Green is clean - The 2008 Philippine Energy Summit

One of my many dreams is to someday have a house of my own, designed just the way I want it to be. But the house I want is not any kind of house. I've lived in a lot of houses all through out my life - different styles of  living spaces - some simple and barely furnished, some elaborate and chock-filled with trinkets and tchotskys etc., family-owned, rented, company sponsored, big, small, ugly, nice. I've lived in it. Although it's a bit of a hassle to be moving so often, I have learned a lot of things that I want and don't want to see in my dream house.

If you've read this far, you may wonder "what  does having a dream house have anything to do with this Philippine Energy Summit?" Well, it's really simple. Every one who has owned, rented or bedspaced in a house will one way or another pay their share of  bills  like water, electricity, house repairs, maintenance etc. etc.

My dream house is a house that is capable of sustaining itself - free electricity, free water, maintenance free (almost-minor repairs only ) and of course environment friendly. Now who wouldn't want that? Eversince  I saw on TV years ago a house that was featured in an Australian home design show that was self-sustaining and self maintaining, I never forgot it and it has been my dream home since then. I want MY house to be powered by solar panels and I want to be able to collect rainwater and recycle and reuse it for watering plants or flushing the toilet. I want my house to use GREEN Architecture to be energy efficient, to use the natural flow of the wind and not require air conditioning to keep it cool. I want to use building materials that would not need to be repainted or repaired after just a few years. This is what I want to build. This is how I want it to function. This is my DREAM house. 

I saw this house on TV years ago even before all this global warming and climate change news had been thrust into the spotlight.  Today, the global efforts towards moving towards a more responsible and sustainable way of  conducting ourselves has rekindled and even fueled my desire to see that dream house become a reality.  

Renewable energy and working towards responsible sustainable development are two things my husband and I agree upon. At present, he is now part of WWF-Philippines  as Climate Change Officer and was part of the organizing Secretariat of this Energy Summit. One of the objectives of this summit was to address the energy problems not just from our country's perspective but from a global standpoint and provide realistic, doable solutions and set up accountability measures to make sure the goals that have been set forth are being met. The goal was not just to provide 'band-aid' solutions to the energy crisis at hand but to put in place long-term solutions that will surely benefit not just us but our children and their children's children and so on. 

I felt sad seeing those people who were conducting protest marches and rallies because in my opinion they should have just participated in the Summit instead of protesting in the streets. The issues of global warming and climate change do not rest on the shoulders of the government alone. We can all be a part of the solution if we choose to.  

Hopefully, the dream I have kept in my heart for all these years will find a place and will be a tiny part of the solution to help keep our earth clean and green.