A disturbing figure for smokers: a significant portion of the trash picked up at beach clean-ups are cigarette butts.
The most recent figures available from the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration show that 52.9 million cigarette butts were picked up over the last 25 years of the International Coastal Clean-up, an annual volunteer event. Cigarette butts are habitually flicked away by cigarette smokers in the absence of anywhere else to put them.
These small remnants of cigarettes are non-biodegradable, could be mistaken for food by birds and marine life, and contain toxic substances that are harmful animals that consume them.
Jen Horn, an entrepreneur and self-described “nomad manager”, found this disturbing, and wrote about this on a blog post on a site she founded.
Horn, who co-founded the accessories and shoes firm Punchdrunk Panda, is the founder and editor of Muni.com.ph, a website that promotes “mindful living for cultural creatives.”
“We are trying to create a community of like-minded people [by raising awareness] of social and environmental issues and…the things we can do every day that can contribute to the community and the planet,” she said.
For the team at Muni, such small steps count. That is why the first major event connected with their ongoing #CutTheCrap campaign, the eponymous “gig for cultural creatives,” took place last Saturday night at Route 196, to promote one such small step.
As part of the run-up to the event, Horn enlisted the help of several visual artists to come up with posters for the gig. The artists included JP Cuison, Manix Abrera, Rob Cham, and Celina de Guzman, whose first solo show took place at Heima Brixton a week before the gig.
Cham told Coconuts Manila, “I think it’s a good idea, [telling us to] stop doing [something] to better the world.”
De Guzman described her contribution, entitled “Sea Puppets,” as a reminder that “we are masters of our actions.”
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”14608″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”600″,”style”:”display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”600″}}]]
Photo: Muni.PH Facebook page
Apart from the posters, Muni.PH issued an open call for old film canisters, some of which would be decorated by the artists concerned, which could be used as containers for used cigarette butts before proper trash disposal.
“We chose [these] because one could easily carry them around,” Horn said.
De Guzman noted, “[Using film canisters] doesn’t shove the act of disposing [in your face]. It doesn’t tell you to quit. It just reminds you to be more mindful of the environment.”
The gig last Saturday night also aimed to raise funds for the Save the Philippine Seas Foundation, a group working on marine conservation advocacies.
To encourage people to buy tickets in advance and give to the campaign, Muni.PH enlisted the help of the crowdfunding site ArtisteConnect. As an incentive, early buyers received a 20-percent discount on the door charge of PHP 250.
Guests received old film canisters at the gate, and a chance to win prizes from Muni.PH’s featured social entrepreneurs. Among the prizes were bamboo speakers for music players, locally sourced hot chili sauce, and shoes and bags made from recycled rubber products (in whole or in part).
“Part of our advocacy is to encourage a change in buying habits by patronizing social entrepreneurs,” Horn noted.
The concert featured sets by Pedicab, Romcom, Slow Hello, Your Imaginary Friends, Ciudad, and No Rome.
It was Romcom’s well-connected lead singer and social media specialist Tin Rementilla who helped put the line-up together, said the band’s rhythm guitarist, Larry Cayco. “We heard about [the gig] and thought it was a great idea,” Cayco said.
He said of the campaign, “If you want to make a change, you’ve got to start with something simple. I mean, it doesn’t have to be extravagant right away.”
The event may have been a small success—considering that it was on the same action-packed night as Fete de la Musique 2013—but this is just one small part of the Cut the Crap campaign, which aims to draw attention to cutting back wasteful consumption.
“It’s not [just about] cigarette butts, it’s all about cutting back on wastefulness,” Cham said.
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”14611″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”848″,”style”:”display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”600″}}]]
Poster for the event by Rob Cham and Apol Sta. Maria
Things like disposable chopsticks and bringing one’s own water bottles were also written about on Muni.PH, and perhaps the whole point is a change in lifestyle that would make things better.
“Hopefully, there’ll be a bigger venue and more room for social entrepreneurs to sell their stuff,” Horn told Coconuts Manila when asked about her next possible event. And it would be an opportunity for the rest of us to learn how to “cut the crap” in our lives.
As Cayco said, “Saving the environment starts with something simple.”
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”14613″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”450″,”style”:”display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”600″}}]]
—
Ren Aguila is a contributor to Coconuts Manila. The door charge, which he paid, included tickets to a raffle, where the author won twice
