INSTILLING SUSTAINABILITY WITH ACTION AMONG OURSELVES, FIRST WORDS OF WISDOM THAT GENERATE ACTION, FROM DR. GEM BRION ZABALA

 She may raise the ire of certain groups for her advocacy on the re-use of plastics—which for them, is anathema to their somewhat narrow-minded views on environmental preservation. 

At the same time, she also has been given the thumbs-up as well as being lauded by a growing number of socially aware yet pragmatic beings who are open-minded about the reality that plastics can indeed prove their worth as environmentally safe, reusable, and recyclable. 

If these are not complete, she counts as her most trusted clients the biggest fast-food chain and some of the leading construction firms in the country and is always abreast with the latest trends not only on environmental awareness but on capacity-building as well—thanks to her travels both here and internationally with her contacts who are esteemed experts in sustainability as well as human resources empowerment. 

She also instills among us humans to make use of our inner selves and put these potentials that we develop from our inner awareness into function not only towards the betterment and empowering of ourselves, but for the good of the community and our fellow workers and associates as well. 

Who else are we talking about but the one and only Dr. Gem Brion Zabala, President and CEO of ACG Human Capital Solutions, Corp. and Master Practitioner, advocate for practical eco-friendly solutions and above all, a person who truly adheres to walking the talk.  

A passion tracing back to her tender years   

Her passion for sustainable solutions traces back to her childhood days growing up in San Pablo Laguna of which she fondly reminisced how her mother used to hang those heavy plastic bags after washing—only for the sole reason that these are to be reused. 

“My father, who used to work for MERALCO and had his own shop of butingtings, was a tinkerer of sorts a la MacGyver, and I was so fascinated by what he used to cleverly do out of those bits and pieces,” she recalled with a hearty laugh. “Yet at the end, with the practices I observed from my parents, this instilled among us as kids back then that sense of discipline not to throw things—but to reuse them.”

During an instance after she as a kid played jolen (marbles), Doc Gem saw this plastic popping out from the soil, which she affirmed as a means to help the soil not decay. 

“When I first worked at Jollibee back in the ‘90s, the fast-food chains were using styrofoam, of which I was also aware back then that this was against the protection of our fragile planet. This prompted me to ask myself, ‘Why are we using these’? Yet, a decade later, I was thankful that these fast food chains stopped using this toxic item in favor or more sustainable ones,” she proudly stated. 

Fast-forward to the new millennium. With observation tours in the US, Japan (where she observed how sustainability with development is linked into a larger context that incorporates health, equality, education, and competency to evolve into social sustainability) and in Sweden (where everybody strictly adheres to the ‘no use of single-use plastics’ rule) Doc Gem also took very strong notice on how people in these countries follow these sustainable habits with consistency; such, in turn, have made these role countries—or most precisely their people—role models in preserving the ecological balance properly. Call it also a sense of individual responsibility when viewed on a more profound level. 

Among Filipinos, one can also affirm with Doc Gem for that pressing need to incorporate environmental awareness into the human development factor—from the inner self and then to others, be it family members, office mates, or neighbors before permeating this into larger circles outside of one constricted zone. 

Stressed she: “If you have this change of behavior, it will change the way you think—and how you empower people to do the precise things. Empowering can also be effective if you fuse creativity with implementation. The power of individuality that can be permeated to mobilize others to work towards a common good for noble tasks also enables us to be much more discerning, of which discernment also leads into that power to innovate.” 

When plastics can also be reusable 

In this continuing debate, whether plastics are reusable or not, Doc Gem gave much more emphasis on the former. During a recent symposium at JRU/Jose Rizal University, she emphasized that the most basic way is NOT by throwing away plastics—she stressed that these materials can be gathered, washed, dried and segregated. Then these, she added, can be sent to private entities like Green Antz and Trash To Cash Back.

If one analyzes the issue from a more profound perspective, giving these plastics a new lease of life is also in tandem with the practice of reusing old materials. The more these old materials are collected, these can be sold or transformed into new products by means of recycling. What also comes into mind is the way PET bottles are being recycled in places like Singapore; these, in turn are transformed into ‘food grade’ plastics that are equally durable as to the users who had them first! On the business side, this can also help in the value-chain of economies of scale yet by generating greater consciousness in a holistic, ethical way that speaks more of a business model of ‘putting into practice social responsibility in entrepreneurship.’ 

In that very same symposium, she, however, cautioned about the need to educate Filipinos about the use of SUPs (Single Use Plastics) of which our country is No. 1 in Asia in its usage. She also expressed the need to have legislation that would ban its general use nationwide. 

“JRU is a leader in environmental protection which also proves that something can be done here—a fusion of group efforts aimed at one lofty aim,” she added. 

“In as much as there are no long-term solutions to this dilemma, we—both as individuals and as collective members of one entity, be it an organization or within the confines of the businesses we are in to or even within our own offices as well as homes. When we learn more and develop that sense of sustainability among ourselves, we can learn this in a very spontaneous manner, by experiencing reality in its best, and most actual way and not by the books or by theory,” Doc Gem stressed.  

Over at Youtube Channel, one can also view Gem’s Green Box, her series of videos that discuss basic eco-friendly tips that we can put to good use—from praising the benefits of what trees provide us to instilling responsibility for a cleaner, greener Philippines. 

During the height of the pandemic, Doc Gem proudly stated how her efforts did not stop; she was able to access her sessions and undertakings online. And now that we humans are in a state of what you may best call a ‘renewed normal’—where people are back to their usual humdrum of activities yet doing things with much more caution after those painful repercussions during that ‘new normal’ stage when those COVID-19 restrictions were not fully lifted, Ms. Gem’s simple, yet direct and empowering message for all of us is to start among ourselves as individuals and to empower others to do more action. “Starting among ourselves and passing this on to others is also a simple yet very effective move that will instill among all every one of us to fall in love with our planet, of which she stressed ‘we do not have any home to consider but the home we have now.’

“…that, no matter how many posh cars one has, with fat bank accounts, huge mansions, and people are trapped with buying of all trendy clothes….all this painful practice of capitalism and consumerism…will all be nothing but a “Dead Planet.” This is also the time for us to show our loving and nurturing actions towards the protection, deepening the value and to generate our strong sense of respect towards the only place we call HOME – The Planet Earth,” she graciously summed up.