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A Slice of Utopia
Comforting serenity, sounds of musical conversations, soft and warm bristles of air’s embrace, and the sweet taste of peace - this is home, this is utopia. Utopia is something we painfully strive to achieve, but remains to be out of our reach. It is the taste of perfection we yearn for; a perfect society, perfect life, perfect relationships, and ultimately, a perfect world. Whether it is a mere figment of human imagination or a possible actuality in the distant feature, we’ll never truly know in our lifetime. However, at this point in time, traces of utopia are slowly seeping into the fabric of reality. Various conditions of utopia now seem to be manifested in different situations across the world. A slice of utopia in the midst of our chaotic world – that’s what CELL is.
The Center for Ecozoic Living and Learning or CELL is a non-government organization (NGO) that runs an organic farm which is also essentially an eco-spirituality center. This means that they operate without any financial aid from the government thus they are an independent organization. This special slice of utopia can be found in the heart of Silang, Cavite, in the Philippines, and our Advanced Environmental Education Elective Class had the privilege of visiting this place last October 1, 2016. Our facilitator during this visit was Kuya Benny who is part of this organization and was the one showed us around the place and enthusiastically shared his knowledge about the history of the place.
CELL first came to existence in 1998 through the collaborative efforts of 3 Columbian Priests. The term “ecozoic” that is featured in the name of this NGO is actually a coined term that sprung from the creative mind of Father Thomas Berry. It is a combination of 3 words: “Eco”, which means home, “Zo” (from zoo) which means life, and “Ic” which means era or period. Thus combining these three, the word “ecozoic” is born and it means means “A home that is full of life in a given period of time.” CELL primarily started as an experiment to determine whether it would be possible for a specific place to remain mainly ecologically undisturbed in this current world of ours through what is known as permaculture (permanent agriculture) farming. It features 6 zones: Zone 0 = where human activities occur, Zone 1 = Vegetable and Herbal Garden, Zone 2 = Small Animal Farm, Zone 3 = Flowering & Fruit bearing Trees, Zone 4 = Timberland, Zone 5 = Wildlife Zone and Reserve Pond. Beyond mere sustainable ecological development, it also prioritizes sustainable human development by promoting a lifestyle which goes back to the basics and allows one to contemplate on the innate simplicity of the foundation of life.
This place is surely a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively, as it is an escape from the industrialized cities we are commonly used to. Instead of the grays and blacks that commonly paint our usual surroundings, this place is an explosion of colors ranging from the vibrant green of the leaves to the stunning red of flowers and all the other eye-catching hues of the insects and animals living harmoniously in this place. However, the true awe factor of this place would be their sustainable environmental practices which, in this day and age, are truly challenging to maintain.
First on the list of their environmental practices would be their application of organic farming. This primarily means that they grow their crops and plants without the help of any pesticide or insecticide thus their produce is essentially chemical-free, which helps not only the environment but also humans. They also practice crop rotation which ensures that the soil would not be drained of its nutrients and would remain fertile. Furthermore, they also practice aquaponics which is a combination of aquaculture, the cultivation of fish, and hydroponics, the cultivation of plants in water or the “soil-less growing of plants” and this happens all in a single integrated system.
Next on the list would be their use of native architecture in their various infrastructures. The famous Nipa Hut is a common sighting in this place and by adapting such a form of architecture, “construction”, in every sense of the word, in this place does not have any significant negative effect on the environment. Cement is quite the nobody in this slice of utopia as it’s all about bamboos and gravel.
Third would be their dependence on renewable energy. Electricity from fossil fuels is not the trend in CELL. Instead, solar energy and biomass reign in this place. Most of the nipa huts that are occupied by the people who reside here, especially the priests, are equipped with solar panels that harvest energy from the sun which would then be converted into usable electricity. Moreover, even their sewage system is not the usual and stands out from all the sewage systems we know of. All their toilets are connected to a single septic tank. This septic tank is buried beneath a certain nipa hut. This specific nipa hut is actually home to what is known as the biodigester. The process of energy production begins with thee breakdown of organic material in the form of human excretes by various micro-organisms. This decomposition process produces biogas in the form of methane which is then connected to a gas burner. Thus the human wastes broken down in the septic tank essentially provide fuel to produce fire which they use for cooking food.
Fourth and last on the list would be their implementation of zero waste management. They have what is known as the Materials Recovery Facility or MRF where they segregate their already very minimal wastes. They sell their unsalvageable wastes to local junk shops and the money they garner from this would be donated to the public school in their vicinity in order to provide more school materials for the students. Thus, they are able to help not only the environment but also those in need in society.
From all these, we can clearly see that there is truly something that we can do in order to respond to the cries of Mother Earth especially in this point of time wherein climate change and global warming are inflicting more pain on our planet than ever before. It shows us that what we need to do is to have a change of lifestyle. Yes, it may be difficult, but it is attainable, and that’s what matters. As we are now presented with an effective model for having a sustainable lifestyle, it almost seems necessary for us to contemplate on our current situation in order to know if in the distant future, this utopia we yearn for would finally be what we would proudly call our common home.
As a part of today’s youth, the words “the youth is the hope of our future” incessantly rings loud in my ears. I am part of the generation that is expected to cause a widespread purging of our harmful practices and wasteful lifestyle. We are the ones who are supposed to change the course of our planet and divert it from the destructive path we are now going down on. However, our generation seems to be quite indifferent. We are aware of the situation we are in yet we lack action. The line towards change seems to come at an abrupt stop at awareness and doesn’t extend past to the point of action. Only a limited few actually do something to somewhat solve the problem of climate change and global warming but that is not enough. Our generation, as a whole, needs to work as single unit forging the path towards change. But that isn’t the reality we are seeing. Majority of the youth seem to be trapped in the box of indifference yet the key that would free us from this box are already in our hands. All we have to do is push the key through the hole and open the door.
We are now essentially living in a very crucial era. This is that point in time that would either make or break the future of our planet. Now is the time that action is needed more than ever. We’re actually now 1/3 into the race towards a healthier and better planet, what’s just needed is for everyone to join in the race. We have advanced technology at our fingerprints. Renewable energy sources are constantly being honed and further improved to be more efficient. Various sustainable variants of certain practices such as farming are being developed in a seemingly daily basis. We have the potential to surge a thousand steps forward in this race, but the problem is that not everyone has chosen to be a part of this race.
Thus, there is a pressing need for all of us, especially the youth, to break free from the shackles of indifference. We have to step out of the box of mere awareness and leap into action. The world continues to look at the youth as the catalyst for change thus, with the whole world as our audience, we have to lead by example. We, the youth, have to disprove all the negative stereotypes branded to us by society and live up to our “identity” as the hope of our planet’s future. So what’s the mechanism that would allow us to attain the change we so badly need? Primarily, it’s the conversion of our lifestyle from a wasteful and destructive one, to a more sustainable one. We have to rely more on renewable sources of energy as they possess great potential. Traces of an organic lifestyle must slowly and gradually seep into our current lifestyle in order for us to eventually transition to a fully organic lifestyle in the near future. Living out the 4Rs should be a must in our life. We should also promote a culture of peace within and among ourselves as chaos and conflict only lead to more destruction. At the tip of the iceberg of this mechanism would be minimizing our wastes extensively as by minimizing our wastes, we are actually maximizing the hope of our planet for a better future.
Let us all then join hands as we strive to establish more slices of utopia in this world of ours so that in the future, our world would be one whole utopia.
