Why we need proper waste management?

by A.S. Cajes

Waste is a resource that is thrown away somewhere because society does not know how to use it. It can take the form of a damaged, broken, defective, extra or unnecessary material produced by a manufacturing process.

Manufacturing refers to the “act or process of generating something”. In this sense, Planet Earth is a huge manufacturing plant. For instance, the planet, through its fundamental ecological processes, combines one atom of carbon and two atoms of hydrogen to form water, which the planet transforms into various states, such as ice, liquid or vapor in a process called the water cycle.

But unlike its artificial counterparts, the planet does not produce waste that cannot be assimilated or absorbed by the natural system. This idea leads to the concept of non-biodegradable waste or stock waste. Stock wastes, such as plastic and tin cans, are resources dumped somewhere and remain there for a long period of time. Because society keeps on throwing stock wastes, more and more non-biodegradable wastes are dumped somewhere until society finds it hard to find a place to store the waste.

Stock waste is the opposite of biodegradable waste or flow waste, which can be assimilated by the environment. Examples of flow waste are biomass or remains of living things, food waste, animal waste, etc. Microorganisms can break down flow waste into materials that can be safely used again. Compost is case in point. It is a decomposed organic matter. It can be used as fertilizer and soil conditioner.

The decomposition of flow waste, however, produces by-products that have been proven to be harmful to the environment. One harmful by-product of the decomposition of organic materials by anaerobic (without oxygen) microbial action is methane, a greenhouse gas that absorbs infrared radiation thereby preventing it from escaping to space. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency: “Methane is about 21 times more powerful at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO₂) by weight…. Methane's chemical lifetime in the atmosphere is approximately 12 years.”

A society that dumps stock and flow wastes, therefore, faces certain risks and problems, such as the following:

• Land use conflicts due to the difficulty in finding a suitable site for stock and flow wastes;
• Health hazards to human beings and other forms of life due to pollution and unsanitary condition;
• Degradation of ecological systems, especially freshwater and marine ecosystems;
• Disasters such as flooding, fires and explosions, and
• Revenue loss due to the high cost of having dumpsites coupled with the potential reduction of the value of real properties located near the dumpsites.

The catalogue of the negative impacts of dumped wastes is “long and lamentable” especially if the flow and stock wastes are mixed with hazardous elements such as mercury, lead and alkali and acid wastes. The need to effectively manage wastes, therefore, should be one of the top priorities of society. This means that every sector of society – national and local governments, business, civil society and the citizens – should work hand in hand to manage wastes well. Finger pointing has never worked in solving the problem of waste management. Since not all sectors of society have a complete understanding about how to effectively manage wastes, it behooves everyone to learn and share knowledge and resources on how to make communities clean. For if cleanliness is next to godliness, then we, as particles of the human society, still have so much to do.

On Natural Capital

by A.S. Cajes 

Foto by www.forumforthefuture.org

Human beings use the material resources of the planet for their subsistence. However, they do not only use the material resources in order to live. Human life, itself, is sustained by the fundamental ecological processes of nature, such as the natural capacities and services.

Natural capital is essential for the satisfaction of fundamental human needs. But the long-term fulfillment of fundamental human needs depends on the ability of people to sustainably use and manage the natural capital. The sustainable use of natural capital observes 5 principles:

• Consumption of renewable resources should not exceed their capacity to regenerate.

• Consumption of renewable resources must not degrade the biodiversity of the ecosystem.

• Consumption of nonrenewable resources should be minimal.

• A “proportion of nonrenewable resources should be set aside for the physical manufacture of renewable substitutes and the development of such substitutes should be given priority in resource consumption.”

• Consumption of nonrenewable resources should be within minimum strategic levels.

The sustainable management of natural capital observes four principles:

• The assimilative and regenerative capacity of the environment should not be degraded.

• The assimilative and regenerative capacities of the environment should not be used for the dispersal of stock wastes or non-biodegradable substances.

• The natural life-support systems must not be destabilized.

• Environmental quality must not be degraded (Reid, 1995: 105).

