Led by an environmental group called Bayay Sibuyanon, residents in Sibuyan kept their lights on during Earth Hour (from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.) on March 28.
Their action was in contrast to the global lights-off event that World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) started in Australia in 2007. For one hour in a year, people worldwide are encouraged to switch off their lights and electric appliances in a campaign to reduce carbon emissions.
“We did the opposite,” Bayay Sibuyanon executive director Rodne Galicha said in a phone interview on Sunday. Galicha is also the Philippine manager of The Climate Reality Project, a global movement founded by Nobel laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore in 2006.
Asked why the group took the opposite tack, Galicha said it was an “attempt to do things differently as what we do for the environment.”
Renewable energy
He said the group wanted to send a message that “on Sibuyan Island, that very hour, our energy is 100-percent renewable.”
Sibuyan, an island divided into three municipalities (Magdiwang, Cajidiocan and San Fernando), is a relatively backward community, highly dependent on agriculture. But the crescent-shaped island boasts of the country’s densest forests, as well as perhaps the country’s cleanest river.
The Cantingas River, declared “cleanest inland body” [of water] in 2007 by the Philippine government, supplies 90-95 percent of the island’s power demand through a 900-kilowatt hydropower plant. The plant has been operated by Cantingas Mini-Hydro Power Corp. since 2010.
The remaining 5 percent comes from diesel, although this serves only as a “back up” during the dry season or peak hours of the day.
“There are certain hours of the day that [the island uses] 100-percent renewable [energy],” Galicha said.
According to Galicha, Sibuyan’s top sources of carbon are land transportation and household “cooking.” But carbon emissions from these sources are minimal considering Sibuyan has a combined population of only about 60,000 and a massive forest area “to offset” the emissions.
In harmony
Although residents on the island continue to experience “power inconsistencies,” they accept the situation because “we realize that we are able to live in harmony with Mother Earth by not increasing our carbon emission,” Bayay Sibuyanon said in a statement.
Sibuyan’s Earth Hour observance was acknowledged by the provincial government.
In a message, WWF Earth Hour Philippines director Angelo Consuelo Ibay called Sibuyan’s initiative a “fantastic example,” in line with WWF’s global vision to be 100-percent renewable by 2050.
“If a small island could do it, why not the rest of the country?” Galicha said.