Boycott bottled water to save earth, urges Filipino bishop

Boycott bottled water to save earth, urges Filipino bishop
ENI-09-0597
By Maurice Malanes

Baguio City, Philippines, 28 July (ENI)--As a boy, Carlito Cenzon drank water straight from springs so he knew what it meant to feel connected with the planet.

Now, as the Roman Catholic bishop of Baguio in northern Philippines, Cenzon laments, "People have lost their interconnectedness with Mother Earth ever since bottled water became another well-advertised commercial consumer item." He was speaking at a 28 July forum in Baguio.

Cenzon recalled how, as a boy, he and his playmates would wander in the mountains without having to bring any packed lunch or water because, "we could always drink from springs and eat wild berries and other wild fruits".

The forum was to tackle ways in which citizens could get involved in protecting this city of 400 000 people from environmental decay. Asked what citizens could do to help their city, Cenzon, aged 70, said, "We can do simple, practical things like boycotting bottled water."

He cited studies saying bottling water leads to unnecessary use of plastics, as well as fuel for transport, which ultimately contribute to climate change.

A report published by the Department of Environment and Climate Change of the state of New South Wales, stated that in 2006, consumption of 250 million litres of bottled water by Australians was responsible for releasing 60 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, blamed for global warming.

Cenzon said an expert analysed the tap water at a centre from by the Catholic Church in Baguio and said it was cleaner and had more minerals than bottled water.

But in this city where leaking, poorly maintained pipes sometimes contaminate tap water, Cenzon said that citizens must be vigilant in asserting their right to clean and safe water.

"We must demand from our officials that providing us safe water must be part of good governance," said the bishop. But just to be sure, Cenzon said he invested on a portable filtration equipment to filter tap water "so I don't need to buy bottled water".

The bishop's bottled-water boycott drive supplements other similar initiatives elsewhere. In early July, Agence France-Presse reported that the Australian town of Bundanoon was set to ban bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact.

In Geneva, the Ecumenical Water Network, an international network of church-linked agencies campaigning on water, urges people to avoid bottled water wherever possible.

An environmentalist, Bishop Cenzon has also helped lead a drive to rehabilitate and reforest threatened watersheds in this city 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Manila, whose water demand increases to more than 100 000 cubic metres a day during the tourist season from December to May.

In Baguio, the war for water has just begun

INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON
Inquirer Northern Luzon : In Baguio, the war for water has just begun
By Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: July 28, 2009

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Baguio will be 100 years old by September 1, and already, it is experiencing signs of decay, which, experts say, can be stopped by long-term planning that transcends the terms of its elected officials.

The experts cite the dilemma of handling 144 tons of garbage daily, which calls for a more lasting solution than spending P65 million in seven months to haul these to a dump in Capas, Tarlac, about 100 kilometers away.

Be it garbage disposal system or other aspects of urban development, a lesson learned after 100 years stood out during a conference on the summer capital’s centenary at the University of the Philippines Baguio early this year.

This was the need for an urban development planning that would look beyond the three-year terms of elected officials.

Beyond a lifetime

UP Baguio economics professor Arturo Boquiren zeroed in on Baguio’s “carrying capacity,” particularly how it could provide water to a growing population.

Boquiren urged officials and planners to look farther ahead of their lifetimes and anticipate the city’s water needs a century hence.

Based on a 2.15-percent growth rate (1995-2000 census), Baguio’s 252,386 people in 2000 could swell to 2,510,784 in 2109. The population doubles every 32.5 years.

The 2.5 million people would require 180.7 million cubic meters of water yearly, based on a 220-liter per capita for both domestic and industrial uses, Boquiren said.

“Given Baguio’s land area of 57.49 square kilometers and 1.430 meters of rainfall per annum, rain could provide only 82.2 million cubic meters, even if we assume all lands of Baguio are utilized for rainwater capture,” he said.

“Thus, we will be about 100 million cubic meters of water short. This implies that we need more than double of Baguio’s land area devoted for rain capture to supply water for 2.5 million people.”

Following this scenario, Boquiren asked: “Do we want the [current] trend of development in the city to continue? What are our options?”

As it is, development continues to be concentrated within city environs. Boquiren thus supports the idea of dispersing development to neighboring towns so they can also benefit from the fruits of economic development.

