PLANTER VEHICLE PROJECT

Efforts of Philippine Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization impacted negatively the socio-economics of the transportation sector in the Philippines. Thousands of jeepneys, symbol of Filipino ingenuity, are now considered junks due for decommissioning, disenfranchising their drivers/operators.

I introduced the Planter Jeepney,  my solution to the proliferation of junk that has become an eyesore in the communities and significantly, a stark reminder of disenfranchisement leading to widespread unemployment. The Planter Jeepney, in a controlled ecosystem environment, can provide basics as food and work. Family or community members can participate in its maintenance and care. 

The science and technology behind the Planter Jeepney revolve around an ecosystem service hinged on efficient use of carbon dioxide from exhaust emitted from the jeepney’s engine and filtered directly to the soil for plant growth.  The pattern and technology can then serve as a prototype for farming and forestation in the Philippines and around the world.

There are around 280,000 jeepneys decommissioned by the Philippine PUV Modernization Program aimed at reducing air pollution in the environment. Double that number for the drivers and proprietors put out of business, increased manifold by the families affected by the PUV ruling.  While this country’s transportation policy aims at enhancing environmental conditions, the economic downsides are unemployment and loss of income for many families.  Furthermore, communities have been confronted with the problem of what to do with the decommissioned vehicles that are seen just lying around in neighborhoods, exposed to the elements and in poor condition. The wasted unused vehicles eventually turn into junks, a problematic eyesore and space grabbers in crowded neighborhoods of affected communities.    

My project targets transformation of junk jeepneys and its CO2 exhaust into resources that render economic value and ecosystems services. Unmistakably, there is a clear tie-up between reviving the jeepney for regenerating agricultural products for family and community consumption, and the value to reducing the negative economic impact of eliminating jeepneys from the country’s transport system. My Planter Jeepney model also has the potential for global agro-eco initiatives leading to innovation in food production and reforestation, using technology involving recycling carbon reservoirs.

Planter Jeepney is a mobile art space that shelters beautiful aerial, terrestrial living things and subterranean microorganisms such as insects and birds for ecosystem services. The world's first microhabitat vehicle, it recycles its own emission as fertilizing carbon. It utilizes rudimentary biological soil bed reactor leveraging soil organic matters, activated carbon and plant microbiome incorporated to organically filter, treat and recycle trace elements and emissions of internal combustion engines (ICE), such as CO2, into plant usable compounds. Oxygen is the primary end product. This will dramatically reduce carbon footprints of old gas-powered vehicles worthy for upcyling or hybridization.    

Upcycling planter vehicles as micro habitat gardens not only serves as iconic centerpieces with tremendous artistic value to the communities. In my experience with my first Planter Jeepney, it becomes a tourist attraction and educational tool. It also renders added revenue and ecology services value to old ICE automobiles. Planter vehicles will be fielded as biodiverse micro habitat mobility, part and center of Applied Nucleation Technique for reforestations of degraded rural and urban areas and wildlife corridors. In contained controlled manageable space, they can also serve as deployable refuge habitat for devastated landscapes caused by wars, wildfires and other environmental catastrophes. 

My Planter Vehicle Project aims to repurpose and upcycle old and discarded jeepneys and vehicles as carbon sequestration mobility for agro-eco solutions. It intends to create value adding income generation to the disenfranchised players in the public transport sector. 

Fabrication of Planter Jeepneys and vehicles will create demand for discarded jeepneys that will benefit old owners and operators. Drivers and proprietors put out of work nationwide will benefit from the Planter Jeepney project. Not only will their vehicles be transformed as venues of agricultural production, but they themselves can participate actively in the maintenance and care of the ecosystem service. In urban areas where there is not enough land for planting vegetables, it can serve as a mobile habitat for contained farming.

To engage these displaced workers and business owners, I have started a series of workshops locally. My Planter Jeepney also has been placed on exhibit for public viewing as an art installation entitled "Planter; Anthropocene Paradox Spectacle #1" on the campus of the University of the Philippines, in College of Fine Arts and College of Social Works and Community Development. It has been included in parades and community drive-bys, and featured in national publications or newspapers.  I have been interviewed on national television (CNN and GMA) about the Planter Jeepney, the technology behind it, and its benefits to local and national economy.  In print and broadcast news, I have been mentioned as the country’s foremost permaculture ecotechnology designer and regenerative artist. I recently received communication from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) for a potential grant program, and private entities asking if my Planter Jeepney can be established in Germany.

