Last weekend, on Easter Sunday, on our way to church, my sister Ava sighed (a loud sigh), shook her head in disappointment and pointed to this young lady on the van in front of us. The girl managed to get her hand out of the window (of a moving vehicle, mind you) to heartlessly throw a banana peel which landed perfectly on the ground just like how banana peels fall in movies.

 

If we were on Mario Kart, our car which happened to be right behind her, would have span a dozen times and would have lost a terrible, bad game. Sadly, I somehow wished we were only on Mario Kart. The heartless banana-peel-throwing is even more painful and has greater effects in real life that in the old PC game.

 

According to the National Solid Waste Management Commission Secretariat, out of the 5,250 metric tons of waste generated in Metro Manila daily, “27% or about 1,417.5 end up in canals, vacant spaces, street corners, market places, rivers…” Wow! That`s a huge number! 1/4 of all our wastes end up on the streets. Come to think of it, if all those stuff would pile up, what would happen to Metro Manila in a few years? What would happen to our rivers and lakes and seas? No wonder when heavy-rain comes, some of our cities gets heavily flooded.

 

What`s more is that according to the Environment secretary, the air around Metro Manila, as of 2010, has 48% higher suspended particles than normal, healthy levels because of vehicle and factory emissions!

 

That`s way too alarming! We need a way out!

 

What We CAN DO

I believe that greatest enemies of today`s environment are

1. Irresponsibility 2. Denial 3. Indifference 4. Selfishness.

 

It`s so sad to hear that college boys and girls would rather leave their trash in their seats than to feel “jahe” carrying it to the trash bin a few meters away. It`s disappointing to see passengers leaving their fast food wrappers under bus seats. It is even heartbreaking to see people throwing peels along the streets without hesitation. Unbelievably, there are even some who would clean up their homes, throw their wastes in rivers or burn them in their backyards at the expense of the air other people breathe. And there are those whose cars would belch large heaps of black smoke and not care at all.

 

Isn`t it irresponsibility for people to refuse to handle their wastes, leaving it for others to do it for them, or to handle them improperly and affect many lives?

 

But no condemnation. All of us have made these mistakes at one point or another. What matters is that we take the other road and start again.

If we would want to save the earth, first of all, we would have to get rid of all these attitudes and replace it with loving, caring view towards the world we live in. We need to understand that the world is not ours and we are given the responsibility to become good stewards of what God has entrusted to us.

 

We need to sincerely care about our environment.

 

Realistic Steps To Help

 

 

You may say “It`s a big world, what can one person do?” It may really be a big world, but if every person would take his/her responsibility, nothing is impossible! If everyone would rise up for the challenge, soon, the whole world is working together even before we know it!

 

1. Evaluate your lifestyle.

{Are you environment-friendly at home, work, play?}

 

2. Make simplest, necessary changes—one day at a time.

Choose to find a trash can after you`ve eaten you snacks. Use one paper cup in the office for an entire day. Take your car to the shop for an oil change.

3. Research. Find more ways not just to reduce waste but also to save energy and lower carbon emissions.

Turn off the engine instead of idling the car.

Shut down your computer if going out for a couple of hours.

Fill your washing machine with a full load to save on water, electricity and soap.

Turn off the lights and uplug your appliance when not in use.

Walk if you`re running a errand a couple of streets away.

Recycle paper.

Use biodegradable cleaning products.

Buy and use only what you need. 

4. Set a good example.

5. Inspire people to love and care for the environment.

{This is the best and fun part!}

 

 

Fun Ways To Encourage People to Become Environment Friendly.

 

I`m sharing what my sisters and I are up for the summer. Simple steps but never useless!

 

1. {You can do your own environment social! Throw an ice cream party and talk about saving the environment!} We`re gonna do a follow-up with the youth group about taking care of the environment. The last time, we talked about nature-etiquette. We had a great time laughing at the mistakes we all sometimes make. We were reminded and learned so much.

2. {Join and support a cause}

My sister Ava is joining an “Earth” pageant this summer! Whew!

You can also link to sites that promote environmental concerns like breathingearth.net or promote other causes like Alter Space, a new environment game on Facebook.

3.{Start in your own home or office where you can influence people.} I`m segregating over the weekend! got a lot of empty plastic bottles around the house which we could sell to generate money and lessen trash that goes to the dump site.

How about you?What do you think you can do to save the environment?

Special  Thanks To:

Alter Space, the 1^st Filipino environmental awareness game on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alterspacegame