In other words, sustainable development implies that the environment

“should be protected in such a condition and to such a degree that environmental capacities (the ability of the environment to perform its various functions) are maintained over time: at least at levels sufficient to avoid future catastrophe, and at most at levels which give future generations the opportunity to enjoy an equal measure of environmental consumption (Jacobs, 1991: 80).”

Environmental protection, therefore, is indispensable to sustainable development. In fact, the idea of sustainability emerged “out of the need to define what is meant by environmental protection (Ibid.).”

References

Jacobs, Michael. The Green Economy: Environment,  Sustainable Development, and the Politics of the Future. London: Pluto Press, 1991.

Reid, David. Sustainable Development, An Introductory Guide. London: Earthscan Publications, Ltd., 1995.

Sustainability, Love and Justice

by A.S. Cajes 

Foto by www.iasc-culture.org

Equity is best understood in the context of justice, which is the foundation of any social order. Justice is giving what is due to a person, i.e., something that is naturally necessary to satisfy a fundamental human need.

But justice, says Manuel Dy Jr., is the minimum of love, and love is the maximum justice. And love, which is to will and to take steps to promote the well-being of people, cuts across generations, across places and across time.

Thus, love and justice lie at the very core of the concept of sustainable development. Indeed, sustainable development only becomes meaningful if it is able to meet the demands of love and justice.

The commitment of sustainable development to the fundamental option to love is not divorced from the idea of fundamental option for the poor because “the concept of needs refers, in particular to the essential needs of the world’s poor (WCED: 40)...” The idea of justice and love suggests a bias to the “least disadvantaged in society.” Thus, the first function of sustainable development is the satisfaction of the fundamental human needs of the helpless.

Reference

World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Our Common Future. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Understanding Sustainable Development

by A.S. Cajes

Foto by www.japanfs.org

In Filipino, sustainable development is likas-kayang pag-unlad, which literally means ecological sustainable development. In Visayan, sustainable development can be literally translated as malungtarong kaugmaran, although kaugmaran already includes the concept of sustainability.

The central message of sustainable development is the satisfaction of fundamental human needs for a long period of time. Manfred Max-Neef identifies ten fundamental human needs: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creation, identity, freedom and transcendence. These needs, in contrast to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, “are interacting in a systematic way...with the exception of the need for subsistence which...has priority over the others (Reid, 1995:83).”

The idea that sustainable development aims to satisfy fundamental human needs rather than basic or essential needs, such as what the Brundtland Report suggests is a departure from the conventional view of development “with its assumption that there is a simple relationship between the production of material goods and the fulfilling of human need (Ibid.).” As Max-Neef argues, people-centered development must not only increase the material standards of people but also better the quality of their lives.

The fulfillment of fundamental human needs can only happen through a synergic satisfaction of such needs.  A synergic satisfier is one which can “satisfy a given need and also contribute to the fulfillment of other needs (Ibid.).” A good example of this is a mother feeding her baby.  In the process of feeding, she does not only meet her baby’s need for subsistence but also the need for protection, affection, and identity.

Fundamental human needs are inherent in human beings.  As long as a person is a person, s/he is not devoid of natural wants or needs. The intrinsicality of needs means that all human beings both in the present and future generations have needs.  In fact, needs “are the same in all cultures and have been virtually the same throughout history, changing only at the pace of the evolution of the human species (Ibid.).”

What this implies is that sustainable development is a commitment to satisfy the fundamental human needs of the present and future generations. Thus, sustainable development implies inter- and intra-generational equity. Inter-generational equity means meeting the needs of the present and future generations. Intra-generational equity means the just and fair distribution of, and access to, resources among the existing people of the world.

Reference 

Reid, David. Sustainable Development, An Introductory Guide. London: Earthscan Publications, Ltd., 1995.