Baguio has something to start with. After it was devastated by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 1990, European and local experts were mobilized to draw up plans to help rehabilitate the city. They came out with what was called the BLIST Structural Plan. (BLIST refers to Baguio and its neighboring towns—La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan and Tuba, all in Benguet.)

The kernel of the plan is to bring development throughout BLIST so that people will not flock to an already congested central business district and university belt.
Except for La Trinidad, the other BLIST members have sufficient water resources, which can sustain population growth.

Water governance

Supplementing the BLIST plan are recommendations by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (Iclei), which was established in 1990 when more than 200 local governments from 43 countries met during the first World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future in New York.

The Iclei studied Baguio’s water situation in 2004 and proposed a Sustainable Water Integrated Management (SWIM) program.

To institute the SWIM, then Mayor Braulio Yaranon signed Executive Order No. 4 in 2005, which seeks to strengthen coordination between national agencies, such as the National Water Resources Board, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and a yet-to-be-created City Resources Board.

The program includes the establishment of a Local Water Environmental Trust Fund to lock in eco-corporate responsibility over the use and pollution of water resources.

The BLIST and the SWIM remain on paper, waiting for the political will of officials to push serious long-term planning.

Threats

As more people occupy Baguio, the city faces threats and challenges, among them water-related.

Early this year, the Baguio Water District reported 800 illegally operated deep wells, which, it warned, would destroy the city’s aquifers, the ground sources of water.

People have already encroached on vital watersheds, building houses and other structures that threaten clean sources of a vital resource.

On the strength of a recent Supreme Court decision, the city government has scheduled the demolition of 34 houses in the Busol watershed reservation this week. Busol supplies 30 percent of the city’s water needs.

But the city government expects a confrontation with residents, who are decrying a supposed injustice and a selective process. Why out of hundreds of houses, only 34 were given demolition orders, they ask aloud.

They have vowed to put a fight.

Simplicity theology' for sustainable future

(Reprinted from Maurice Malanes'file)


Simplicity theology' for sustainable future

By Maurice Malanes, Ecumenical News International |

MANILA (ENI, 1/8/09) — A group of Christian leaders is pushing for a "theology of simplicity and caring" to bring hope to a "prodigal world" teetering under a burden of widespread economic crisis, and climate change that could submerge small islands in the Pacific.

"It is time to challenge the growth-is-success myth, which also has contaminated the Church, and shift to a more transformative way of thinking and lifestyle in tune with God's creative order and purpose," said Daniel Kim Dong-Sung of the Saemoonan Presbyterian Church in Seoul, which is said to be the oldest Protestant congregation in South Korea.

Linda Mead, a lay leader of the United Reformed Church in Britain, said the call of the times is for Christians to help lead the way in "living more simply amidst climate change."

Dong-Sung and Mead proposed actions such as taking public transport instead of using cars, recycling, and re-using products like old clothes, plastics and paper to reduce wastage and to help prevent unnecessary exploitation of resources.

"Let's recycle everything but sermons," urged Jione Havea, originally from Tonga and currently with the Charles Sturt University and the United Theological College near Sydney in North Parramatta, Australia.

The three Christian leaders were among participants from 24 countries who met from Dec. 12 to 16 in Manila to launch a global ecumenical movement for "economic and ecological justice" called Oikotree.

Mead reported that in Britain many churches are seeking to lower carbon emissions, to make lifestyle changes and to work with local communities. She noted that churches are looking at the theology behind climate change and how it will affect Bible studies and liturgy.

Edith Rassel of the United Church of Christ in the United States said her involvement in the movement for economic and ecological justice was not limited to resisting "neo-liberalism." It also includes promoting spiritual practices and lifestyles such as vegetarian meals and biking instead of driving.

Referring to small Pacific islands under threat of disappearing due to climate change, Makoni Pulu, a Pacific Conference of Churches youth leader, urged Christians to "see things in a new way as we wrestle to cleanse injustice and greed in our hearts."

Christians may also learn from indigenous and rural communities where sharing and caring are part of life, said Josephine Muchelemba, a Zambian theologian and church leader from Lusaka. "As children, my sister and I would share a blanket and our parents and neighbors would work the farms through the exchange of labor," said Muchelemba.

In the search for alternatives, Park Seong-Won of the Young Nam Theological University in Kyeong San, South Korea urged Christians "not to grow tired and weary in doing good" and to search for better alternatives to humanity's current rut.