This month of love, we are featuring couples whom we know have been choosing to live green. We asked them about their story, their lifestyle practices, the pandemic, and how being eco-conscious has affected their relationship. For the second part of our Environ-meant to be series, we talked to Greenpeace volunteer Terry Hailes.
Terry is a freelance content writer and editor, and a Greenpeace volunteer who lives with his girlfriend Marian Ledesma, Greenpeace Philippines’ Zero Waste Campaigner. They like to hit the beach or new places in the Philippines when we’re not under GCQ, and have become Netflix-dependent since the lockdown. They also have a dog named Wicket.
What’s your story?
Terry: Marian and I met 8 yrs ago in Bacolod City. We met through some mutual friends who worked for a human rights NGO and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, a development agency). We have been together for 7 yrs now. We moved to QC together and currently live with a flatmate who works with GIZ.
What are some of your eco-conscious practices and advocacies?
We do the obvious things like:
- bring our own reusable bags when shopping
- refill home cleaning products, soap, shampoo, via a refill delivery service
- refill kitchen staples like sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and coffee etc via a refill delivery service
- try not to purchase any products packaged in single use plastic (so mostly canned stuff, products in jars or just fresh produce)
- bought and ride our bikes, walk when we can and use public transportation
- choose to eat a no meat diet for most of our meals
- carry around our own cutlery, straws, eco bags, canteens wherever we go
We also discuss and debate current events and topics pertaining to the environment amongst friends – actively searching for new thoughts, opinions, or ways of thinking. Marian also actively promotes her work experience and passion for saving the environment via these discussions.
How and why did you decide to go green?
They are important. From a macro point of view – saving the Earth is of course the priority. Being with Marian has made me extra aware of climate issues, things like emissions, waste, eating green, and plastic. The longer we were together, the more it was a norm… Also the more micro daily decisions (diet, plastic consumption awareness, recycling, transportation etc….) are healthier and more sustainable, thus staying in line w/ the big picture goal of ours of doing our part to save the planet.
How has it affected your relationship and/or your individual lives?
At first I thought it seemed easy. Being from California, environmentalism and activists were not new to me. Greenpeace has a strong presence and recognition in the US. That’s what I thought before actually being with and living w/ an environmentalist.
Changing one’s diet, consumption habits, mode of transportation, way of thinking is best done if the person understands why they all are so important to do. This was really hard for me at first. Marian did an amazing job of trying to educate me, challenge me, nag me about them over a process of about a year before I decided to make some changes.
We got through some challenges & changing our daily habits also proved tough at first, but I feel that it has only made our relationship stronger. Are we perfect? Nope. But we do try. It’s always easier making big changes as well knowing your partner is supporting you and behind you.
How has COVID affected your relationship and lifestyle? Have there been any challenges since the pandemic broke out?
Needless to say, our lifestyles had to go through adjustments w/ COVID. Our biggest challenges are staying healthy – mentally and physically – while trying to balance that with things/practices that were safe but still eco-friendly. And we were with each other all the time now so we also established our own space at home. We face the same challenges as everyone does and count ourselves lucky we have each other and our dog, Wicket. We recognize that we are fortunate despite that, especially when looking at how the majority of the Earth’s population has to live now.
I think for us the hardest part was fighting that need for convenience ℅ deliveries when you’re stuck at home, or that craving something but you can’t leave home. Home deliveries are so common now that it’s hard not to use COVID as a rationalization to just use those. If we wanted to order out as a treat or when absolutely necessary, we had to come up with a list of places to order from with vegetarian food and eco-friendly about packaging. We also found some online places that don’t use disposable packaging but things like bayongs for veggies and we continued with the refills when they started operating again. When eating out, we had to avoid certain food establishments because they were using plastic cutlery.
When the lockdown started, we didn’t have bikes yet so she (then eventually we) walked 2-4km with our groceries once a week. This is nothing compared to what other people were facing (hunger, joblessness, being sick), but it made deliveries again pretty tempting. It’s a constant struggle, but we’re backing each other up and helping each other keep things in perspective or remind the other of what is important.
What’s your advice to couples who want to be more eco-conscious?
Start gradually. It can seem overwhelming at first. Make a list of things that you can do to be more responsible. Tackle a few things on that list at a time. Once those become daily habits, add some more off the list.
Having a buddy helps keep you in check. Start with your partner or a friend.
Also going green isn’t about buying new more eco-friendly stuff. Sometimes what you have at home is already green, reusable. Really assess what you have right now and see if they work as alternatives (like using the cutlery you have at home instead of buying portable folding ones, or using your water jug instead of buying a new canteen, or using an unused cloth bag instead of buying a new eco bag). The point is minimizing your consumption and reusing as much as you can.
Individual lifestyle choices make a difference in stopping many environmental problems like plastic pollution. But we must also demand action from companies and our government to end single-use plastic production! Sign the following petitions:
Call for a nationwide ban on single-use plastic: act.gp/supbanpetition
Ask Lazada & Shopee to reduce their packaging waste: act.gp/plasticfreeshopping
Our coastlines are among the most impacted by plastic pollution in the world. Be part of the solutions!