How about the environment?

AS THE world celebrates Earth Hour this coming March 27, 2010, one of the big questions we have to ask is why? And how?

Earth Hour is considered as the world’s largest global climate change initiative. Earth Hour 2010, which will take place this coming Saturday, is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. Earth Hour is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. People across the world, from all walks of life, are encouraged to turn off their lights, not use any electrical appliance, for an hour, and join together in celebration, and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – the very best for our planet.

Why do we have to get involved in this? Why put off our electricity for one hour? Put simply, and starkly, it is because our future depends on it! If we will not conserve energy, if we will not take active and responsible effort to take care of our Mother Earth, then, what kind of future will we leave our children and our children’s children?

Earth Hour, of course, is more than switching off lights for one hour once a year. It is all about giving people, us, the voice on the future of our planet. It is about being one and working together to create a sustainable low carbon future for our planet.

And so when the 52 participants for the 6th Technological University of the Philippines Editors Guild gathered here in the province, the issue tackled by these young writers’ group was not the usual journalism stuff, but the answers and actions to the question “how about the environment?” The theme of the gathering is “Artisans at the Forefront of the Green Revolution.” Thus, the delegates from the editorial staff of each of the student publications from TUP Cavite, Taguig, Manila and the Visayas had the following activities: coastal clean-up and trash segregation at the back of CICM in Talisay City, a basic mass integration and outreach activity for the selected families in the different areas in Barangay Banago, and a tree –planiting activity at Mambukal Mountain Resort in Murcia, Negros Occidental.

So from the comforts of the Sweet City Captel where the delegates were billeted, the young “artisans” proceeded to the coastline of Talisay, where they were given a one-meter long bamboo stick to use for “forking” the garbage. With their black garbage bag and gloves, the young people spanned the approximately 500-meter coastal area and did the first task they had to do for the environment: “pick” up the trash and segregate them into five categories: “madunot”, “indi madunot”, “makahalalit””mapuslan” and “indi-mapuslan”. After two, long tedious hours of being under the grace of Mr. Sun, the delegates were able to collect 10 black bags full of garbage, much of them belonging to the non-biodegradable category, as the garbage consisted mostly of plastic bags, styrofoams, food packaging. What the young people found to be quite dismaying is the response of one of the local settlers who when asked where they, “the Artisans”, can bring the bags for trash collection, told them to just dump them in the bushes because that’s what the local folks are doing. And so what the young coeds did was to start a mini lecture on how to manage and dispose the trash properly.

We people have a symbiotic relationship with our environment. And for us to live and co-exist well with it, we must also have a good state of being. So, after a short lecture on basic Mass Integration, at around 3 in the afternoon, of that same day, the delegates, grouped into five teams-by color, and given only a minimal Php100.00, did their marketing at the Old Palapala. What for? So that from the given amount, the delegates can provide a family of five, a decent breakfast, lunch and dinner. After enjoying the haggling and the choosing, the members of the Green Team emerged as the winner based on following criteria: promptness in marketing, total price of the items not to exceed Php100.00, nutritional value of the items bought, and “makabulosog” factor. The winning team was able to procure two kilos of rice from their Php100.00 budget, and a lot of vegetables, so off the delegates went, by foot, to the different areas of Barangay Banago, to give their stuff to five different impoverished families. With the help of the local College Editors Guild, the teenagers hiked footwalks, crossed bamboo bridges, treaded on fishpond banks, climbed concrete estuaries to reach their identified recipients. On hindsight, the experience provided the delegates a better understanding of the harsh realities of life, and a thoughtful consideration of the lives of some of our urban poor brothers and sisters.

And to commune and appreciate more the gifts of Mother Nature, the host, TUP Visayas, brought the delegates to Mambukal Mountain Resort. Armed with one hundred saplings, mostly of the “marang” and “langka” variety donated by the province’s DENR-Cenro, and led by two kindred mountain guides recommended by the resort management, the delegates clambered the mountain side which led to the site for reforestation. The slope, at a glance, indeed needed a thorough planting of trees, so that top soil may not erode. So after a simple lecture from the local guides on how to plant the saplings and the long bout of tilling the soil, the delegates were able to leave their marks on Mother Earth—the planted saplings. Remember the environmentalist’s creed for mountain trekking? Take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but footprints. With the hope and prayer that these saplings will grow into full-grown trees, where birds can build their nests, and man can take refuge on their foliage, the TUPEG delegates, “The Artisans at the Forefront of the Green Revolution” were able to provide concrete answers to the question, “how about the environment?.”

Earth Hour? Why? And how? The answers lie in our hands. If we love our Mother Earth, and want to safeguard our future, then it is but fitting and proper that we should make an active stance on saving our environment. Please take your stand now. God bless us, and our Mother Earth.

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