009:
NOTE: This site got hacked last month and boo that my back-up didn’t include the latest 4 posts (lesson learned: back-up everyday!). I’m resurrecting this second of four posts (original publish date: January 2010) from loose emails and saved drafts.
Check out this Eco house made by Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival (cost him around Php7M!). Dubbed “the house close to nature”, it occupies 400sqm (in a 7,000 sqm property), is self-sustaining, and uses lots of recycled materials. It has facilities for vermicomposting (30 wormbeds!) and wastewater treatment, and a pig farm with a biodigester (which harvests gas that can be used for cooking).
The artist community I want to build in Tagaytay will be something like this, but with a bigger open space in the middle that’s open to the public, and (hopefully) a lively, creative mix of residents surrounding it..
In any case, I’m glad to see the green-home concept is being implemented already, and by government people at that!
UPDATE: Councilor Archival was recognized just this month (March 2010) as one of the country’s top 10 councilors, and yes, for his environmental efforts!
Colleagues pick Archival among RP’s 10 outstanding councilors
Out of 10 national awardees, Archival is the only one from the Visayas. Archival attributed his win to his advocacy on mixing environmental awareness with livelihood.
He said Cebu City’s “Kwarta sa Basura” program not only promoted clean surroundings through garbage segregation, but also provided livelihood.
Another program Archival initiated was the Metro Cebu Air Shed Board (MCASB), the first of its kind in the country.
The MCASB is composed of local chief executives in Metro Cebu who agreed to take part in efforts to improve the quality of air in their communities.
Archival proposed the creation of MCASB last year. It is supposed to help the Department of Environment and Natural Resources check air quality, set emission standards, determine penalties for violators in a particular air shed, as well as draw up anti-pollution programs suited for a given area.
Archival is also responsible for the formation of the Cebu Environmental Sanitation and Enforcement Team (Ceset), which allows the strict implementation of environmental laws, such as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law.
As of yesterday, about 20,000 violators have been formally charged through the help of the local police, and about P2 million have been collected as violation fees.
Aside from Archival, other winners of this year’s PCL 10 Outstanding Councilors of the Philippines were Edwin Piano of Olongapo City, Abigael Sable of Santiago City, Ellen Reyes of San Pablo City, Raul Rivera of Cabancalan City, Gedo Jarbin Jr. of Legazpi City, Roman Melliza of General Santos City, Lourdes Tabanda of Baguio City, Aurelio Paolo Bartolome of Taguig City and Maria Belen Acosta of Davao City.
NOTE: This site got hacked last month and boo that my back-up didn’t include the latest 4 posts (lesson learned: back-up everyday!). I’m resurrecting this first of four posts (original publish date: January 2010) from loose emails and saved drafts.
I really want to go visit this biodynamic farm owned by the Gutierrez family in Lubao, Pampanga.
My friend Cris sent me pictures taken by Issa Manalo Lopez on a recent visit– REALLY interesting what they’ve done there.. and they integrated a Waldorf school into the farm. so cool!
It’s been over a month since I joined the Huffington Post’s No Impact Week project, a group experiment on carbon-cleansing for one whole week. Participation from all over the world was very encouraging to say the least! A girl named Rachel from Holland, for example, shared a cool new transportation option for the green mommy:
Holland's new pride, the modern bakfiets! (image source)
Other interesting ideas shared: a sharing cooperative among neighbors for common household tools, natural alternatives to shampoo, geocaching (treasure hunting using GPS).
Chanced upon the No Impact Week challenge on Huffington Post a few days ago. The idea is to live for a week with zero or reduced impact on the environment, based on the year-long experiment by Colin Beavan, known as No Impact Man:
HuffPost Green and HuffPost’s Eyes & Ears Citizen Journalism Initiative are thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the No Impact Project, a non-profit started by Colin Beavan, to bring our readers the first No Impact Week. This week will give people the opportunity to examine and reduce their ecological footprint by taking part in a short and intense period of conscious consumption supported by local and online communities.
