When Mia Salvador applied for a job as a content writer in WeGen in November 2019, she really was still enjoying corporate freedom and not really looking for full-time work. She had recently resigned from her post as an account coordinator for an Australian-based real estate marketing company and was enjoying a few months of corporate freedom, but knew that the next step had to be in an industry that was meaningful to her personally.
Right after she quit her job (“It was fun on a shallow level but it wasn't meaningful to me and I only stayed that long for my friends and for the paycheck”) she went on a month-long trip to Japan with 4 kids doing volunteer work facilitating an international children’s camp.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my real estate marketing job, it’s that I don’t like working for big corporations. The idea of making money for people who were already rich selling things that ordinary people couldn't afford left a bad taste in my mouth. I realized that I didn’t want to be part of the whole corporate set-up and that my time and effort could do more elsewhere,” she said. “I stayed for almost 2 years mainly because of my friends there, and it paid alright, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t happy or proud of what I was giving my 8 hours to.”
The idea of working for a renewable energy company counted for a lot to me, which is why I let WeGen change my mind about only wanting a part-time post at the time. I saw value in promoting technology and systems that were meant to help people save money and ultimately to help the environment,” she said. “The company values as explained to me by HR said a lot about the company culture, and I wanted to be a part an effort to make renewable energy –specifically solar energy – more popular and reachable in the Philippines.”
A graduate of social sciences from the University of the Philippines (UP) in Baguio, Mia became consciously interested in environmental activism causes in high school. As she explains it, it all started with her feeling disgusted with trash and how it accumulated so unnecessarily.
“Baguio is a beautiful place to live in, but it’s changed a lot in the last decade--pollution has become a problem for the city because of the flood of tourists and undisciplined locals as well. I didn't like seeing the amount of garbage in the streets or the idea of them ending up in landfills anyway even if they were thrown properly. I didn’t want to be one of those who contributed to it. I made a conscious decision to simply not be a part of it by not littering” she said. “That’s where it started.”
No to Single-Use Plastic and Littering
Not littering, she explained, is a simple but constant effort. “Lots of people don’t think twice about leaving trash wherever just cause it’s easier than putting it in our pockets or waiting for a trash can to show up. Even if we’re not really litterbugs, some people just leave their trash on tables or street corners because it’s easy. If you stop and think about the amount of trash that each person generates per day, it’s crazy – all the single-use plastic bags/packaging/utensils that are in almost all aspects of daily life serve us for such a short period of time just to end up in the streets/drainage, or landfills for the rest of our lives and beyond! It's disgusting!"
She fully identified as an environmentalist in college. As a student of social sciences, there were many classes in school that made the environmental crisis all the more real to her. She made an effort to also include her family in her campaign to help stop the use of single-use plastics, but it was difficult.
“My parents are old-school, and they found it tedious to bring eco-bags with them when doing the grocery or market run or reusable containers for water or takeout. The most that we could do as a household was to try and segregate, and to limit buying products that made use of so much plastic packaging--it helped that my dad stayed home and didn't have to take out as much trash haha,” she said.
Mia gave the “ridiculous example” of getting a McFlurry from McDonald’s. “You buy the ice cream in a plastic cup with a plastic spoon, okay. But if you tell the counter-person it’s for take-out, they put a plastic lid on the cup, and then put everything in a plastic bag--which just adds to what you hold while eating it anyway. Then after you eat the ice cream, you throw the whole lot away. All that plastic will survive longer than us--but serve us for 10-20 mins max,” she said, “It’s ridiculous.”
Big Changes Start with Small Efforts
Mia is very earnest and passionate in her explanations about how environmentalism starts with making a change in one’s attitudes and then habits. “We start small, with things that are doable, and we monitor ourselves. It’s a kind of attitudinal change before action change that we have to make for the sake of a cleaner environment and a healthier planet,” she said. If you don't make it meaningful to you intrinsically, the habit won’t stick. Don’t be too hard on yourself either, because that’s not sustainable, but forget your reasons for doing it in the first place.
She is more than willing to discuss her own efforts which have changed her life, she says, and that anyone can do.
