3.

1 Save the Holocene Environment, Save Man

The Holocene (or Anthropocene)

• The Age of Man

• refers to the last 11,700 years of the Earth’s

history (out of 3.264 billion years)

Our Early History: The Nomads

• pre-agricultural revolution

- environment recovery

- resource conservation

Our Early History: The Farmers

• agricultural recolution

- permanent communities

- increased population

- creation of artificial habitats

- destruction of environment

Our Early History: The Factory Workers

• industrial revolution

- fuel consumption

- waste generation

- environmental pillage

The Early Filipinos and their Environment

1. Filipinos during the Spanish Colonization
- Spaniards took advantage of the country’s
resources

- Spaniards thought the Filipinos were lazy

because we did not maximize the use of
resources

2. Filipinos under the American Colonization

- further exploitation of resources

Our Changing Image of Nature

• dominion: humans have dominion over other

species

• dominion ≠ domination but stewardship

Pair and Share

Urban Congestion

• those who believe in the concept of dominion • rural out-migration from absence of genuine
are required to “care for” the earth even as they agrarian reform

“work it”
• predominantly backward agricultural production

• displacement by rural infrastructure

Ecological Crisis
developments, privatization, and militarization

• “pollution is having too much of something in

the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Urban Poverty

• increased economic activity

• effect of urban congestion

• rapid growth in human population

• in Metro Manila, more than 50% of its 11 million
• increased waste generation
population live in slums or depressed areas

Global and Local Environmental Challenges

Thirsty World

• crowded earth
• our water sources are under pressure

• thirsty world
• less than 1% of all freshwater is readily
• the fragile soil beneath
accessible for human use

• the polluted air we breathe

• 1 in 5 don’t have access to safe drinking water

• trash, junk, waste, rubbish, litter, garbage…

• according to the UN, a child dies from a water-
• biodiversity loss
related disease every 15 seconds

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Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
1. municipal

• the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water 2. agricultural

which is required by microorganisms to 3. building and construction

decompose organic matter

4. trade and office complex

• the lower the BOD value, the higher the quality 5. hospital

of water
6. industrial

Metro Manila Air

Solid Waste Generation, Sources, and
• vehicles account for 93.53% of total airborne Composition

particulates
- Waste Generation: The Philippines’ waste
• 2.7 million vehicles pass through EDSA
generation continues to rise with the increase in
• private cars take 67% of road space
population, improvement of living standards,
• 30,788 registered jeepneys operating on 438 rapid economic growth, and industrialization
routes
especially in the urban areas. The NSWMC
• 2,132 registered buses operating on 123 routes calculated that from 37,427.46 tons per day in
2012, the country’s waste generation steadily
increased to 40,087.45 tons in 2016 with an
estimated average per capita waste generation
of 0.40 kilograms per day for both urban and
rural. The National Capital Region (NCR), as
expected, generated the biggest volume of
wastes for the past 5 years due to its
population size, bigger number of
establishments and modernized lifestyle. With
an estimated population of 12 million people,
Metropolitan Manila generated 9,212.92 tons
per day of wastes in 2016. It is followed by
Region 4A with waste generation of 4,440.15
tons per day (11.08%) and Region 3 with
3,890.12 tons per day (9.70%) (NSWC).

Solid Waste Management

• all activities that seek to minimize the health,

environmental, and aesthetic impacts of solid
waste

• waste segregation: designated bins for

biodegradable, plastic, PET bottles, etc.

Problems in Solid Waste Management

• improper disposal

The Fragile Soil Beneath

• i n e ff e c t i v e c o l l e c t i o n d u e t o i m p ro p e r
• due to human activities
segregation

- uncontrolled grazing of animals

- deforestation or indiscriminate logging

Global and Local Environmental Challenges
- excessive fertilizers and pesticides
1. The Promise and Pitfall of Technology
- land conversion and massive infrastructure - Te c h n o l o g i c a l I n n o v a t i o n a n d
projects
Environmental Impact (Ehrlich & Holden,
• desertification
1971)

• salinization
• impact = population x affluence x
• soil erosion
technology

• impact = population x (economic

3.2 good / population) x (pollutant /
Solid Waste
economic good)

• waste coming from human and animal activities • impact = pollutant

that are normally solid and are discarded as - each product we consume and use comes
useless or unwanted
with an inheritance of waste

