Environmental Bandwagon

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…

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