1. No more plastic bottles.
Plastic water bottles, first of all, are ridiculous. So I gave those up first then it extended to all bottled beverages, and then to cups too. “I always bring with me a tumbler. I stick to water, but when I do buy coffee or milk tea, I bring my own container with me. If a milk tea place or a coffee house refuses to give me my order in my own mug or tumbler, I don’t proceed with it, and I stop patronizing that store. It doesn't taste as good if it’s not plastic-free and it’s not worth it anyway, haha! Out of sight, out of mind. I don't miss those brands.”
With justifiable pride, Mia said that so far this 2020, she has bought only one drink that came in a plastic bottle. “I bought soya milk from Pan de Manila. It didn't occur to me that it’d be delivered in a plastic bottle, but I washed it anyway and laughed it off. No use being angry about what’s done. Just keep going.”
2. No more beef.
“Beef is the easiest and most impactful thing we can give up to become more environmental diet-wise. So yeah, I loved burgers but I don't eat beef anymore.” We’ve all read about how the cattle industry as part of the livestock industry is responsible for about 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions globally. That’s bad enough, and besides red meat is not good for our health. “Some days it’s hard when the food is free or I'm in another country, I won’t always say no to the experience. But I make up for it by going 100% vegan one day for every time I eat beef. The rule helps keep me in check without feeling deprived or cutting too much slack that I forget how serious I am about it.
3. Commute as much as possible.
“I know commuting is such a hassle because of how bad and inefficient the public transport system is, but commuting is better than driving to and from work every day if you’re on your own anyway. I used to work in Makati, and I took the train every day to go home. It gave me an opportunity to see for myself how much has to be done to improve the public transport system by being one of those experiencing the problem first hand on a daily basis. Government officials who mouth off about the need for Filipinos to make sacrifices by taking public transport HAVE NO IDEA how terrible it is. This is why the “reforms” they come up with are pathetic and unrealistic,” she said.
“Carpooling is the next best thing to commuting.” It’s more convenient but doesn’t add to the vehicles on the road.
When I had enough time, I mustered up the courage to get a bike and bike commute instead too. This has been the best option yet and my favorite mode of transpo since then.
4. Go for reusable materials for that time of the month.
“I’ve been using washable panty-liners and a menstrual cup for maybe 2 years now. Washable napkins and the menstrual cup are actually more hygenic and comfortable anyway and imagine all the trash of x pads/tampons per month, per woman, 12x a month--that’s a lot of trash to manage something that’s natural/organic in the first place!"
All throughout the pandemic lockdown, Mia was spared from the hassle of having to get regular sanitary pads/tampons while she watched others scrambling to get their supplies while stocks would run low and people were hardly going out.
5. Stop buying new clothes.
“This was a little hard for me in the beginning because I really like clothes. But there’s so many ukay-ukays and second-hand gold mines in Baguio! Even in Manila, if you know where to look. With the right mindset, secondhand clothes have the same charm as new ones anyway--for a lot less on your pocket (and the fact that you don't give your money to a big corporation is a bonus). For the price of one new short or blouse from H&M, I can get four or five from an ukay-ukay, and they’d all be H&M, too, if that’s what you're after”
WeGen WeGreen
Mia has more stories about her efforts to maintain a more sustainable and environmental life-style – she rides her bike to work, she buys shampoo bars and brings a lunchbox with her to work and everywhere else just in case she buys food for take-out -- and it is precisely her commitment to changing her personal habits for the good of the environment that makes her a good spokesperson for the new program WeGen is launching – the WeGreen Program.
WeGreen is one of WeGen’s efforts to practice sustainability in the office at all levels, starting with employees, then with operations and business practices, then as an advocate of sustainability and the calls Pope Francis promotes in his encyclical for the environment, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.” The program is being spearheaded by the Social Transformation Unit, Marketing, and Human Resources.
“I like working in WeGen because it tries very hard to walk the talk, and to engage its own employees to aspire to better standards of living and working--that’s in addition to being in an industry that’s socially relevant in itself. Making changes for the environment starts with the self, but it’s always better when we get the chance to do it collectively. We really hope that all our employees and officials support WeGreen, and even now start thinking about what we can all do to clean up our act in the bigger scheme of things” she said.