Aboriginal Concept of Human Need

by A.S. Cajes

Batad Rice Terraces in Ifugao. Foto by A.S. Cajes

In relation to their natural environment or the cosmos, the early Filipinos, like the American Indians, harmonized their ways with the natural forces.  Prof. Dr. Florentino H.  Hornedo says: 

"The traditional Filipino lived with nature. The forests and rivers were his 'brothers.' Their preservation and conservation was his life. Their destruction, his destruction. When he told his children that divine beings prohibited the desecration of the forest, he was speaking with the authority of life and in the name of life.[1]” 

Hornedo explains this aboriginal outlook in terms of the generalist and synthetic mind of the earlier peoples, which is in stark contrast to the specialist and reductionist attitude of the scientific mind. The aboriginal mind considered nature as mysterious, thus s/he was at the mercy of the forces of nature.  With this condition, his/her natural recourse was to live with nature rather than subjugate it. In contrast, the scientific mind has a vast amount of knowledge about natural processes.  Nature is no longer a mystery to him/her. The scientific mind has "unraveled," so to speak, the cause and effect of the world.  Nature is now at his/her mercy. But the aboriginal mind, Hornedo observes: 

Transcended the mere level of cause and effect to the human quest for meaning, which involves a fascination with purpose and final causes.  His science, therefore was concerned not with the control of nature, but with the making sense of phenomena and protecting his consciousness from the threat of absurdity.  Thus, the aboriginal or traditional consciousness is not concerned with the conquest of natural forces, but with harmonizing his ways with it.  Nature, he tells himself, is sovereign, and it is from the bounty of this sovereign reality that he feeds himself and his children.  The noblest relation he can have with nature is expressed in terms of the familial-'brother' or 'mother', and such other effective symbols of a fruitful relationship.[2] 

The aboriginal concept of human need, in relation to the natural environment, is distilled in a letter from Chief Seattle, chief of the Squarmish Indians, to the American Government in 1854. The letter was a response to the offer by "The Great White Chief" in Washington to buy Indian. 

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memory and experience of my people. The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful Earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and the man, all belong to the same family. The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes and feed our children. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. Teach your children what we have taught our children that the Earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know - the Earth does not belong to man - man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth - befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.[3] 

Thomas Berry, in his address to the Harvard Seminar on Environmental Values at Harvard University on April 9, 1996 explained why the indigenous peoples are capable of such an "environmental language" in contrast to contemporary peoples. He said: 

"Indigenous peoples are capable of such statements because they live in a functioning universe, in a cosmos. We no longer live in a universe, we live in cities or nations or civilizations or cultural traditions. We do not live in a significant manner with the wind or the rain or the stars in the sky. We recognize the dawn and sunset and the seasons of the years, yet these are only incidental to the major concerns of life. Our laws are the laws of human or of divine origin, they are not laws primarily of cosmological origin."

---

[1] Florentino H. Hornedo, Pagmamahal and Pagmumura Essays (Quezon City: ADMU-Office of Research and Pub., c. 1997), 37.

[2] Ibid., 4.

[3] Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia in the Southern Spring of 1995. 

Human Needs as Human Rights

by A.S. Cajes

Foto by www.unfpa.org

Human beings have needs that must be met and satisfied to ensure human development. Moreover, the needs of human beings have ontological basis, which quite simply means that as long as human beings are human beings, their needs cannot be taken away from them. And should not be disregarded. As such, needs are entitlements. Needs are recognized as human rights.

Human right is “that which is due to a person” based on legal, social or ethical principles. It is the object of justice, which is commonly understood as “giving that which is due to a person”. A violation of a person’s right is therefore tantamount to a commission of an injustice. Put differently, the fulfillment of a person’s right is equivalent to an act of doing justice. Within this framework, the goal of development can be understood as fulfilling human rights or doing justice.

What this implies is that development per se is demandable. Within the framework of national development, the instrumentalities of the State can be held accountable if the demand of justice is not fulfilled. Example: because poverty violates human rights or hinders a person from exercising his or her freedoms, the instrumentalities of the state that are responsible for such poverty are liable for committing an injustice.

Click here to read The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Needs as Objects of Development

by A.S. Cajes

Human needs are the objects of human development. Needs are kinakailangan in Filipino and gikinahanglan in Visayan.

