Japan's Lessons on the Economy and the Environment: A Pollution Experience

In the past few years, we have looked up to Japan as a nation of strong economy. They are one of the leaders in modern technology. May it be in automobiles up to different gadgets and electronic appliances we utilize in our daily lives. But amidst all of these, upon watching the video, "Japan's Lessons on the Economy and the Environment: Our Pollution Experience", we have learned about the unfortunate experience of the Japanese as they pay for the consequences of their consumption without considering its effects to their environment, and eventually, to their health.

After the 2nd world war, it became the primary objective of the Japanese government to strengthen their economy. Economic development through mass production of goods became the priority of the whole country. The Prime Minister of Japan that time even had a "Doubling of Income" Plan, to realize a drastic increase in GNP. As a result, in a span of 10 years, Japan attained second highest GNP in the world (second to US). But along with economic development, problems in pollution also came up. Illnesses such as Itai-Itai Disease, Minamata Disease, and Yokkaichi Asthma affected those who reside near heavy factories.

The said diseases worsened, and different studies proved that the cause of these diseases are contamination of the immediate environment of the patients. This led to the protest of these people living near the factories against the factory owners. A trial was held, and the final decision of the court was in favor of the plaintiffs. In action to these problems, the Japanese government enacted laws which would hold companies responsible for proper waste disposal. The companies were authorized to provide equipments which would clean their respective polluted areas. These countermeasures used cost a very huge sum of money, but in the end, no amount can compare to the number of lives taken due to improper waste disposal.

Economic development is good, but we must not forget that we should find a "harmony" between our economy and our environment. Because although these problems may not be present in our own country right now, we must understand that there is always a possibility that this will happen if we don't learn from the experiences of Japan in economy and the environment. After all, prevention is the best cure to any illness.

 

El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area

The El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area is located on the north-western tip of mainland Palawan. In 1991, the Government of the Philippines proclaimed Bacuit Bay as a marine reserve. In 1998, the protected area was expanded to include terrestrial ecosystems and portions of the municipality of Taytay. It is now known as El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, which covers over 36,000 hectares of land and 54,000 hectares of marine waters. It contains towering limestone cliffs, beaches, mangroves, clear waters, unique forests over limestone and neat farmlands. It is home to five (5) species of mammals, including the Malayan Pangolin and 16 bird species endemic to Palawan including the threatened Palawan Peacock Pheasant, the Palawan Hornbill and Palawan Scops Owl.  Bacuit bay is also home to the dugong, dolphins and marine turtles, many of which are threatened species. Colorful coral reef fishes are found here. Some of these are the: butterflyfishes, parrotfishes, wrasses, triggerfishes, angelfishes, surgeonfishes, damsel fishes, emperors,snappers, groupers and rabbit fishes.

The climate in El Nido is distinguished by two seasons: generally dry, from December to May, and wet, from June to November. April and May are typically the driest months, while the heaviest rainfall occurs around August.

In 1996, the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area was selected as one of the eight Protected Areas within the Philippines, to be included in the National Integrated Protected Areas Programme (NIPAP). The NIPAP was financed through a grant from the European Union (EU) with a progressively increasing contribution from the Philippines Government through the DENR. The overall objective of the program to help protect, conserve and manage natural habitats and biodiversity.

The provincial government has also mobilized its citizenry to actively participate in various environmental conservation and protection programs, such as the "Bantay Gubat" for forest protection, and the "Bantay Dagat" for the marine life preservation. Patrolling within the Protected Area especially in the marine zones is regularly conducted with the help of the World Wildlife Fund - Philippines that allocates funds to support the said activity.

The uniqueness of El Nido Reserve as compared with similar sites in the Philippines is that it partakes of the fact that the flora and fauna of the island of Palawan has affinities that are closer with that of the island of Borneo than those of the rest of the Philippines. This is due to the fact that geologically, the island of Palawan is connected to the island of Borneo and hence to mainland Southeast Asia as late as the Pleistocene Epoch. Due also to the relative isolation of the island from the rest of the country, its waters are pristine.

The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour is a documentary film about the state of the natural environment. It primarily speaks of the present situation of our planet, the inevitable outcome of our actions if we continue our ways, and possible solutions to, at least, lessen the effects of global warming to us human beings. These topics were presented in an orderly manner through the views of various politicians, scientists, and environmental activists.

