Copenhagen was a mess last December. What with close to a hundred thousand protesters running across city streets, and dozens of world leaders trying to salvage anything at all from what Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, called an “abject failure” of a conference, one would wonder if the ride towards a better environment could get any bumpier.

The lackluster outcome of the recent Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change shed light on the lack of political will of our world leaders, since they failed in striking a legally binding environmental deal the world needs.What resulted instead was a hesitant, unsure agreement—unenforceable and non-binding—which, according to Lydia Baker of Save the Children, serves as a “death warrant for many of the world’s poorest children.”

In any case, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon still welcomed the Copenhagen Accord as an “essential beginning” for an eventual, bigger deal.

The environment is such a global—and human—concern that the spirit shown by the protesters in Copenhagen actually perpetuates in so many different forms across the world: Greenpeace protesters numbering in the tens of thousands at their rallies, An Inconvenient Truth grossing millions of dollars in box office returns, Al Gore getting his Nobel, and even Pope Benedict XVI getting his new nickname “The Green Pope.”

In fact, the global zeitgeist seems to have taken even a particular university—supposedly secluded in an impermeable bubble—by storm.

Yes, folks: the green explosion has rocked even the cozy hills of Loyola. And the fallout is staggering.

Closet green

The exact roots of the Ateneo’s current environmentalism are rather hard to pinpoint, but suggests that the Ateneo’s been closet green for a while now.

In fact, as early as 1992, the Ateneo has already taken some concrete steps to make its practices greener. Leoncio Miralao, University Physical Plant Administrator, shares that the three ponds in campus (including the former Meron Pond) are actually man-made ponds created for the impounding of non-potable water.

Miralao explains that the idea for Meron Pond came up during the 90s. Water shortages during that time meant that neighboring areas would stay up to 2:00 am waiting for water. “Partly to act on the criticisms, we came up with ponds,” he says. “The whole idea was to impound waste water, rainwater… They’d all go to the ponds, and we would use [the impounded water] to water the plants.”

This early initiative was just one of the many small environmental projects that Ateneo continually came up with. Slowly, these small projects built up into something much bigger. The culmination of such efforts happened when the Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition (AEMC) exploded into the scene on April 2008.

Envisioning an “ecologically sustainable Loyola Schools campus nurtured by a community of environmentally responsible individuals,” the AEMC has, since then, been at the forefront of environmental advocacy in the Ateneo. Their recent efforts include the Bring Your Own Baunan (BYOB) system, the introduction of e-trikes and the trash segregation scheme, among others.

“There were a lot of initiatives done by different sectors in the Loyola Schools [before],” Lourdes Sumpaico, Coordinator for Special Projects under the Vice President’s office and the de facto head of the AEMC, says, “but it was under the leadership of Assunta Cuyegkeng, the current Vice President, that all of these were put together and organized, and a coalition was set up.”

“Our very survival”

Abigail Favis of the Environmental Science Department explains the core ideas behind all these environmental problems today.

“Unfortunately, current processes—although this is changing—have always been linear, opposite of how ecological processes [should be]: cyclical,” Favis says.

Cielito Habito, Ph.D., a professor from the Economics Department and Director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, believes environmental degradation will also have adverse effects on the Philippine economy.

Thus he advocates sustainability in the way Filipinos go about their economic activities. He says, for example, that unsustainable methods employed by farmers (such as kaingin and monoculture farming) render natural resources incapable of satisfactory yield, if not render them totally useless. This is a problem because, according to Habito, agriculture is a very important part of the Philippine economy.

He says that while agriculture currently accounts for one-fifth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, it only accounts for about 35% of employment. “But it’s also important to point out that even though it’s just about one-third in terms of [direct] employment, if you count everything that is related to agriculture, including what they call agri-business, then the ratio of total employment expands to about two-thirds,” he says.

He also adds that essential societal concerns, such as food security and public health, are similarly compromised by environmental degradation. “It’s the very survival of Filipinos that’s actually at stake,” he says.

So-so

Still, even while the global green campaign gains ground, some people remain uninterested with campus efforts. Asked whether he cares about the environment, freshman John* simply answers: “So-so.” There is no clear motivation on his part to actively contribute to the green movement.

“I think the main reason why that’s my answer is the fact that the young people of today [including me] are more absorbed in other aspects of their lives [such as] friends, schools, family, homework, television, etc.,” John says.

Martin*, a sophomore from the high school department, agrees. He says he’s not really that into all this “green” mania.

“I recycle paper shopping bags [and] we segregate our trash [at home],” Martin says, “but I don’t really care that much because it’s much more comfortable not to,” he says.

Asked why he segregates his trash, he answers: “Because if we don’t, the village will fine us.”

Most Ateneans seem to have the same response to being environmentally friendly. In fact, according to Sumpaico, this was one issue that they had to address at the AEMC.

“[We had to address] the resistance to change, and the resistance to involve one’s self in changing behavioral patterns, since this will mean less comfortable ways of doing things,” she says.

Green initiatives

In spite of the apathy shown by some members of the community, the green movement in the Ateneo has still been nothing short of explosive. In fact, wherever one looks around in campus, there are signs of green, thanks to the unrelenting promotion efforts of the AEMC’s “student army,” headed by Ata Roxas, an Environmental Sciences major.

Roxas believes that the involvement of the entire Ateneo community in the green campaign is essential for success. “We all know the importance of working together as one community. The best example would be what happened when Ondoy struck,” she says. “Since everyone was sharing the same vision, that vision became a reality.”

So far, the AEMC claims that there has been steady progress. “We’ve been successful in managing and reducing our waste by around 60 %,” Sumpaico says. “People bring their own baunans, we have segregation, we have composting—I guess these are indicators of success.”

Still, in Favis’ opinion, the journey is far from over. “The dream here is to make us [the AEMC] obsolete, because once we fix everything, it will mean you won’t need us anymore,” she says.

Sumpaico agrees: “We have not yet measured the changes in lifestyle and the changes in values that the community has been adapting; I guess that still is something that we need to consider.”

Other units

The environmental initiatives of the university are not limited to the Loyola Schools.

Right now, for example, the high school is undergoing a gradual shift to less energy-consuming LED lights.

The newly-renovated high school library is fully lighted by LED, and the High School Physical Power Plant Office (HSPPO) is in talks to convert all classroom lights with LED.

Mary Ann Ansay, head of the HSPPO, says that the high school’s energy consumption has gone down by as much as 30% as a result.

The grade school also has efforts of its own. In fact, according to Miralao, they were the pioneers of the BYOB system.

Even beyond Loyola Heights, the Ateneo has worked hard to remain environmentally responsible. The Rockwell and Salcedo campuses strictly comply with the Makati Commercial Estate Association’s environmental guidelines, while the Ortigas campus follows the strict procedures for the disposal of medical waste.

A simple lifestyle

For Sanggu President Gio Tingson, a response to these calls entails a sacrifice of some sort.

“I think the major thrust of the AEMC for the environment is the call for the simplicity of lifestyle,” Tingson says. He describes it as the “incremental and systematic answer” of the school to environmental problems.

Tingson also recognizes that awareness without action is a problem that the environmental movement in the Ateneo is facing: when people are aware of the issue but choose not to do anything about it. Tingson emphasizes that this is exactly where the Ateneo steps in to help.

“When you go outside the school, you should be bringing that simple lifestyle [promoted in the Ateneo] with you,” Tingson says in mixed English and Filipino.

“We’re not just after environmental change, but also for that simplicity of lifestyle. This is an aspect wherein the school gets involved in the formation of the student.”

*Name has been changed to protect the individual.