Pollution in Third World Is Earth Day Event’s Focus : Environment: Carson conference addresses the effects that waste from industrialized countries is having on poor nations such as the Philippines.

In the Philippines, many children in the street breathe through cloth to keep out pollution, Joe Pennano told about 150 people at an Earth Day gathering in Carson.

In the last three years, those makeshift masks have thickened from handkerchiefs to towels as pollution levels increased, he said.

“A lot of the environmental pollution is due to foreign companies coming into the Philippines,” said Pennano, president of the Philippine Action Group for the Environment.

Pennano was one of several speakers invited by Earth Day organizers to the conference Saturday to raise awareness in local communities and ethnic groups about the effect that waste from industrialized countries is having on the Third World.

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Environmentalists also are concerned about the mountains of plastic dumped in Philippine landfills. The United States, Australia and Japan export plastic waste to the region, Pennano said.

The Philippine Action Group estimates that more than 6,000 tons of plastic scrap left Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors for the Philippines between January and July of last year.

“We must demand an end to the waste trade in the Philippines,” Pennano said.

Another concern is the recycling of car batteries in the Philippines, where pollution controls and worker safety standards are not as stringent, said Triana Silton of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.

Seventh-grader Fredrick Trujillo, 14, a member of the Builders Club at Stephen White Middle School in Carson, said he learned a lot from the speakers.

“It’s helping us understand what the Earth is going through,” Trujillo said. “They’re destroying our world--it’s not fair.”

Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton) told the crowd that people could have a great influence on their environment and urged communities to hold businesses accountable for their pollution.

“Without this type of groundswell of community involvement, who would be there to check even the unintentional acts of industry?” Tucker asked.

Other Earth Day events this week include:

* Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: On Saturday, the Sierra Club, Friends of Madrona Marsh and the Marine Mammal Care Center will discuss environmental issues and distribute conservation information. Guided tours of the adjacent salt marsh will be given and kayaking will be demonstrated. Events run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 3720 Stephen White Drive in San Pedro. Information: (310) 548-7563.

* Dockweiler State Beach: The beach will be cleaned Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Students who have participated in the Adopt-a-Beach Assemblies program and other volunteers will gather at the beach near the end of Imperial Highway to begin the cleanup.

* Santa Monica State Beach: Volunteers will meet at 9 a.m. Saturday in front of lifeguard towers 15 and 17 for a beach cleanup. Participants should bring sturdy gloves. Environmental groups will have information tables on the Santa Monica Pier all day.

* Polliwog Park: From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor live music, dance, children’s activities, displays by environmental groups and tree-planting. The park is at 1601 Manhattan Beach Blvd.