…
As we learned more about Colin, and saw No Impact Man, the documentary film and read his book of the same title, about his family’s year-long experiment, we were downright inspired. The documentary follows the Beavans’ journey as they incrementally lowered their impact through phases, such as making no trash, only eating food grown within 250 miles, using no carbon producing transportation (not even the subway!) and finally, no electricity in their home. By year’s end their impact was down to nearly zero.
Primary takers so far are Americans and Europeans, but I really want to give myself an honest shot at it.
The global project starts this Monday, October 18. Are you ready to try this for yourself? Take a look here or download the No Impact Week Guide here and let me know, so at least I’ll have a friend to dial when I’m ready to scream and pull out my hair from the birthing pains of this first step towards going green!
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Today, October 15, is Blog Action Day, and the theme for this year is Climate change. Visit www.blogactionday.org to see the green ruckus from all over the blogosphere today.
Plastic clogged the drains, relief goods in plastic will clog the drains even more. The Acacia Waldorf school in Sta.Rosa, Laguna shows us an alternative: packing relief goods (food/meals in particular) using good old banana leaves…
Photo from Dale Diaz shows 500 meals of rice, tuyo and hardboiled egg in “green” packaging.
Other alternatives (taken from calls of help from We Philippines as reposted on facebook): used (but still usable!) blankets, bedsheets, pillow cases, towels, curtains and tablecloths to pack goods with.
First heard about this revolutionary invention that lets people drink filthy floodwater from my dad. Was super excited to read about an initiative by The Clean Water Project to bring the Lifesaver bottle to the Philippines:
The Clean Water Project aims to transform the deadly floodwaters of Typhoon Ondoy (international name Ketsana) into life giving, pure drinking water. It is a collaboration among old friends who are committed to doing whatever we can do, and work for as long as there is work to be done.
Inventor Michael Pritchard explains how this works:
LIFESAVER bottle removes all micro-biological contamination from water.
LIFESAVER bottle has been thoroughly tested by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine showing that even the smallest of viruses were removed. Download the LSHTM laboratory test results HERE.
The smallest bacteria measures 200NM (nanometres) whilst the smallest virus measures about 25 nanometres. The ultra filtration membranes in the LIFESAVER Ultra-Filtration cartridge have pore sizes of only 15 nanometres, this means that no contamination can pass through into the drinking water.
The pump creates pressure within the bottle which forces water through the membranes leaving the dirt and contamination on the other side of the membranes.
Here’s a 10-minute video with Michael Pritchard from TED.com (filmed during the most recent TED Global last July 2009):
Shorter demo video from the BBC here:
More info on the Lifesaver website, where donations for Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) victims are also accepted.
Behind The Clean Water Project are two Pinays: Tish Vallés, a strategic planner, advocate and social entrepreneur based in New York, and Denise Celdran, an artist, environmentalist and advocate. They say that the British manufacturer has “kindly offered a 35% discount on the bottles for relief efforts. For the $100.00 each Lifesaver bottle costs, we will help provide from 4,000 – 6,000 liters of safe drinking water. That is from $0.016 – $0.25 per liter!”
Although help is welcome from all aspects,
We are also very collaborative, and welcome like-minded action-oriented groups and individuals to participate in this project. Please email tish@strategicstiletto.com to start a discussion.
the urgent need is funding, which can be done through paypal, cash or cheque donations. Visit the donation page or email cleanwaterfund@gmail.com for arrangements.
Found through Panjee Tapales (thanks!), who says that the Lifesaver jerrycans, which can “process up to 20,000 litres of clean sterile drinking water without the aid of chemicals,” are also coming in December!
Let’s spread the word and help getting this initiative going!
Here’s one that might be of use to us in the rebuilding efforts post-Ondoy and Pepeng: Katrina Practicum (Spring 2006), a course offered by the Urban Studies and Planning department.
Course description says:
In the wake of Katrina the entire gulf coast is embroiled in a struggle over what constitutes “appropriate” rebuilding and redevelopment efforts. This practicum will engage students in a set of work groups designed to assist local community based institutions and people in shaping the policy and practices that will guide the redevelopment and rebuilding efforts in the city of New Orleans.
View lecture notes, course syllabus, and other materials here.
I’ve made no secret about my support for Nicanor Perlas, who is neither my relative, family friend, nor ninong.
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