Philippines: My Ecological Footprint (1b. Pre-Conference - Interactive Simulation Blogs)

Environment   Sep 11, 2017 by Luis Miguel Esguerra

Firstly, I would just like to mention that we took the simulation/calculations individually, because some of my fellow bloggers/COP-ers (Can we agree on that as our collective name?) have took it in groups.

With that said, here would be my responses to the questions posed on the two working calculators:

Ecological Footprint Calculator

1. So, apparently after taking the test, I ended up consuming 2.4 Earths with an Overshoot day of May 31, this in itself was a big surprise to me because, sadly, I have not considered much about my carbon footprints. As for the parts of my ecological footprint, I was not expecting my food consumption to have a big impact, in that it requires 1.4 global/ecological hectares to supply.

2. Based on the national data, the Philippines is producing 1.1 global hectares per person, I am above average.

3. Since the Philippines’ average ecological footprint, using the 2007 world Ecological data, is somewhat low, I can say that it would be better to compare the Philippines with its higher footprint neighbors, however there are countries that produces less than the Philippines. Let’s take Nepal, which has 0.98 gha per person, the reason why they are lesser is because Nepal is mostly in the mountains and is not that highly urbanized, or does not have much highly urbanized cities.

4. I believe that I can reduce my usage of personal transport and use public transport often, though the problem as far as my community is concerned would be how to improve said public transportation.

5. In my opinion, I think that it would be difficult in terms of affecting our status quo when it comes to the reduction of individual footprints. Firstly, we need everyone else to be with us in order to make an affect on our status quo. Secondly, we have the big companies who are producing a lot of ecological footprints. Thirdly, we have the lack of ecological friendly options, take the car for example, we all depend on it and yet it is expensive and bulky to use electric cars than, say, using the cheapest fossil fueled vehicle.

Water Footprint Calculator

1. I had a water footprint of 699 cubic meter per year. Was I surprised? Yes, or rather now I am aware of how much I use.

2. The world average is 1243 cubic meters per year, I cannot find much data on my country’s average. It seems that at least my footprint is not equal to the world average.

3. I believe I can reduce how much water-heavy food, or food that requires a lot of water to make such as meat from livestocks.

4. In the Philippines, mainly within the area of Metro Manila - my current region of residence in the country - our water is distributed by private companies. Problems arise when these private companies run into problems, such as with large private subdivisions that rely on their own supply of water and would not allow the private companies to supply water, that was my situation since my birth until when my private subdivision allowed the private companies to provide water in 2012.

Now, onto the Blog questions:

How do these simulations relate to your community? Do any of them feel irrelevant to your context?

Personally, I think they are relevant to my community because it allows us to have an understanding of what is going on, it also makes me question a few things; mainly what can I do to reduce my ecological footprint. As for contexts, I believe that some answers to the questions in the ecological calculator are the result of the current social situation. The Philippines has a problem with public transport, and as such we - including myself - are mostly attracted to using private transports, which I understand contributes dearly to our footprints.

How do these simulations help you (or not help you) find your place in combating climate change?

It is a common wisdom to know your enemy, and how to tackle and dismantle the said enemy. Our enemy is climate change, which is caused by our high ecological footprints. The simulations, mostly the ecological footprint calculator, allow us to know our current status and thus allowing us to commit to strategic actions that can reduce our footprints.

Have these simulations changed how you think climate change should be tackled?

Yes, I did not pay much thought to my consumption and my ecological footprints before, but now I know how much I am using up this Earth, this only Earth. I believe now that climate change should be tackled by everyone, both personal and by the corporations. Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, has released a encyclical letter that approached the issue of Climate change in a way that I think should be used by all of us, and that is by being inclusive of everyone.

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