Alumni Profile

Sustainable development and growth is a global issue but in her actions and her advocacy Corazon PB. Claudio (MS 1982, PhD 1987 EES) emphasizes that it starts from an individual mindset.  Her work, in partnership with others, has initiated the establishment of sustainable communities for indigenous peoples in the Philippines and is now influencing the way millions of Filipinos and others in the region think about development.

What is “sustainable development” versus traditional economic development?

Sustainable development, which “seeks to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future,” is often presented with three pillars—social, environmental, and economic. But I have added one more pillar to it—the Person. Sustainability and the needed changes to achieve it must start with the person. So I now encourage companies to aim and care for the quadruple bottom-line—the four “Ps”—Person, People, Planet and Profit. The traditional concept of economic development has damaged our planet. It has caused the heavy indebtedness of developing countries, such as the Philippines, which made our poor even poorer.

What are the biggest problems facing the Philippines and South East Asia today? 

Poverty and social inequity, environmental degradation and how to reverse it, balancing of economic development and environmental protection, and natural and man-made risks.

But I think the single most important challenge that can make us overcome all of them is in the person—his or her transformation to think, feel, and act for a sustainable world.
 
The concerted efforts of individuals with adequate knowledge and positive values, attitudes and actions for the common good and the sustainability of our planet could enable any country to face those challenges successfully.

People should adopt SIMBY—Start In My BackYard! to replace the acronym NIMBY (Not In My BackYard), which is popular, in a negative way, in the environment field.  

For example, within one’s “backyard,” one can apply convenient measures to address what Al Gore calls “An Inconvenient Truth,” the adverse impact of climate change. (“Convenient Measures for ‘An Inconvenient Truth’” is the title of a book that I am writing now.) Minimizing use of electricity is one simple, convenient measure that we can apply in our homes and offices.

How are you promoting sustainable development and lifestyle in the Philippines? 

I set up an NGO, EARTH Institute Asia, Inc., with six other friends, including two other Stanford alumni—Maria Lourdes Arcenas (MA Development Education) and Bernardo Abis (MS Engineering-Economic Systems). Most of us have held senior positions in the environment and sustainable development (ESD) area in the Asia-Pacific region. Our vision is a progressive Asia on the path to sustainable development, with its people adopting sustainable lifestyle and living.  

Could you discuss some of the programs that you are most proud of? 

I am proud of all of our programs. But let me cite two that I developed. 

One is the Kalinga Indigenous People (IP) Program, which helps IPs build sustainable communities. Kalinga means “care.”  

The IPs are not really “poor” because where they live, mostly in the mountains, contains much of our country’s wealth—minerals, water and biodiversity. But basic health, educational and other social services have hardly reached them. Charcoal making, their common source of livelihood, makes our mountains bald.  
 
Our first project, the Kalinga Para sa Aeta Project, has the added challenge of ecological restoration because the Aeta community’s area, which is only about 15 minutes away by vehicle from the former Clark Air Base, was adversely affected by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

With the support of some organizations and individuals, such as TOWNS, MAP, and the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, Inc. we have built for and with the Aetas, 65 houses with rain collection systems, waterless eco-sanitation toilets, and some basic facilities. We have also started helping the Aetas develop ecologically sound livelihood projects, from vegetable gardens in their backyards to the establishment of bamboo and other productive farms. 

We hope to make our Aeta village a showcase of sustainable lifestyle. For now, we still need to raise funds to build a power system, a drinking water system, a medical clinic, a school, and a multi-purpose community center that will include a modest museum for the Aeta’s artifacts, and a place of worship. 

Working with IPs in our development process presents a big challenge for we must ensure that doing so will not make them (and us, too) lose the IPs’ rich culture and traditional ecological and other types of knowledge. 

The Aetas are one of the 110 ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines. If we can help build one model community per group per year, it will take more than a lifetime to help all of them.
 
Another EARTH project that I developed and now host is Kalikasan, Kaunlaran! (meaning nature, progress), a radio program that we co-produce with DZRH, the leading radio station in the Philippines. It airs on Wednesdays at 6:30 to 7:30 in the evening. With the help of outstanding leaders and experts from various fields as guests, we discuss ESD challenges, initiatives and needed measures in conversational Pilipino mixed with English. 

Did you ever imagine being a broadcaster? What challenges do you face in doing so now? 

Radio hosting in our school’s radio station was my extra-curricular activity when I was a teenager. With advanced degrees from Stanford now, the challenge is how to present, in a simple, interesting and enjoyable way, complex issues to millions of listeners from all classes of our society. So we do not only choose our guests well, we also conduct contests, campaigns and projects that listeners can enjoy and benefit from.  

For example, we have a recycling project that buys and recycles sapal, the waste generated when milk is extracted from coconut meat. Our first project participant is listener Ely Bonifacio, a 60-plus-year-old retired CPA who has been in a wheel chair since her youth. She heads a cooperative that now collects sapal in southern Philippines.  

Is there an underlying passion that drives what you do? 

Indeed, there is. And it may be the result of growing up until aged 15 in a rural, isolated town, which was then at the center of the local communist movement in the Philippines. Although my parents owned some lands, we lived in the same conditions as all others—no electricity, no water system, flooded roads during the rainy season, etc. 

How did Stanford prepare you for what you are doing now? How was your stay in the Farm in general?  

My EES training equipped me with the knowledge and skills, especially in decision and risk analysis, that I have applied in my work.  I also learned some sports and cultural skills, thanks to Stanford’s policy to encourage students to enroll in elective courses, in addition to the required ones.
 
So far, my time at Stanford comprised the best years of my life for that and other reasons. The Farm allowed even my son Toby to excel—he was chosen one of the top gifted students in the Escondido elementary school. I also gave birth there to my second and last child, Lizette, between mid-terms and finals. Yes, one can do that, too, at Stanford but it entails hard work and much moral support. My professors, especially Professors M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, James Sweeney, Ross Shachter, Ron Howard, and the late Bill Linvill, taught me well and gave me moral support, and they assisted me to access funding sources for my PhD program. The grants from the Stanford’s Institute for Energy Studies for my course work and the US Electric Power Research Institute for my thesis were of great help to me and my family.