Beyond green gates

Originally published in Heraldo Filipino Volume 38, Double Issue

 

Once again, the University remains to be the greenest university in the country. This accolade recognizes the institution’s consistent efforts to promote environmental sustainability inside the campus, but while this achievement is commendable, the responsibility to the environment goes beyond university walls, similar to how students are not caged in the University forever.

Today, as environmental degradation is at its peak in different forms, the need to value and protect the environment is greater than ever. This is anchored in the Christian values the institution tries to instill to its students, and it is imperative that ecocentrism shall not be a passerby for lectures and general subjects. Every time students step out of the campus grounds, they are immediately confronted with a multitude of environmental problems — unknowingly and knowingly — many of which need to be addressed as they are deeply rooted in larger systemic problems.

Take for example the resounding jeepney phaseout, a contentious issue that affected the community in the course of its movement. While it is framed as a move toward modernization, it also threatens the livelihoods of many workers and further complicates the country’s transportation sector, all while guising under finding cleaner alternatives. In December 2023, the University’s response to the transport strike opted to lean on privatized temporary fix, which did not fully chip in a solution for the majority of commuters should the phaseout happen. 

On the other hand, environmental concerns circling the local scene — from land grabbing and reclamation projects that continue to displace communities and damage ecosystems — tend to be given little-to-no exposure. There have been numerous efforts of championing local farmers, but addressing the foundation of their detrimental condition often goes overlooked. Being informed is taking the first step to pushing potentials into making more comprehensive and immersive programs that can open the community beyond the University gates. 

To extend the environmental advocacies embedded in the curriculum and taught within the University, the students, rather the youth, plays a crucial role. Education on sustainability should not end with theory — it must drive students to challenge policies both within and farther than the locale and promote genuine greener alternatives that shall cover nuances alike.

The youth holds power to drive change, and nothing could take it away from them, even if they are confined in the walls of the classroom. 

At this point, the environment is in desperate need of active citizens who will carry the lessons learned into the real world, fully embodying the idea of sustainability, and the slated candidates are today’s generation.

Although being the greenest institution in the country is a remarkable feat, the real measure of success lies in how well the University can empower a collective that extends that same care for the environment beyond campus grounds, into society at large.