Time magazine special highlights enviro heros
Times mag has presented a list of environmental heroes, including Al Gore, Wanhari Mathaai, Chip Giller, Frederic Hauge, and our very own Von! I met Von some years ago in the US, and I've always been impressed by his willingness to get his hands dirty working at the community (and garbage dump) level. In 1999, the Philippines became the first country in the world to ban waste incineration nationwide, and in 2003 he won the Goldman Environmental Prize (his acceptance speech is here).
From the Time magazine feature:
The West likes to outsource to Asia: countless low-cost factories and call centers have been relocated to the world's most populous continent. But Von Hernandez, a former literature professor from the Philippines, drew the line at another lucrative export from the developed world: mountains of trash. Across Asia, waste incinerators pump out clouds of dioxin and other harmful chemicals that come from processing imported garbage. It's a highly profitable business for waste companies, but the onslaught of pollutants can wreak havoc on local health.
With no one else speaking up, Hernandez took it upon himself to protect his homeland. In 1999 his relentless campaigning succeeded in making the Philippines the first nation in the world to ban waste incineration. The 40-year-old activist has since broadened his mission, taking it regionwide. "In the Philippines, public opinion is on our side, and we've gotten leaders to realize this is an issue that voters care about," says Hernandez. "But we still have to promote that same message across Southeast Asia."Hernandez became aware of the Philippines' garbage problem in 1995, when he started working for Greenpeace. Every day the capital, Manila, creates 6,000 tons of trash, much of which festers in massive dumps where street children make a living picking through the ooze. In 2000, a giant landfill collapsed during a downpour, killing at least 200 people. Some government authorities called for waste incinerators to be built to eradicate the trash eyesores; as a side benefit, the Philippines could profit from burning imported trash from the industrialized world. But Hernandez's campaign quashed such plans. Even slum dwellers now know that dioxin from waste incineration can cause birth defects, while the toxic matter can poison future generations if it makes its way into the groundwater. Instead, Hernandez preaches the virtues of composting and recycling as a healthier way of tackling trash. "These are not high-tech solutions," he says. "But they work."
Comments
It's almost impossible to keep up with everything ... however I know that I have struggled with and climbed on top of ill health for decades and was definitely exposed to dioxins. I am now facing another MRI for a large mass. We do have to look at what we are doing to ourselves. I am bookmarking this site. Thank you ... Barbara
Posted by: Barbara J. Gill | October 22, 2007 1:54 AM
Composting and recycling really helps, but banning incineration in a country which has little land mass (compared to other countries) is not practical. Bio/Medical wastes need to be incinerated to minimized contamination, some rural areas that I have been to really lack education in proper waste management, practicing backyard burning of plastic wastes, throwing trash in the streams etc.. due to the increase in "packaged" consumer goods that are abundantly available to them. The clean air act was not as appealing as it sounds if you read and understand the underhand play behind it, properly regulated incinerators (w/ proper scrubbers and filters) I think is a better option, penalty fines for polluting companies should be shutdown after the 2nd offense and laws should be made by capable individuals, educated in the needed fields not some corrupt politician or individual.
Posted by: Lee | October 25, 2007 5:45 PM
Hi Lee,
Saying, "there is no other answer" is never the answer. We can increase the amount that we recycle, compost, etc.
Incineration has the same drawbacks for an island nation it does for a landlocked one. Poisons are still poisons.
More info on the Greenpeace Philippines website.
Posted by: Andrew | October 30, 2007 10:46 AM
The Philipine Clean Air Act as well as the Ecological Waste Management Act prohibit both open burning and waste incineration. For treating infectious medical waste, a number of non-burn alternatives such as microwaving and autoclaving systems exist, and these are cheaper and far less polluting than incineration.
Installing filters and scrubbers on incinerators does not solve the problem of pollution as these would merely transfer the problem from one medium to another. Incinerators require constant feeding of waste in order to be viable, and such an approach would take efforts and resources away from the real solutions of materials recovery and composting.
Assuming for the sake of argument that one can make incineration safe, it still would not make sense to destroy resources which we ought to be sharing with future generations.
Posted by: Von | October 30, 2007 11:07 AM