In the negative sense, need is a deprivation – akin to kawad-on in Visayan -- that must be satisfied or fulfilled. In the positive sense, need, when satisfied, leads to a state of happiness or well-being that makes a person an important resource in a community. Need, in this positive sense, is not a deprivation, but a potential or a source of power, capability or capacity.

Development interventions, therefore, should be designed in such a way that the needs to be addressed are not simply deprivations to be satisfied, but are also capacities to be unleashed. For example, meager income is a deprivation; thus, increase in income is a development objective. However, such increase in income must be at a level that will enable a person to lead a decent life.

In other words, an increase in income should lift a poor person out of poverty. Thus, if a person earns ten pesos (PHP10) per day and the minimum daily income should be fifty pesos (PHP50), the increase in income should be at least forty pesos (PHP40) per day.

The tables below show the human needs as discussed by Maslow and Max-Neef, respectively. 

Table 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy	Need
Self-actualization	Morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts
Esteem	Self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others
Love/ belonging	Friendship, family, sexual intimacy
Safety	Security of: body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, property
Physiological	Breathing, food, water, sleep, homeostasis, excretion

Table 2. Max-Neef's Funfamental Human Needs

Manfred Max-Neef
Need	Being (qualities)	Having (things)	Doing (actions)	Interacting (settings)
subsistence	physical and mental health	food, shelter, work	feed, clothe, rest, work	living environment, social setting
protection	care, adaptability, autonomy	social security, health systems, work	co-operate, plan, take care of, help	social environment, dwelling
affection	respect, sense of humour, generosity, sensuality	friendships, family, relationships with nature	share, take care of, make love, express emotions	privacy, intimate spaces of togetherness
understanding	critical capacity, curiosity, intuition	literature, teachers, policies, educational	analyse, study, meditate, investigate,	schools, families, universities, communities,
participation	receptiveness, dedication, sense of humour	responsibilities, duties, work, rights	cooperate, dissent, express opinions	associations, parties, churches, neighbourhoods
leisure	imagination, tranquility, spontaneity	games, parties, peace of mind	day-dream, remember, relax, have fun	landscapes, intimate spaces, places to be alone
creation	imagination, boldness, inventiveness, curiosity	abilities, skills, work, techniques	invent, build, design, work, compose, interpret	spaces for expression, workshops, audiences
identity	sense of belonging, self-esteem, consistency	language, religions, work, customs, values, norms	get to know oneself, grow, commit oneself	places one belongs to, everyday settings
freedom	autonomy, passion, self-esteem, open-mindedness	equal rights	dissent, choose, run risks, develop awareness	anywhere

Meaning of Development

by A.S. Cajes 

Foto by champikaranawaka.net

We take development as human development. UNDP defines human development as “the expansion of people’s freedoms to live their lives as they choose.” This definition implies at least three aspects:

• In order for people to live their lives as they choose, their level of awareness must be raised up to the point that they could decide for themselves how they could best actualize their existence and realize their potentials.

• To increase their level of awareness, people must have options on how they could best create the conditions that are conducive for individual and collective self-realization.

• To provide options, people must have an enabling space or environment by which they could fulfill their fundamental human needs.

Development interventions, therefore, should result in an improvement of such enabling space or environment. One example of a desired result is “increase in income”. Such result could help people in fulfilling a fundamental human need – subsistence. 

Further reading

Sabina Alkire. Human Development: Definitions, Critiques and Related Concepts. UNDP: June 2010

On Development and Sustainability

by A.S. Cajes

There is a Visayan saying that goes this way: walay kaugmaon kung walay kaugmaran (there is no future if there is no development). 

The root words of kaugmaon (future) and kaugmaran (development) are ugma (tomorrow) and ugmad (to cultivate), respectively. Thus, a family must ugmad or cultivate its farm today to ensure food for the family ugma or tomorrow. 

A long series of tomorrows constitutes one’s future. It is, therefore, important that farms are cultivated in a sustainable manner. Otherwise, the future is in jeopardy.

An important lesson to remember from this Visayan saying is that the notion of development includes the idea of sustainability.