Problems such as Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the ocean's habitats are all addressed. As I watch the film, I became aware of the present state of our environment and the future problems that we will be facing if we keep on our culture of consumerism. It has been pointed out in the film that the world has this balance between human beings and nature. This balance has kept our planet stable for a few thousands of years. But as human beings learned to build machines, in addition to the increase in population, we started to consume more of our natural resources to the point where we are already utilizing more than what our planet could provide. We altered the balance. This led us to the main problem, the way human beings think. Our mentality of being superior among all creation is our biggest mistake. Because of this mentality, we thought that we could just get off with our irresponsible exhaustion of natural resources. What we did not know was that if we continue our irresponsible actions, we are the ones who would suffer.

One specific topic that struck me during the film is about fossil fuels. It was in this film that I learned that the main cause of global warming is because fossil fuel is man's main source of energy, and burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide which would aid in the increased rate of warming in the earth's atmosphere.
The last part of the film provided us with possible ideas for a sustainable future. But I think that the most viable solution is the use of renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro-energy instead of fossil fuels. This would therefore help decrease the rate of global warming.

After watching the film, I felt sad because I could not imagine what kind of earth the future generations would have if we continue our culture of consumerism without taking into consideration sustainability. I also felt challenged as to how could I contribute in creating a sustainable future. As a student, I know that simple actions like recycling and less reliance to wasteful technology are possible contributions.

Root Cause Analysis

In the present time, human beings are now aware of the problems we are facing with regards to the present situation of our environment. We know that the future of this planet lies in every action that we choose to take. And as responsible citizens of a rapidly developing world, we need to take actions in order to preserve our environment. But before doing this, we need to understand what these problems are and in what simple, yet, effective ways can we help in solving the said problems. Discussing this with two of my classmates, we came up with a main problem which we really think is one of the most pressing matters that we are currently facing, Energy shortage.

We came up with a Root Cause Analysis pyramid shown above. The image presents the main problem in its top, and the causes below it. Every arrow represents the question "why?", because we know that if we keep asking this specific question, we will come up with the root cause of the main problem. In this way, we will know what actions we need to take in order to help solve the problem in the main problem we chose, which is energy shortage.

As a group, we have concluded that the current problem in energy shortage could be solved if we would rely less on "wasteful" or energy consuming technology. We had this conclusion because we have observed that people nowadays are fond of utilizing wasteful technology. From inefficient car engines to simple devices we use everyday like laptops and mobile phones. We just consume and waste energy without thinking of the possible consequences of our actions. If only we could rely less on these wasteful technology, we could greatly contribute in solving the energy crisis.

Contributing to Sustainability

Alternative Transportation

 As a student and as a commuter as well, I contribute to sustainability every day that I go to school through the use of alternative transportation. Since my school is far from our house, I often take public means of transportation like riding jeepneys and trains. And whenever I need to go to places which are not very far, I grab the chance to either ride a bike or walk/jog to my destination which would also serve as my exercise. Not only are these means of transportation cheaper, they also help in reducing the consumption of fuel and electricity, which are sources of energy of modern transportation vehicles.

Recycling Paper

 Another simple act that I can do to contribute to sustainability as a student is through recycling paper. Paper is one of the most commonly used materials in school may it be in notebooks, books, research and test papers, etc. It would be a great contribution if each individual in school would do their share of maximizing the use of papers. For example, some of my notebooks from the last semester still has empty leaves. I chose not to buy new notebooks and decided to use the empty pages for my subjects for the second semester. And for research papers which would not be used because they were returned to us after checking, I use the back pages as scratch papers when I need to solve math problems or make reviewers for exams.

Sustainability saying

"We do not inherit this land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

- Haida Indian saying.

The quoted saying above perfectly explains the concept of sustainability. It means taking into account the future. Because everything we do at the present time would greatly affect the future generations, our children. Especially now that the world is experiencing manifestations of the mistakes made by the past generations through global warming, food shortage, and other negative impacts. We need to start being responsible about our actions, specifically in our consumption of our scarce natural resources.

What is Sustainability?

Sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being for humans, which has ecological, economic, political and cultural dimensions.

It requires the reconciliation of environmental, social equity and economic demands - also referred to as the "three pillars" of sustainability.