You remind me of Ted Failon's realization after Yolanda struck Tacloban: that describing the possibility of a "storm surge" most likely flew over the heads of the residents, who ended up being complacent until the sea swallowed up the city, as storm surges do.
I realize that a lot of how we connect extreme weather to climate change, and climate change to decisions made across the supply chain, tends to either be too technical to be understood, or too much about putting the blame on the corporations (leading to feelings of hopelessness) or on consumers and how they purchase things (leading to resentment). Change is incremental, but in a country where extreme weather affects us disproportionately, well...
I wouldn't call myself an advocate, more so an activist, although I have done a fair bit of writing (targeted to businesses) about more sustainable production. If there's one thing I learned, it's that consumers really do have to be empowered to move the needle—and that means providing them with both the information they need to make informed decisions, and the infrastructure they need to turn decisions into actions. I remember Coca-Cola (sorry, haha) and their bottle recycling program—and how my awareness of that, and most importantly the presence of a recycling point near my flat, empowered me to do my part. And then that recycling point disappeared, and my habits shifted, too.
If consumers, say, are able to really understand the benefits of, say, shifting away from the sachet economy and pursuing more sustainable ways of buying their favorite shampoo or dishwashing liquid, and are empowered to do so in a sustained manner, then the corporations will listen. But I feel this requires a similarly sustained effort to communicate it to them—and not just from environmental activists who, for better or worse, sound like they're speaking from on high, judging everyone below them as *the* problem, rather than the solution.
Actually that's why I have sooo much respect and admiration for those on the ground doing the legwork (like in the podcasts I shared above. For those working on "Kuha Sa Tingi" (the refillery program geared at steering people away from sachet culture). And yeah the ivory tower of scientists/advocates is a problem talaga, in the same way that people going "yung mga skwater* kasi tapon nang tapon kung saan-saan" (when it's everyone's plastic waste really...).
I'd love to see your work for the manufacturing side!
Someone asked me about that recently and I don't know how to tell them that as a copywriter the most I get to interact with is the marketing team. And only through our account managers. Haha! I guess it's also a bit of a conundrum for me, like who adjusts to who? And even on brand side, there's so much going on - production, distribution, marketing. For example, there are a lot of shampoo bar brands now, but they're not readily available in SM or Watson's as far as I know. I still get mine from small shops on Lazada/Shopee and thankfully they don't use plastic packaging as much as possible. Even those with ad budgets don't have the distribution to compete with the likes of P&G, Unilever. But hey, just 100 years ago, we weren't even living in a sachet culture!
On another note, a few years ago I got together with some members of Buhay Zero-Waste and we were supposed to pitch something to then-Congressman Alfred Vargas. But I was the only actual resident of his district, and it was 2021 and Mommy was sick. So someone else had to present (Joni Vergara https://www.instagram.com/jonibony/). And the congressman's takeaway was that I should have been there, coz hey he has a sick relative at home too so I should be able to make it to f2f stuff. ??? Haha it was discouraging tbh. So yeah...maybe I'll find some other avenue.
You remind me of Ted Failon's realization after Yolanda struck Tacloban: that describing the possibility of a "storm surge" most likely flew over the heads of the residents, who ended up being complacent until the sea swallowed up the city, as storm surges do.
I realize that a lot of how we connect extreme weather to climate change, and climate change to decisions made across the supply chain, tends to either be too technical to be understood, or too much about putting the blame on the corporations (leading to feelings of hopelessness) or on consumers and how they purchase things (leading to resentment). Change is incremental, but in a country where extreme weather affects us disproportionately, well...
I wouldn't call myself an advocate, more so an activist, although I have done a fair bit of writing (targeted to businesses) about more sustainable production. If there's one thing I learned, it's that consumers really do have to be empowered to move the needle—and that means providing them with both the information they need to make informed decisions, and the infrastructure they need to turn decisions into actions. I remember Coca-Cola (sorry, haha) and their bottle recycling program—and how my awareness of that, and most importantly the presence of a recycling point near my flat, empowered me to do my part. And then that recycling point disappeared, and my habits shifted, too.
If consumers, say, are able to really understand the benefits of, say, shifting away from the sachet economy and pursuing more sustainable ways of buying their favorite shampoo or dishwashing liquid, and are empowered to do so in a sustained manner, then the corporations will listen. But I feel this requires a similarly sustained effort to communicate it to them—and not just from environmental activists who, for better or worse, sound like they're speaking from on high, judging everyone below them as *the* problem, rather than the solution.
So many good points, Niko!
Actually that's why I have sooo much respect and admiration for those on the ground doing the legwork (like in the podcasts I shared above. For those working on "Kuha Sa Tingi" (the refillery program geared at steering people away from sachet culture). And yeah the ivory tower of scientists/advocates is a problem talaga, in the same way that people going "yung mga skwater* kasi tapon nang tapon kung saan-saan" (when it's everyone's plastic waste really...).
I'd love to see your work for the manufacturing side!
Someone asked me about that recently and I don't know how to tell them that as a copywriter the most I get to interact with is the marketing team. And only through our account managers. Haha! I guess it's also a bit of a conundrum for me, like who adjusts to who? And even on brand side, there's so much going on - production, distribution, marketing. For example, there are a lot of shampoo bar brands now, but they're not readily available in SM or Watson's as far as I know. I still get mine from small shops on Lazada/Shopee and thankfully they don't use plastic packaging as much as possible. Even those with ad budgets don't have the distribution to compete with the likes of P&G, Unilever. But hey, just 100 years ago, we weren't even living in a sachet culture!
On another note, a few years ago I got together with some members of Buhay Zero-Waste and we were supposed to pitch something to then-Congressman Alfred Vargas. But I was the only actual resident of his district, and it was 2021 and Mommy was sick. So someone else had to present (Joni Vergara https://www.instagram.com/jonibony/). And the congressman's takeaway was that I should have been there, coz hey he has a sick relative at home too so I should be able to make it to f2f stuff. ??? Haha it was discouraging tbh. So yeah...maybe I'll find some other avenue.