THE PHRASE ?sustainable development? seems like a mouthful. To Padmapani L. Perez, anthropologist, freelance writer, passionate biker and dedicated single mother, it simply means this: ?You don?t use up nor destroy what?s there in the process of benefiting from it.?

Born and raised in Baguio City, Perez, 35, spent a childhood climbing trees, tumbling down hills, digging up earthworms and generally spending a lot of time outside the family home built by her great grandmother, the suffragist Pilar Hidalgo Lim.

As a child in the 1970s, her parents, writer Adelaida Lim and movie director Butch Perez, taught her to be kind to all living creatures, gave her books about nature and the environment. The young family went on trips to Sagada, to rivers and beaches.

Perez says, ?When you have that, you get that sense of wonderment and love of nature. It?s so different from when other people talk about natural resources. They talk in platitudes. For others, when they say ?natural resources,? they?re already thinking of how to use it, how to exploit if for some economic gain. That is not bad in itself. But the thing about sustainable development is, it?s no longer just about minerals, water, trees; it?s also about human relationships, living with each other and the world around us.?

As a lecturer on social development studies at the University of the Philippines Baguio College of Social Sciences, Perez likes to speak about the environment as ?a work in progress that is being shaped not just by humans but also by insects and other elements. We humans tend to think of ourselves as separate from the environment, but even if you live in the 32nd floor of a condominium building, you still inhale carbon emissions from below.?

Citing Dr. Julie Cabato, a community leader in Baguio and Benguet, as her source, Perez points to the sewage at the Baguio public market that drains into the Balili River. The Balili River is so horribly polluted that many farmers in La Trinidad no longer use it as a source to irrigate their farms, Perez points out. Some who still use it to water their strawberries and vegetables put people?s health and well-being at risk. ?We think of the market only as an economic place. We don?t see its impact on the environment that could have a greater economic cost in the future,? she adds.

Perez says she gets disturbed when public officials announce that going green is more expensive. ?They say they can?t do it because it?s more costly. But they don?t realize that the green way is better when measured in long-term health benefits,? she says. ?If enough people reduce the garbage they generate, that would impact in a big way.?

Some simple ways she does it: taking short showers; bringing her own water bottle so she doesn?t have to buy and discard those plastic water bottles; walking or biking instead of commuting or driving if her destination is not too far; bringing her own containers and backpack when she goes to market, and her own shopping bag to the mall or grocery.

As for organic farmers? produce in the Philippines costing more, here is Perez?s take on the subject: ?Organic farming is more expensive at the start. However, the optimistic view on the long run for organic farming is that it is a viable source of livelihood and a healthy food option. There?s a debate on this, because some environmentalists claim that genetically modified food is greener because it can feed the world. There are several sides to this: organically produced food, chemically loaded and processed food, and genetically-modified food. I think that they intersect in many ways. I buy organic food as much as possible to support local farmers and because, I swear, it tastes better.?

Perez, whose mother and mother?s friends run Café by the Ruins and advocate organically grown produce and slow cooking, says, ?It helps to think of organic food in terms other than monetary cost. Chemically loaded food may be cheaper and easier on the pocket, but in the long run it will cost us our health and that of our planet. That?s why we should think of our economic activity as an environmental activity.? ?