My Planter Jeepney project has created quite a stir among curious and interested professionals in the fields of agriculture, economics, business, education, science, technology, media, and the artistic sector. The aesthetic value of the project has been touted as well. It has contributed a contemporary reflection to the unique cultural symbol of the Filipino spirit - resilient, innovative and optimistic. 

Funding from MIT Solve/Challenge will boost my efforts at promoting the Planter Jeepney concept through educational means, not just in my city or community, but in regions around the Philippines where the jeepneys, formerly the bulwark of Philippine road transportation and cultural icons due to their colorful and artistic rides, have ceased to be an asset in the country’s economy. MIT’s sponsorship will greatly help the Planter Jeepney to be adopted in communities around the country, literally transforming junks into habitats for agricultural production through the efficient use of an ecosystem started from carbon reservoirs.  The great potential presented by the Planter Jeepney project is in its innovation and practical technology that can be adopted on a global scale in both urban and rural areas especially where land space is scarce or devastated by calamities.

WATCH: Pinoy jeepney turned into eco-friendly Planter Art Project by Larry Gile

Hardin sa loob ng isang jeepney?!

Container van, ginawang luxurious house; jeep, taniman na rin ng gulay at halaman

Exhibition presents mobile planter

If thousands of jeepney owners convert their vehicles into planter spaces, that would be great benefit to the communities in terms of food production, work activity, and potentially, financial gains. Planter jeepneys can be a boost to the local economy. Planter Jeepney is a contained ecosystem habitat that can jumpstart interest and the quest for knowledge, methodologies and resources toward resilient agro-ecology. This prototype that revolves around an ecosystem service hinged on the efficient use of emission pollutant for plant growth can be especially useful in reforestation and limited space utilization in lands affected by urbanization, wars or natural calamities.

Planter Jeepney was tested when it was exhibited as an art installation at University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts at Diliman, Quezon City, in late 2019 and then at College of Social Work and Community Development where the Covid 19 Pandemic eventually caught it into lockdown. The Planter habitat survived the lockdown in spite of limited human intervention at the pilot site.  

My Planter Jeepney project has drawn tremendous interest, curiosity and reaction from at least six hundred professionals in agriculture, economics, business, education, science, technology, and the artistic sector. It has gained influence among academics and non- academics in and outside the campus, as well as the urban poor community. In seminars with about a hundred professors and students, my pilot was tested for its viability. It has inspired jeepney drivers/operators plying around the campus to use their jeepneys as vegetable gardens and sell their produce.

Ecosystems form the basis of wealth creation. Ecosystem services flow from  natural capital and are an investor’s primary asset. It is worth over US$21–72 trillion annually according to United Nations  Environmental Programme (UNEP). Ecosystems provide societies with soil fertility, food, water, shelter, carbon  sequestration, goods and services, medicines, stability, pleasure, knowledge and leisure. 

My Planter Jeepney is the world's first running microhabitat vehicle that utilizes rudimentary biological soil bed reactor leveraging soil organic matters, activated carbon and plant microbiome to organically filter and recycle trace elements and emissions of internal combustion engines into plant usable compounds. Plants and oxygen are the primary end products.

Our Vision: Provide Ecosystem Services by Harnessing Symbiosis with Resilient Ecosystems.

Our Mission: Provide Carbon Neutral Agro-eco Mobility

Business Model: I. Value adding from anthropogenic scraps and discarded nature's resources. II. Connecting People and Nature with Green Mobility

Ecological service value propositions; Food production, Carbon dioxide and particulate matters recycling space, Enhanced soil organic matters, Plant biomass for carbon sequestration, Flora and Fauna Habitat, Micro climate and air quality improvement, aesthetics, Natural cooling design thru evapotranspiration and shading.     

Positioning: Production of upcycled vehicles and education for the humanitarian, eco-cultural tourism and economically depressed areas.

