Why Buy Pinoy? Part 2: Buying Local, Carbon Emissions, and Climate Change

A rescue worker in Guinsaugon, Southern Leyte. Catastrophic landslides hit the barangay in 2006. Photo from www.flickr.com/photos/remzamora/418662063/. (I believe Rem Zamora is a photojournalist for a major Philippine daily.)

I was planning to put off this entry to a later date, simply because I wanted to do more research first. However, two things spurred me to writing this entry today:

1. Today is EARTH DAY! Happy Earth Day, everyone!
2. The weather. 

It’s supposed to be the middle of the summer in our part of the world, Because we’re a tropical country, Philippine summers are very warm, with very little rainfall, but high humidity.

Today, however, is the second day that it has been raining–and not just summer shower rain, but torrential rain. The quality of the rains of the past two days make me think of July, the middle of the typhoon season. The sky in Metro Manila is completely gray. As I write this, I am in the MRT and the sky’s dimness makes it seem as if it were dusk, though it is just 2pm.

According to PAGASA meteorologists,* this is a highly unusual weather pattern, even worrisome. The present rains, they say, are due to an intertropical convergence zone in the atmosphere–but intertropical convergence zones form only after the warm season.

Yes, folks, the climate has already begun to change.

What does climate change, irregular weather patterns, and the Guinsaugon landslide have to to with buying Philippine-made products, you might ask?  You might be surprised–buying locally-made products have a lot to do with it.

Our experiences already show us that the planet’s weather patterns are changing–thus giving us torrential rains in the middle of the summer. If we look at the rainfall-related calamities of the past four years in the Philippines, about half happened during unusual weather patterns, while the rest happened during the more expected typhoon season. Thus, we can say that the Philippines (and scientists will say, most of the tropical, developing world) is bearing the burden of climate change.

But what’s causing the climate to change so rapidly and dramatically? Scientists assert that changes in climate are normal, but the change usually comes quite slowly. This time, however, the changes are occurring at such a rapid pace, and the scientific consensus is that it’s because of humanly-generated carbon emissions. Why is it bad that the climate is changing so rapidly? It’s bad because entire ecosystems can’t catch up with the pace and find it hard to adapt. So, part of our responsibility as human beings is to reduce as much as we can the amount of carbon that we emit into the atmosphere.

So, how is buying Philippine-made products related to reducing carbon emissions? Well, it’s related in at least three ways:

1. importing generates carbon emmissions. Next to electricity generation and manufacturing, transportation is one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions. How do all the Thai, China, Indonesia, US, and Greek-made products get to the Philippnes? Either by air or by boat, both of which generate and release carbon into the atmosphere. 

2. local factories generally make less emissions than other factories in developing Asia. We have the 1997 Clean Air Act to thank for this. As long as the factory is legit, and complies with all the environmental requirements, it’s sure to be more environmentally-friendly than, say, factories in China. So, by buying products made in these Philippine factories help keeps these factories in business–and increased profits are incentives for companies to keep staying in business.

(See this article to learn about how China’s export industry is responsible for a LOT of carbon emissions.) Remember, though, that “developing” does not include places like Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, which are considered developed countries, and have much stricter emissions standards than we do.

3. many Pinoy SMEs are conscious of their environmental impact, and try to be more responsible about it. I’m a pretty regular reader of local entrepreneur-oriented magazines like Entrepreneur and Masigasig, and these magazines regularly feature SMEs that take Philippine environmental regulations seriously. They try to make their companies more energy-efficient–and that has a direct effect on the amount of emissions they generate.

Clearly, what we choose to buy at stores and supermarkets does have an impact on the amount of emissions we generate and contribute. Just another good reason to start buying locally-made products,

Of course, this is a rather un-scientific post, and is based on the little I know. Feel free to share more information–after all, information is power, and I’m all for empowering all of us to be more responsible consumers.

— 

*as heard on the AM radio last night