Let’s turn our flappin’ mouths towards the environment for a change

Finally there is a bit of attention paid to environmental issues by the Editor of a major broadsheet — a courageous move for the managers of a for-profit media outfit that pitches their wares in a society that would rather salivate over ho-hum stories that validate The Collective Victim Mentality.

I laud that token attention. But the reality, alas, is bigger.

It is true that, if leading companies that are part of the “Imperative” like First Gen and Pilipinas Shell and SM do their part, the country’s carbon footprint would shrink over time.

I don’t think so, Mr. Editor. If you want reduction in absolute terms, the token gestures of “leading companies” just won’t cut it. Do the simple math based on the following realities:

:D Business growth depends on consumers consuming. Kaya nga governments are scambling to stimulate consumption nowadays. More consumers = More consumption. More consumption per consumer = More consumption too! So unless the average shareholder suddenly turns into Mother Theresa, I wouldn’t really count on what a bunch of Taipans crap on about.

:D The most optimistic outlook for energy efficiency gains (better/cleaner machines and better/cleaner energy sources) are seen to result only in a reduction in the growth of energy consumption. Even the most deluded optimism in the monkey business of forecasting efficiency gains sees no better than a halt to the rate of growth in consumption. The bottom line is that consumption can only be seen to grow in the next 50 to 100 years even with the most optimistic technological and collective action outlooks.

The above points made don’t bode too well for what you say next, Mr. Editor (interestingly in the same paragraph):

But the need is for Philippine carbon emissions to shrink significantly, and fast.

You got that part right, Mr. Editor.

Mother Nature does not care if emissions shrink on a per capita basis. It only cares if it shrinks in absolute terms.

Unfortunately, this is inconsistent with our pinning our hopes on our Taipans as my trusty Smileys One and Two point out. More importantly it does not align with what the Average Pinoy Schmoe aspires for — a fridge in every kitchen, an airconditioner in every room, a Honda Civic in every garage, and a karaoke in every sala. And don’t even get moi started on what the State Religion of Da Pinas would have us do — multiply like cockroaches.

So, tough luck for us if we are placing our bets on this one (again in the same paragraph, Mr. Editor):

For that to happen, ordinary citizens and consumers must make the initiative their own, too.

Asa ka pa.

Pinoys are too busy pissing on walls and dumping their crap on esteros to give a shit.

So what it seems does the Editor of the venerable broadsheet recommend?

Turn to trusty old Unlce Juan.

[...] the destination, wherever it is, cannot be reached without the government’s help. Laws to sanction bad behavior, rules to enable compliance with certain initiatives, incentives to reward reductions in emissions — there’s a whole slew of interventions the government can do to help fight global warming.

That seems a bit farfetched considering that even our society’s elite bloggers (much more the Average Pinoy Schmoe) would rather keep our moron politicians on their toes about the latest Shawarma Topic — dumbing our esteemed leaders and “representatives” down even further. How ironic, indeed. No wonder no bozo ever measures up. Not too surprising therefore that non-issues and mere token pandering to these using the usual unoriginal platitudes utterly dominate philippine election campaigns.

If “everyone with a stake in the future” is really serious about the environment, we should aim to aspire for a bit more than the pwede na yan initiative we are so quick to laud; an initiative that you yourself, Mr. Editor describe as:

“only a short-term, consensus-building campaign”

Even scarier:

The idea is to put our heads together. The roadmap will come at the end of the consultations.

Okay.

I feel the climate cooling already. :D

Based on what passes off as a meeting of minds in Pinoy Society — even in the most elite circles of the Philippine “intelligentsia” — I doubt if a democratic “grassroots” people-led “initiative” will ever materialise or deliver results.

I think we remain too beholden to our imagined “democratic power” and the emergent outcomes that collective behaviour often exhibits. Unfortunately emergent outcomes can never be reliably predicted (that’s the key nature of emergence). Just as no one predicted the de la Paz blog going super-viral, nobody predicted it going down the credibility crapper as well within weeks (and taking down with it the brand equities of a few other blogos to boot).

So be truly scared. Because climate is an emergent — and therefore ill-understood — outcome of the millions of input variables that feed into the cauldron of our environment. And lately, human activity as a proportion of those millions of variables is increasing in proportion. The outcome can go bad as likely as it may turn out to go good (as normally sweltering Manila is experiencing nowadays).

But who knows?

Ask the “experts”. :D

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