• our solid waste problem is mainly caused by our - [insert diagram]

behavior

2. Biodiversity Loss
Sources of Waste
- [insert diagram 1]

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 - [insert diagram 2]
Exposure

• the situation of people, infrastructure, housing,

The Social and Technological Transitions (Local production capacities, and other tangible human
and Global Responses)
assets located in hazard-prone areas

• from fossil fuels to efficient and renewable

energy
Vulnerability

• application of the best sceince to “design with • conditions which increase the susceptibility of
nature”
an individual, a community, assets, or systems
• promoting international approaches to pollution to the impacts of hazards

reduction
• Why are these individuals or sectors sensitive or
• from materials-intensive technologies (“high susceptible to the hazards they are exposed to?

throughput” — using more materials) to “closed • linked to “skewed” development

technologies

• shift to “honest economics”

Adaptive Capacity

• evolution to a stable world population

• combination of all the strengths, attributes, and
resources available within an organization,
What Can We Do?
community, or society to manage and reduce
• practicing responsible consumption
disaster risks and strengthen resilience
• pursuing sustainable lifestyle

• being earth citizen Analysis of Risk

[insert diagram]

3.2
*There is no such thing as a natural disaster.

Disaster

• “a serious disruption of the functioning of a Paradigm Shifts

community or a society at any scale due to • 1978: PD 1566 (Establishing the National
hazardous events interacting with conditions of Program on Community Disaster Preparedness)

exposure, vulnerability, and capacity, leading to • pre-disaster —> Emergency —> Post
one or more of the following: human, material, Emergency (warning-response-relief)

economic, and environmental losses and • disaster coordinating councils

impacts” (UNISDR, 2017)

• astrum (star) —> astro + dis- (bad) —> disastro • 2005: Hyogo “Framework for Action 2005-2015:
—> disaster
Building the Resilience of Nations and
Communities to Disasters

Disaster Risk
• recognition that long-term development is
• potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or disrupted by disasters

damaged assets which could occur to a system,

society, or a community in a specific period of • 2010: RA 10121 “Philippine Disaster Risk
time, determined probabilistically as a function Reduction and Management Act”

of hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and capacity • holistic assessment and management of risk

Risk
• 2015: Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
= (Hazard x Exposure x Vulnerability) / Adaptive Reduction (2015-2030)

Capacity
• widened scope of disaster risk reduction

1. understand disaster risk

Hazard
2. strengthen disaster risk governance

• a process, phenomenon, or human activity that 3. invest for resilience

may cause loss of life, injury, or other health 4. enhance disaster risk

impacts, property damage, social and economic

disruption or environmental degradation
• Top-down & centralized disaster management —

• Anthropogenic: e.g. fire, virus spread,

meltdown of nuclear reactions (caused by The Role of S&T

human activities) • a scientific mindset is crucial to ensuring

• Socio-natural: e.g. flood, landslides (caused by robust and evidence-based decision-making for
our actions)
DRRM

• Natural:
• S&T innovations also produce both knowledge
• Types: and solutions critical to every theme in the
1. discrete or continuous
NDRRM framework and plan

2. rapid or slow-onset

[insert diagram]

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• Preparedness: characterization, prediction and
forecasting, and monitoring of hazards

• Response: effective emergency measures

• Recovery: restoring or improving livelihoods

and health, as well as economic, physical,
social, cultural, and environmental assets,
systems, and activities

• Prevention & Mitigation: detailed and

contextualized risk assessments

Disaster S&T and Communication

[insert picture]

When S&T Are Not Enough

• wind speed, rainfall in mm vs. possible risks

• Basey, Samar: “we were not able to imagine the

severity of the impact”

• Risk Communication: “exchange of info,

advice, opinion between experts & the people
facing threats to their health, economic, or social
well-being

Bottom-up and Participatory DRR

• community-based DRRM

• the community is involved in every step of

crafting the plan

• plan is community specific; customized to their

needs and situation

Indigenous Knowledge Meets Disaster Science

• long and well-established

• Rapu-rapu, Albay

• shape and color of clouds, waves

• odor from the sea

• ????????

• Bahay na Bato (Batanes)

• challenge: indigenous knowledge viewed as

backward / primitive

The School Community

• schools: not just centers of knowledge and

information, but also spaces where values and
behaviors for safety and resilience are formed

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