I am an environmentalist because I'm Filipino because...

Once I asked folks to complete the statement above and came to realize that part of the Filipino culture contained the traits of a good environmentalist. OK, OK, so if you've gone to the Philippines, you've gotta wonder sometimes about their environmentalist nature. Some of it too has changed a bit due to marketing of "convenience" goods that tend to generate more trash. But look at it this way:

-very few Filipinos own their own car, most take the entrepeneurial public transit system. Other than the light rail, the jeepneys and buses are business owned. Often small business promotes mass transit.

-the baon/leftovers and never wasting food. It's all about leftovers. and then reusing the foil you wrapped it in.

-grow our own food in the backyard. particularly back in the day when there weren't Asian groceries around, a lot of Filipinos grew their own food in the backyard. then they'd often share the bountiful crop.

-use plastic grocery bags as the trash liners.

-pass along stuff you can't use anymore: old clothes, books, etc.

-the list goes on and on. and if you have another one, list it in the comments section.

Chatty was telling us how she aggravated she gets when the trash gets taken out when it's not full. Unless it's totally stinky of course. But when it's just a few pieces of paper and papertowels, why bother sending the trash to the dump when the bag isn't quite yet busting at its seams. We understood.

Of course, people will say, "c'mon, it's like 2 cents a bag. you get like a thousand of them in costco." But waste is waste, it triggers that notion of "sayang" (too bad, missed opportunity), that something was tossed before it reached its full potential as it were. And when you have to say "Sayang!" it just grates on the nerves. You can even add a double sucking of the teeth when you say it for emphasis.

The fiance came up with the brilliant idea of placing smaller plastic grocery bags inside the large trash container, so then the big trash bag only needs to be replaced when really necessary. I mean, because we can't have the Chatelaine become aggravated on the mountain top.

So, be Filipino, be an environmentalist. go ahead, you know you want to.