Products are; Mobile Micro Food Forest (Planter Jeepney prototype), Mobile Microbiome for degraded area assisted natural regeneration through Applied Nucleation Technology, Green Roofing for mobility  and Powerhouse Agro-green  Solution 

Innovation: Transforming junk vehicles into regenerative habitat for ecosystem services that facilitate resilient plant growth, agricultural and commercial productivity harnessed from carbon reservoirs.

I have an existing non profit educational collaboration with University of the Philippines College of Social Work and Community Development - UP Diliman Quezon City. Beneficiaries of this project are the students, professors and staffs, Campus jeepney drivers and operators association and their social work community beneficiaries outside of the campus. Besides, we are also teaching permaculture and urban gardening within UP campus communities. This would make 600-1000 people currently affected by the project. 

I am also collaborating and applying with the Philippine Native Tree Enthusiast of the Philippines on an urban  eco-cultural reforestation project. Another one is a 40 hectare water reservation reforestation project in a Economic enclave which would make another 100-200 directly affected families.

I am also working out a mutual aid social-economic campaign using jeepney as point of sales and mutual aid for planting materials. This project will maximize vacated spaces as do good product/plant barter or sales system inside the jeepneys. This will affect hundred of drivers and thousands of commuters.

If the MIT support materializes, and the project is expanded, this initiative can affect thousands if not millions of people in different countries worldwide.

As of the moment, my Planter Jeepney videos and online contents that went viral on social media, as well as publicity on print and broadcast media more or less reached over a million people.

In five years, the numbers stated above affected by my Planter jeepney project could easily quadruple.

My pilot project has gone through a good start since its inception in 2019. It has drawn considerable interest from professionals in various fields as well as the drivers and operators disenfranchised by the PUV mandate. This interests has led to a clamor for workshops and lectures to spread information about the jeepney project, innovation, technology, ecosystem and biodiversity and agricultural services. 

The pilot has shown great influence first among the disenfranchised drivers, operators and their families who are eager to know what to do with their decommissioned vehicles that are turning into junks. My prototype is a model for the multiplication of Planter vehicles with potential for food production for affected families as well as for commerce they need to sell.

Television and newspaper media have expressed interest in my project and that has led to several interviews about the Planter Jeepney.

There is growing interest in the innovative and technological aspect of the Planter Jeepney. I have developed a methodology for its operation, but I intend to seek resources for the further development of its technology, ecosystem, biodiversity, ecology and agriculture.

We continue to identify production and procurement data as relevant variable that will ensure that we can keep tab of our solution's primary impact goal. These include: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services on carbon sequestration per vehicle and its biodiversity.

Organizationally, the sales and revenue generation that results in positive cash flow  business operation will gauge long term sustainability.

1 Director 

1 full time staff 

1 gardener/mechanic

Consultants - (Architects, engineers, publication specialists, jeepney fabricators) 

We have a tight leadership team that has been proven over the years. Our team work had led to numerous events, workshops and exhibits that attracted thousands of participants or interested spectators. 

My staff member has years of experience in administrative and organizational work, and with a college degree in her credentials. She have considerable knowledge about the environment, community development and finance.

My gardener/mechanic has worked for my project for three years now. He is knowledgeable and reliable.

My consultants are professionals in architectural, engineering, agro-ecology and public relation fields, and have proven track record in their careers. They assist me in my project as needed.

I am the director of the Planter Vehicle Project. I have been an entrepreneur and businessman in the agriculture and engineering sectors for years. I have an expertise in project management. I am also a practicing permaculture designer, and a trainer in community development projects pertaining to agriculture and socio-economics. Though my college education is in art, I have pursued interests and efforts in activities and events that use art as a venue for education, business and community resiliency.

Right now, e have a small regular team, one female and two males but as we expand we will retain diversity in our leadership make up. 

The few consultants that currently have are male professionals and a woman in a public relations field. 

But the beneficiaries of the project are widely diverse men and women and the children of families that had been disenfranchised. There are some in the lowest poverty level and others a little bit better off. The poor that this project aims help in the communities are equitably of value to our initiative.

 My team operates on the idea of respect and inclusion towards all that are served and affected by our project.

Solve can facilitate the Planter Vehicle Project's goals to manufacture carbon sequestration and regeneration in salvaged vehicles for food and work production and ecosystems services, by connecting us to relevant stakeholders like funding partners, technology development partners, industry authorities, policymakers, patent permitting agencies, and exposure to cultural institutions.

