Guide questions for recitation next meeting:

Principles 1-6
a. State briefly the important points of the guiding principle, give examples or illustrations
and show how you can apply this to your personal environmental ethics/attitude.
b. From the notes or you may give your personal recommendations on how to cope with
various environmental threats.

A.
Principle 1 - Nature knows best.
Important points:
 Humans have to comprehend nature and have to obey by the rules nature dictates.
 One must not go against the natural processes if one would like to make a certain
continuous and non-stop or steady supply of resources.
 Any disruption in the cycle can bring about imbalance.
 Pernicious effects of technology gave birth to ecological backlash.
Examples/Illustrations:
 Burning of farm wastes instead of allowing them to decompose naturally disrupts the
cycle. In burning, most of the organic compounds are lost and during the process of
burning, it produces carbon dioxide that heats up the planet causing climate change.
These also make the farmers switch to much convenient way to fertilize, which is the use
of chemical fertilizers without considering the help of crop rotation.
 With the help of technology, many things like farming, fishing, and mining become an
easy thing to do, to the point that people exploit the planet, giving too little and taking too
much before it can fully replenish.
How can I apply to my personal environmental ethics/attitude?
 I think I am already applying it years ago. We do not burn wastes. We compost at home
and use it as a fertilizer at our small vegetable container garden. We look for the
businesses’ background and history to avoid supporting someone who just focus on profit
without having a sense of responsibility to humans, animals, and the environment.
Principle 2 - All forms of life are important.
Important points:
 Each organism plays a fundamental role in nature.
 People treat someone or something on how they deem it and how it directly benefits
them.
Examples/Illustrations:
 Even the most hated cockroaches have a very useful ecological role. Cockroaches are
professional recyclers, chowing down just about anything, including dead plants and
animals, and animal wastes. In the wild, the waste of cockroaches nourishes growing
plants, continuing the cycle.
 People treat pests as pests not thinking about their role in nature.
How can I apply to my personal environmental ethics/attitude:
 I personally believe that we must respect everything, with or without life. I do not kill
animals or pests as they call as long as they do not harm me. As weird as it may sound
but I save a drowning ant, a trapped mouse in a mouse sticker trap, lead cockroaches out
of the house using a broom with little to no intention of killing them.

Principle 3 - Everything is connected to everything else.

Important points:
 In an ecosystem, all biotic and abiotic components interact with each other to make sure
that the system is extant.
 Any outside interference may cause an imbalance and the decline of life of the system.
Examples/Illustrations:
 In bodies of water, marine animals and their environment are interconnected to each
other. If someone threw garbage, animal farm wastes, chemicals, and anything natural
phenomena disrupt the ecosystem, then an imbalance like lower catch and the decline of
life in the system such as fish kills and the death of the body of water will occur.
How can I apply to my personal environmental ethics/attitude:
 I will do more effort to understand nature and respect their cycle for it is for the best of
all. I will do more environment-friendly switches. We will all benefit if we all do it. After
all, we all live in this planet.
Principle 4 - Everything changes.
Important points:
 The environment is constantly changing.
Examples/Illustrations:
 Before, a human can live up to hundredths and thousandths of years. Recently, the
longest are about a hundred years, but a human’s life span today is now only about 79
years.
How can I apply to my personal environmental ethics/attitude:
 I must learn how to quickly adapt to changes for changes is the only permanent thing in
this world. There are a lot of factors to consider for changes, may it be good or bad.
Nonetheless, we must use these factors to make the changes better.

Principle 5 - Everything goes somewhere.

Important points:
 When a piece of waste is thrown away, it disappears temporarily from sight but it does
not stop to exist.
 It ends up somewhere.
Examples/Illustrations:
 Basic example. When you threw your garbage, it just made your house clean. But it ends
up in the landfill where people gets lazy to recycle for the garbage is not segregated
properly.
How can I apply to my personal environmental ethics/attitude:
 There is no such thing as throw away. It is just away from us. Whatever we throw away
just goes somewhere else. It is either to the air, ocean, or to the landfill. So, to lessen the
evil, I do barters, sell stuffs, or donate things to the needy. When it comes to trash, we do
composting, and refuse plastics as long as possible but if not, reuse, so that not so much
will end up in landfills.
Principle 6 - Ours is a finite Earth.
Important points:
 The Earth’s resources can be either renewable or non-renewable.
 Human’s consumerist attitude shall be changed.
Examples/Illustrations:
 Renewable resources include timber, wind, and solar. Non-renewable includes coal and
natural gas.
 Human’s consumerist attitude like impulsive buying leads to things put in a corner to
collect dust and one day end up in the dump and eventually to the landfill then will stay
there for years causing massive pollution for recycling is not really practiced here in our
country. According to Climate Change Commission Philippines, only 9% has been
recycled, 12% has been burned or incinerated, while the rest – 79% – accumulate in
landfills, dumps or oceans that will take hundred of years to, take note, degrade only.
How can I apply to my personal environmental ethics/attitude:
 I am constantly doing my best to live sustainably, do the 5Rs (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle, Rot), eliminate single-use packaging, if not possible then I do ecobricking,
giving up meat, being mindful to my consumption and carbon footprint. Simply put that I
am trying to live as a vegan/vegetarian, zero waste, and minimalist.
B.
Principle 1 - Nature knows best.
 I think it is best to not interrupt the environment’s natural cycle for it will only cause lot
of problems in the future. Or if we really want to do some substitute or something that is
much faster than the natural processes, let us please consider more environment-friendly
alternatives.
Principle 2 - All forms of life are important.
 Let us not judge someone or something based on its looks or just because we think we are
better than them. Not eating meat or lessening meat consumption is a big help for the
environment for all animal agriculture, organic or not, have a lot of negative impact on
almost all aspects of the world.
Principle 3 - Everything is connected to everything else.
 Everything is connected to everything else, and nothing is without consequence. I think
we must be more conscious of our choices in everything. Let us evaluate, if you do this
will someone or something be affected? Up to what extent? Is there a much better
alternatives?
Principle 4 - Everything changes.
 Embrace changes and learn to quickly adapt. Change is inevitable. Search for factors that
affects the change to prevent it from quickly escalating.
Principle 5 - Everything goes somewhere.
 Be a mindful consumer by buying something you just really need. Practice minimalism.
It helps people to live a simple life, wanting less, meaning less clutter. Do the 5Rs
(Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot). Do upcycling. Try composting and ecobricking.
You may donate unwanted things to organizations like Caritas Manila, Humble
Sustainability, etcetera.
Principle 6 - Ours is a finite Earth.
 Use our resources wisely. Use until the thing’s last life. Let us not use things for granted
thinking that there will always have plenty of it. Have a give and take mindset. You cut
trees? Then plant trees.