Last Wednesday, April 22, as the world celebrated Earth Day, the Provincial Government of Cebu opened Cebu Climate Action Summit 2026, a two-day summit aimed to focus attention as well as to find science-based solutions to the urgent problems brought about by environmental degradation in Cebu, notably flooding.
Archbishop Alberto Uy, who spoke during the summit reminded government officials and business leaders that their decisions carry ecological as well as moral consequences and that those driven by profit, corruption and lack of accountability bring environmental harm as well as moral decline.
But the duty to preserve and protect our environment is a collective responsibility.
Every time we choose to bring a reusable bag when we shop, every time we choose to put off the fan or air-conditioning when we leave the room, every time we choose to collect trash in our bag instead of throw it on the street and dispose of it properly afterwards, we choose to contribute to protecting not just our environment, but also our future.
When I race, I bring a little zipper bag in my waist pack for my used gel packs to chuck when no bin is in sight. But so many runners throw used cups, used gel packs as well as banana peelings on the race course that I often wonder if they do not care at all about littering or even endangering fellow runners who could slip on the stuff they carelessly chuck on the race route.
Or perhaps, they are simply unaware of the collective harm their seemingly small, thoughtless actions bring to everyone.
Faced with options, most people still don’t bother to bring reusable bags for shopping. I think it’s mostly indolence and indifference, a culture of convenience rather than accountability. They don’t want to carry anything. They all want comfort. But at what cost?
My father used to say that people who sweep the dust out their doors into the street and throw their trash into the sewers do not care about the consequences of their actions. They only care that they can no longer see the dust and trash inside their homes.
The choices we make are more material than we think.
When we choose not to cut trees. When we choose to preserve our mangroves. When we choose to stop throwing trash into the rivers and streams as well as in the sewers and streets, it’s more important than we think.
Environmental damage does not only increase the frequency of floods and storm surges, it affects food security when it depletes natural resources like fresh water and threatens food production with soil damage caused by erosion and salinization.
It also harms human health. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the soil from which we grow our food and raise our livestock, when polluted, bring disease and early death. Toxic air. Poison wells.
Sick farms.
Is this really the kind of world you want to leave your children and grandchildren?
We can’t turn back the clock, so we need to act now: expand green spaces, reduce greenhouse emissions, protect watersheds, control rapid urbanization, improve waste management, transition to renewable energy.
“To our leaders and public officials, I say this with respect but also with urgency, give time to examine your conscience—every permit you sign, every project you approve, every law you implement or ignore has consequences.”
As the good archbishop tells us, caring for the environment is a moral duty, a spiritual calling and a concrete expression of our love for God and for one another. Today, we face not just an ecological crisis but a crisis of conscience.