Sustainable Campus Project

"Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng ating bayan."- Jose Rizal

I firmly believe that there's a lot of things that a young person can do, they have the physical and mental strength and also the will to do things that they want to do in life, achieve their goals and live the most of it. I read something in the bible that says:

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

 See? There are something in youth today, they have the power to change the course that was set by the previous generations. Now, climate change is a serious problem we are facing right now. It's the outcome of the past generations' bad practices in the environment and now, the generation today are suffering because of it and if we do not change our ways, the future generations will inherit this. Sadly, they won't be able to experience living with nature if we continue to do things that harms it.

The Sustainable Campus Project (SPC) aims to transform schools into living and learning models of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. These schools are: Mindanao State University, Ateneo de Davao University, De La Salle University- Dasmarinas, St. Paul University- Quezon City and University of South Eastern Philippines. The project is hosted by the Greenpeace Southeast Asia funded by the Foundation for the Philippine Environment. The Phase 1 of the project already started on June 1 last year and they already conducted a lot of campaigns regarding energy efficiency. Initially, they conducted the Walkthrough Energy Audit in each school to know the school's energy consumption.

What's the connection between climate change and energy efficiency?

One of the main causes of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels that emits carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (as what I know).

Energy Efficiency and use of renewable energy are some of what we can do to save the environment.

Everything that was done by the universities and Greenpeace will be weighed or evaluated on the Energy Efficiency Summit that was held last April 30, 2012 at La Salle Dasma.

Kim (co-intern) and I were fortunate to host the event but I also assisted my supervising in organizing the event a day before the event.

Two universities from Mindanao experienced difficulty in raising the funds they need to sustain their campaigns and programs in Energy efficiency. The good thing is that they can partner with NGOs that may help them in the project.

Mindanao is currently facing power crisis today and Energy Efficiency is the answer.

Each university have their own effective projects. Here are some of them:

They distributed campaign materials, conducted exhibits, Fun Run, installed Solar PV Systems in campuses, promote NSTP class on Energy Management, measured student's carbon footprint, conducted Energy Efficiency caravan, seminars, poster making contests and Quiz Bees

With their creative minds, the young people conducted programs in their school that campaigns energy efficiency. After the replacement of the bulb lights to CFLs and LED bulbs, they also promote these Simple Lang Tips:

SWITCH OFF.

UNPLUG.

LIGHT UP EFFICIENTLY.

Simple acts when done collectively will help stop climate change.

I wish my school is included in the project. Seriously, I absorbed a lot of "wonderful" programs during the event. I even copied a lot of what they have done because I also plan to focus my environmental school organization programs on climate change. I want to adopt these programs to our Environment Society in St. Scholastica's College- Manila to raise awareness to Scholasticans. I already proposed some of these to our Org president and she's interested with it.

All schools here in the Philippines should be also aware of this issue we are facing right now. Collective efforts mean success. The youth today can do more than we could ever think of considering that free flow of information is too accessible for them.

Youth, let us be informed about Climate Change. How can we defeat something that we didn't know? Research on the internet.

Let us start a difference in our own selves. Check our homes and energy consumption and start with simple corrections. Switch off and unplug appliances that are in standby mode.

We can also protect our climate by joining programs through NGOs or other institutions.

Spread the word! Let us encourage everyone to do simple acts.

More infos on how we can help, check www.greenpeace.org.ph.

This problem is serious and we are running out of time so we better do something before it's too late. There's nothing that we can't do if we are determined to achieve our goal.