Funding from Solve will enable me to sustain the Planter Jeepney project that entails not just vehicle maintenance but also allow access to resources and materials necessary for the contained farming and ecosystem service.

In addition, being a Solve Member will establish for me connections with other members in a workable networking system of ideas, information, technical advice, relevant forums and relevant opportunities.

Solve then is not only a financial source but also a valuable conduit for continued progress and further development in creating effective venues for community assistance programs locally, nationwide, and even globally.

Solve connections will be paramount in establishing credibility in the Philippines and abroad, and with MIT’s sponsorship and the Solve Challenge reputation, my Planter Jeepney project can gain increased interest and endorsement leading to the achievement of my project’s goals and their impact on the country’s socio- and agro-economy.  Solve sponsorship can even lead to greater impact if my Planter Jeepney concept is adopted in other counties or globally.

Access to relevant stakeholders like funding partners, technology development partners, industry authorities, policymakers, Philippine and US patent permitting agencies, and exposure to cultural institutions will give our project dynamic and comprehensive boost to reach our goal of upcycling and deploying Planter vehicles around the Philippines, Asia Pacific and across the globe.

1. MIT faculties for fine tuning internal technologies along the emission capture engine to ICESBPR dynamic.

2. Contemporary Art and US Museums as hosts for Planter vehicle artistic spectacles.

3. Green Climate Fund (GCF) networks and economic proponents in the technology, automobile and philanthropic business for seed funding grants or early bird clients.

4.  SOLVE members - join a network of members to get feedback, suggestions or advice based on the progress and developments in various SOLVE projects.

4.  University of the Philippines Community Development department initiatives in urban and rural areas of the country – invite them to participate or at least, take interest in my project to widen my network, and especially, spread information about the value of the Planter Jeepneys in communities.

5.  Philippine based GCF partners or other grant institutions.

6. Television and other media outlets in the Philippines (and other countries) to promote the Planter Jeepney technology and bio-engineering, ecosystem services.   

7.  Schools and local organizations - to sponsor workshops and instructions for students and residents in communities where the Planter Jeepney concept can be adopted.

GM is company that designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, and sells financial services globally. It is of great technological and historical importance for the Philippine Jeepney's contemporary relevance as then US WWII era Motor Vehicle surplus evolution as a resiliency mobility icon into what is now a regenerative planter vehicle, if GM will be the first to  recognize our technology and partner us in our start up journey.

This prize is really applicable to our business positioning of producing upcycled vehicles and education for the humanitarian, eco-cultural tourism and economically depressed areas. Upcycling a microhabitat Philippine Jeepney or GMC buses as education and green mobility for refugee ecosystem and livelihood resiliency will be a big innovation boost for this advocacy. 

We will use the grant for engine upgrade and “engine to exhaust system to ICESBPR” flow research, fabrication and development

. 

Planter Vehicle Project's business mission is tailored to this prize: I. Value adding from anthropogenic scraps and discarded nature's resources like captured carbon.  II. Connecting People and Nature with Green Mobility

Our  carbon sequestration vehicles and solutions like Mobile Micro Food Forest (Planter Jeepney prototype), Mobile Microbiome for degraded area assisted natural regeneration through Applied Nucleation Technology, Green Roofing for mobility  and Power Agro-green Housing Solution will be of great relevance to this prize.

Furthermore, this Planter Jeepney project serves the needs of  communities where thousands of drivers and proprietors have been displaced or unemployed with the decommissioning of the jeepney transportation resulting from the Public Utilities Vehicles recent mandate to abate pollution problems in the Philippines. Instead of becoming unused junks, these vehicles can be transformed into contained ecosystem service-related habitats for agricultural production, both for community consumption and commerce.

The concept of the Planter Jeepney can be adopted widescale, to serve the bigger community or country, if enough information, teaching and training are given.  This can also be adopted globally where other countries can use the bio-agricultural technology to serve the economic needs of the population, especially in areas affected by urbanization, natural catasprophes or wars. I believe, my Planter Jeepney project fulcrumed on the recycling of carbon reservoirs is very much in line with MIT’s ServiceNow initiative and sponsorship.