8/28/2017 Reflections on an inconvenient truth - Manila Standard

Reections on an inconvenient truth

In keeping with the Universitys Environment Week, we watched Al Gores 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth in class. I had seen the movie before, but I
posted February 03, 2014 at 12:01 am by Manila Standard Business (http://www.thestandard.com.ph/search?q=Manila
was a good refresher to see the movie again and see how farStandard
weve come since then. After seeing the film, the first thought that came to mind was that the issue
Business)

predicted then are really what are happening in this day and age. What was then the biggest storm ever to hit any part of the earth (Katrina) was recently toppled
(or Haiyan) in the Philippines late last year.

Preparing for the new norm

This brings to mind a thought: it seems like we havent done anything significant since 2006 to prepare us for the eventual outcomes of global warming and for w
the new norm. Especially for us who have seen the film in 2006, it appears we have remained skeptical on the effect of global warming. It seems that from 2006
we have been like the frog in Al Gores presentationslowly accepting the changes in the environment and gradually allowing the changes to happen until the co
became unbearable.

I was watching a documentary made by Discovery Channel on Haiyan, and one of the things that the documentary focused on was the preparation of the people
Tacloban. There had been several warnings provided to the citizens of Tacloban and the other affected provinces in the regionof which they were told to seek s
higher ground to avoid flash floods, winds and debris. However, when the storm chasers went out at 3 a.m., there were still a lot of people staying in their houses
even playing billiards and drinking. The storm chasers theorize that since the people were not used to the term storm surge, had the warnings mentioned a tsu
people would have been more vigilant and they would have prepared better.

There is also the consideration that Tacloban is almost always experiencing rains and thunderstorms, owing to the geography and their position along the water c
Many thought that Yolanda was just going to be another one of the storms that pass their way.

Looking into new measures

As it is, even our government was ill prepared for the tragedy that was to come. In my opinion, I suppose that no one could have ever prepared for the typhoon, e
with that magnitude. However, amidst the tragedy that happened, there is certainly room for improvement when it comes to disaster preparedness. I would recom
the government look into measures to protect the city, especially the low-lying areas in Tacloban which are under risk of flooding even with regular storms.

There are different ways to do this. One angle to consider is installing breakwater measures and levies to protect the city from even the highest categories of stor
Another measure is to look into relocating people to areas with higher elevation. While certainly this is a difficult measure to take, considering land ownership and
worth noting that safety comes ahead of the risks of flooding and the loss of life by staying in that area. Another angle, albeit drastic, is to reclassify the land from
to commercial or industrialeffectively forcing people to relocate.

Promoting green technology

On top of these preventive measures, I would also recommend that the government promote green technology and elevate the use of products borne out of gree
technology. This can be done by both providing tax breaks to companies that produce biodegradable products and at the same time heavily penalizing abusers a
that do not comply. Some measures done in other countries involve what they call a carbon tax which is a penalty applied to companies that emit high CO2 em
Companies that can comply with standards similar to Euro-2/3 standards in automobiles will be given tax benefits while those who cannot comply will have to pa
tax. While this is the governments way of enforcing police power to compel people to protect the environment, enforcement is one of the challenges in applying c
especially as government manpower and resources are spread thin.

Finally, I am in the belief that a reward-consequence type of ordinance can be applied on to local government settings. Similar to the carbon tax mentioned abov
stiff penalties to citizens who do not comply with, say, waste segregation and recycling measures can be donesimilar to how cleanliness is managed in Singap
objective here is not only to bring consciousness about the environment but to instill behavior in people to protect the environment. This also works in favor of the
government.

Once the habit of waste segregation and recycling is enforced, the government can promote the city/municipality/town as a green city/municipality/town to attrac
businesses and private investors to invest in them. While enforcement will be a challenge, there are ways that these government units can make this happen, sta
removing corruption and re-distributing government funds to green enforcement efforts. The government can also look into partnering with private institutions in
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8/28/2017 Reflections on an inconvenient truth - Manila Standard

enforce green practice and, in return, provide tax breaks to these institutions.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of efforts that can be done by our government to combat climate change. It is important, though, that someone from within
government would champion these efforts to make it happen.

Al Gore told us in 2006 that now is the time to act. It is 2014. Maybe its high time that we do just the same.

Jose Ma. Velasco is an MBA student at De La Salle University. He wrote this reflection for his Lasallian Business Leadership class. He can be reached
jose_ma_velasco@dlsu.ph.

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