MILESTONES
Seeds of change BY ANNICKA B. KOTEH THROUGHOUT COLLEGE, both the school and its students have undertaken efforts that reflected a rising awareness of environmental issues inside and outside of the campus—from climate change to pollution to resource conservation and more. These issues have demanded stronger institutional and individual responses that consider our impact on nature. In this light, the Loyola Schools (LS) community has grown ever louder in demanding sustainable action from the University and society. Taking root As we entered college, Ateneo also ushered in new sustainability frameworks to cement its green commitments. 2016 saw the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability launch its Sustainability Policies and Specific Guidelines, which touched on ecological awareness, materials and energy conservation, food sustainability, as well as disaster risk reduction. In the same year, urban planning firm PGAA Creative
Design finished the University masterplan, which outlined campus improvements with the environment in mind. By 2017, Ateneo finally published its second Sustainability Report under Global Reporting Initiative standards. The report, covering 2014 to 2016, discussed programs for student formation and the environment, with some highlights being better waste segregation and water conservation systems. Aside from these guidelines, the University had smaller-scale initiatives to move students towards environmentalism. The Ateneo Walang Aberyang Yayanig sa Biyaheng Ateneo (WAY) shuttle service, later called the Ateneo P2P+, was likewise piloted in 2016 to reduce traffic congestion on campus. Moreover, students themselves have worked on building fuel-efficient cars through Ateneo’s participation in the Shell Eco-marathon since 2017, and the new Greenpark behind SEC-A gave Ateneans an eco-friendly hangout spot—with wooden tables built from trees felled by typhoons. However, these initiatives have suffered from a lack of strong information campaigns. The school has yet to release a new sustainability report nor periodic updates on the PGAA masterplan. The Ateneo P2P+ shuttle experienced low ridership and resorted to fare impositions before being discontinued with little explanation. Blue Biyahe, a similar service led by the Sanggunian and the Office of the Associate Dean for Student and Administrative Services, ran for eight weeks from late October to December 2019, but more as a stopgap response to the LRT-2 shutdown than an environmental undertaking. The Shell Eco-Marathon, as well as the significance behind developments like the Greenpark have seldom been discussed on social media. Many in our batch have thus gone through college unaware of these steps towards sustainability.
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