Across Southeast Asia, we’re all grappling with plastic waste, from rivers choked with bottles and packaging to new proposals for “waste-to-energy” plants that promise to turn rubbish into electricity. But are these really solutions, or just shifting the problem elsewhere? The Philippines, like Malaysia, faces this tension between convenience, consumption, and sustainability too. In this episode, we're joined by two experts from the Philippines who’ve spent years studying and tackling these issues: Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, an environmental scientist and former UN Chief Technical Advisor on the Environment, who’s worked with the WHO and UNDP on safe and sustainable waste management, who's currently an Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow at Silliman University Philippines, and also Merci Ferrer, the Co-Convenor for War on Waste Negros Oriental, and the President of the Philippines Office for the Global Alliance of Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). Together, we’ll explore what it really takes to move toward cleaner, more sustainable ways of living. 



Image Credit: Shutterstock

Across Southeast Asia, we’re all grappling with plastic waste, from rivers choked with bottles and packaging to new proposals for “waste-to-energy” plants that promise to turn rubbish into electricity. But are these really solutions, or just shifting the problem elsewhere? The Philippines, like Malaysia, faces this tension between convenience, consumption, and sustainability too. In this episode, we're joined by two experts from the Philippines who’ve spent years studying and tackling these issues: Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, an environmental scientist and former UN Chief Technical Advisor on the Environment, who’s worked with the WHO and UNDP on safe and sustainable waste management, who's currently an Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow at Silliman University Philippines, and also Merci Ferrer, the Co-Convenor for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.facebook.com/WOWBreakFreeFromPlasticNegrosOr/">War on Waste Negros Oriental</a>, and the President of the Philippines Office for the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.no-burn.org/">Global Alliance of Incinerator Alternatives</a> (GAIA). Together, we’ll explore what it really takes to move toward cleaner, more sustainable ways of living.&nbsp;Image Credit: Shutterstock

Climate change, ferocious weather and ‘the haze’ are now part our everyday lives. How are our lifestyles connected to them, and what can we do about it? What does the economy have to do with it? Earth Matters engages with activists and experts to explore our changing relationship with the planet that we only borrow from our children.

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