Grounded Once Again

I was in Gen San the other day, supporting my team in our quest to ask Gen San businesses who are big time consumers of power and electricity to cut costs and carbon emissions by shifting to more energy efficient equipment. We made a presentation to various businessmen, and scheduled site visits so our engineers could check where its possible to do some changes. We also have partner banks who could lend enough money to cover their energy investments - where we make it a point that the savings that they get from less energy use would pay for the investment within 1-3 years.

Most of our visits (in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao) -- some companies could save millions just changing their old airconditioning systems, manufacturing equipment, etc etc. So the loan would just be peanuts to pay after the equipment is installed.

Think investing in those fancy expensive compact flourescent bulbs (those twisty things) where you get more light for a longer time than the round yellow cheap ones.

Our company is doing this to help the businesses become more efficient in their operations, to help banks generate more business with a development perspective -- and then our ultimate ultimate goal is "to mitigate climate change".

Gaining a global perspective for development has been really good for me. I now see how banks and businesses have big roles to play in national development simply just by doing their business right and opening up opportunities to clients such as sustainable or alternative energy finance. I feel like I'm really part of something big and the world suddenly seems a lot smaller as each person, business, entity's move affects the whole system.

After doing our rounds of the tuna cooling plants in Gen San - I met with an old friend and his friends from the area. It was so interesting to hear about the development initiatives being done in the nearby barangays, especially about the program that they are doing on children affected by conflict in Mindanao. They also told stories about people living one day at a time, doing small chores in exchange for a few fish they can sell (or eat) to survive.

That night's conversation grounded me once again. Brought me back to the grassroots level, and making me feel once again that in this country - survival matters much, much more than climate change. I suddenly felt that my job is so abstract and so not close to home!

Ah, but we cannot fight every battle. And people are needed to fight for each battle. As for now, (as much as I feel a twinge in my heart for a more grassroots level approach) - my battle is climate change. I am very challenged by the magnitude of this cause.