ENVIRONMENTAL
BANDWAGON
by
Antonio C. Antonio
September
9, 2014
Everyone is riding in the bandwagon of
environmental advocacy. There are times when individuals, organizations and
communities are just “doing it” because going green is the in thing to do. There are green advocacies everywhere… fun run
to save the planet, concert for a cause, etc.
Do you think all these are sustainable?
In the
field of business management, a “bandwagon” means “it is the IN thing” but has
negative connotations. A bandwagon
effect characterizes a business situation where there are too many players in a
certain industry. A dictionary meaning
of “bandwagon” is “a particular activity of cause that has suddenly become
fashionable or popular”. If an
environmental advocacy is just a fad or craze (meaning: an intense and widely
shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without
basis for continued existence), conventional wisdom dictates that it will also
or eventually go out of fashion. This
will not at all be encouraging for genuine environmental concerns where
sustainability is a prime consideration.
This is really far from what we need to effectively do to pursue
environmentalism.
The
Filipino is a friendly and sociable being (meaning: the ability and willingness
to talk and engage in activities with other people) who will always want to
join and be present in fun runs, concerts, tree-planting, clean-ups, etc. In this context, some degree of
sustainability can be achieved. But,
then, we will also have to contend with the Filipino’s “ningas cogon” tendency/mentality
(a term used to mean; being enthusiastic about starting a project or activity
then losing interest before the undertaking is completed).
People
normally get burnt-out especially when nothing substantial happens to any
undertaking or the cause for such events is not clear. The many EDSA Revolutions and the latter-day
Million People Marches are good examples since they involve freedom and the basic
right of people to be heard.
The Million
People March started off like a house on fire with a respectable number of
attendees. The objective of the first
event was clear… getting rid of the “pork barrel” system. The second event, however, was a dismal
failure on account of muddled issues. There were two groups that people, in general,
did not like… the left, for their unreasonably militant stance against
government; and the politicians, for their selfish and self-serving political
agenda. And because of this, people
refrained from joining.
The EDSA
Revolutions, like the Million People Marches, also had the same fate. EDSA Revolution I was clear in its purpose
and objective to remove a dictatorship; EDSA Revolution II was also a political
exercise aimed at expelling a corrupt president; and, EDSA Revolution III
intended to unseat a more corrupt presidency and re-install a corrupt
presidency. All the EDSA Revolutions are
anchored on the issue of corruption and abuse of power where people were glued
together in a unified cause. The absence
of this unified cause spelled failure for EDSA Revolution II and III.
Advocacies
(like political causes), to include environmental advocacies, therefore, can
only succeed with three key conditions:
(1) KNOWING – Widespread knowledge of the issues involved; (2) BELIEVING
– Internalizing and a firm belief in the cause by which an advocacy exists;
and, (3) BEING COMMITTED – Means people are willing to defend their cause and
are even willing to die for their cause (as exemplified in EDSA Revolution I). These three conditions will lead to the
creation of a “critical mass”. Critical
mass is the minimum number of people required to start and maintain an
advocacy… opposed to “hakot” mass (a situation where people are paid to attend
political gatherings).
Given the
three conditions I mentioned, the Philippines is not yet ripe to embark on a
sustainable honest-to-goodness environmental advocacy. The pockets of environmental advocacies today
have yet to come up with a unified and meaningful environmental cause based on
widespread educated knowledge. This is
not to say that we are a hopeless case.
These pockets of environmental advocates can hopefully come together and
unite in a unified cause to create the much-needed critical mass. Knowing, believing and being committed to an
environmental advocacy is a worthy path to follow. It seriously is not just an environmental
bandwagon.
Just my little thoughts…
(Please visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders and
Landscape Ecology UPOU on Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/)
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