Sustainability

The EVOLUTION of the Word

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word sustainable is defined as - able to be maintained at a certain rate or level. It is further described by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as - able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed.

Although for us students and professionals of the field of Engineering, sustainability became a word that meant something far more than what it traditionally was. It has surpassed its own meaning and has grown beyond a journalist’s mere arsenal of nouns, adjectives and adverbs.

The Ultimate Question

We know too well that the environment is our own Garden of Eden. It is the place that we ought to take care of, our habitat and our workplace. But here comes the ultimate question that lingers on the back of every man’s mind. Do we still have the right to claim those words?

Our environment is starting to fall. We have to admit that our very own Eden is starting to deteriorate. Reality is that it is starting to worsen and we cannot defy the fact that we are already feeling its effects.

The Start of it All

We used to be enchanted by the stories that our grandparents told us when we were young. They told us of their way of living and the place they inhabited in their time. It was always the same tale – green fields, crystal blue water and the perfect white sky. As children, we didn’t care as much to compare those narratives with reality. We just took them as it is and stored them as a picture of a fairy tale soon to be animated in the latest Disney movie.

Looking back, we know that it is different today, much more different. Now that we are able to comprehend complex mathematical equations, statistics, theories and different kinds of phenomena, I would like to put this idea in mind – Lolo’s world and my world are exactly one and the same, yet why does it feel so distantly connected?

Many believed that the fall of the environment started in the late 18^th Century, also known as the start of the Industrial Revolution. Factories emerged along with trains and cars. Oil became the number one demand and everyone was fighting for it.

There was plenty enough back then. It didn’t even occur to mankind that soon it will be harder and harder to find. We took our natural resources for granted. We used them without any thought of replacing them. We have to admit that we didn’t care back then, and all I could say was, “What a big mistake!”

The Sustainability of Today

I practically defined Sustainable and its variants at the last paragraph. Our natural resources, is it sustainable? Can it be maintained at a certain rate or level as Oxford defined? Or can it be used without being completely used up or destroyed by the words of Merriam-Webster?

The answer is a big NO (As it stands today at least). Crushing as it may seem, that is the exact truth.

Ever wondered why the price of gasoline is ever increasing? Or why every other goods and services are inflating? All these occurrences are happening because oil and other natural resources are becoming more difficult to find. As their demand increases, those who supply them are asking for more and more currency.

We are affected and we need to solve these problems. This is where sustainability comes into picture.

Sustainability has become a very big word in the world of today. It has developed into a reform of sorts, an agenda and a campaign.

“This word has become the trademark for restoring the world that was then into the world that will be.”

The Western Move

Fortunately, professionals (more specifically in the western part of the hemisphere, which composes of the European countries and the Americas) have already taken notice and are doing something to make a change.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become the US nation’s “environmental watchdog”, aiming to protect and ensure their countries of a green environment. They state in their official page, “Although we can do a lot to clean up pollution after it's in the environment, preventing pollution in the first place is even better.”

With advancements on science and technology on a much steeper slope as time passes, they tend to make use of these advances to help aid their cause. “Today EPA aims to make sustainability the next level of environmental protection by drawing on advances in science and technology to protect human health and the environment, and promoting innovative green business practices.”

Surely it has been inspiring to know that these kinds of organizations are formed and are presently taking measures and actions. But they are the US government, and it is kind of their job to ensure their nation of a better environment. However, things turn now to a more motivating set of facts – students, much like myself and my friends are also engaging in the pursuit of sustainability.

Indiana University, Keele University, Oregon State University, University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, and many others are already making their strides in this subject. These are schools that I’ve seen play basketball on TV and it is good to know that they’re not all about sports.

The universities of the US are implementing environmental friendly practices to implement in their own grounds. Along with organizations built by the students promoting a more stable and healthier environment to live with, they work together to ensure that they are helping, and not hurting, mother Earth.

A Time to Reflect

Then it dawned on me, I am a student, those Americans are students still, not much difference in between but why has the approach and awareness level in a much wider gap.

We are students and we can only do so much individually but as our national hero once said, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan!”. If we put our personal efforts into helping attain sustainability, and accumulate it, then it is bound to be something that can make a difference.

What better way to pursue this matter than approach it with your profession. Engr. Llorente brought the idea to incorporate these aspects in our theses.

I, along with my partner Jean Claude de Villeres, are currently working on the Battery Electric Car that will compete in the Urban Concept of the Shell Eco Marathon (SEM) Asia to be held next year here in the Philippines.

The Urban Concept Category aims to showcase cars that are much like the ones that are already on the road but runs solely on electrical power via a battery. If there is enough mileage on a single set of charge enough to overthrow the current gasoline-powered cars, then car manufacturers may finally take notice.

Manila Bulletin's Photo of PH Representatives for SEM

Once we don’t need oil and gasoline for our cars anymore, then it can really be a big push for a greener environment. First, there is no more need for gasoline on cars which is the primary mode of transportation in the world and also air pollution will substantially be reduced.

Not only that, there are also many other approaches on finding a replacement for fuel on a car. There are used cooking oils as fuel, hybrid electric, solar powered and many other forms. They are being implemented today in a small scale worldwide, but once these technologies are fully developed feasible enough to be licensed and put on the road, then that will surely be a one big step for sustainability.

The Right Time

Finally, I want to say to everybody reading this blog not to waste time anymore. We should all start to consider the world we live in and implement these concerns in the most simplest of things we do every day.

All these needs to be done, so that when the time comes and it is our turn to tell our grandchildren of our very own tales, we can say – We made the difference!