The air we breathe… the water we drink… the place we live in… That is our environment.
Are we breathing fresh air? Are we drinking clean water? Do we live in a wholesome place? These are the basic questions that we are about to answer. But I wonder how many of us can give the three positive answers.
One youngster might shout: Pollution here… pollution there… pollution everywhere! Maybe one government official will say, we have the law that protects our environment against pollution. Let us look around, recall our memories and see for ourselves what really is the present situation of our environment. We have already heard about climate change… global warming… depleted ozone layer or greenhouse effect… and what more? We have experienced flush flood in the villages and cities, other regions have suffered from massive drought.
And what are we doing? What can be done in order to protect the environment?
We can take action in the following campaigns: 1) STOP polluting the air, reduce carbon monoxide emission coming from the automobiles and factories, 2) STOP the disposal of hazardous waste into the rivers and seas, 3) STOP the illegal logging activities of the unscrupulous businessmen.
It looks like we are in the frontline of a big battle! To stop air pollution is already a worldwide campaign. The disposal of hazardous waste into the water, including human waste has been discovered in Boracay Island a year ago. And now it has also been found in Manila Bay which is now the kingdom of E-coli and salmonella. About flush flood, Oh My God! everybody knows about the Ormoc Disaster and the Tacloban Disaster. Those floods were attributed to forest denudation due to indiscriminate cutting of trees. We forgot the arithmetic formula of tree planting, i.e. (1=10), for cutting 1 tree, the logger must be obliged to plant 10 tree seedlings.
We don’t have to be scared of these gigantic opponents. First, we have to tackle the prevalent and manageable adversary called pollution. We can declare an all-out war against pollution, in our own little ways. Every one of us… young and old, men and women, hand in hand, we can win the battle. Think about the future of our children and our grandchildren. They will inherit the Earth and they shall live in harmony with Mother Nature.
Yes! In our own little ways, we can help reduce carbon monoxide emission by riding the electric public transport and by not using our own vehicle when travelling alone. We can protect the ozone layer by not burning Styrofoam. By not smoking cigarette will also help in reducing air pollution. Also, you add one minute to your life span for every stick of cigarette that you did not smoke, so the surgeon says. Large factory owners should have found alternative power source to run their machineries by now, while reducing their consumption of fossil fuel.
We need to start a waste management program at home and support the campaign of the local community in waste segregation. To augment this action, we at the Environment Preservation Movement is proposing the 4R’s namely: RECOVER, REUSE, RECYCLE & REEDUCATE.
To recover is simply picking up the trash around us, segregating and keeping it in a bin or garbage bag and then turning it over to the solid waste management crew of the government. Nowadays, most home appliances are disposable or unserviceable, but we have some technicians or repairmen who can outsmart the manufacturers. After some minor repair work, we can still reuse them, good as new.
To recycle may require machines but there are some do-it-yourself process and techniques that we can practice at home. Waste paper for example can be made into paper board. One simple recycling method is making kitchen garbage into organic fertilizer. Even plastics can be recycled at home by using some innovation techniques. Hats off to the cities who have already banned the use of plastic shopping bags in commercial establishments within their jurisdictions.
The most important thing is the reeducation component of our proposal. Literally, all of us need this, no exemption either young or old people. Since our culture is Americanize, we are big fans of basketball, even in throwing our trash we do it in a basketball way. You know about the “halo effect”, inside the office or beside the classroom there is a trash bin at the center of the trash spread around it. Why not simply get closer to the bin and drop your little piece of trash nice and easy? In college psychology we learned that our attitudes or behavior are deeply rooted in our culture.
There goes a big signboard at the corner of the street in the neighborhood that says “No Dumping of Garbage”. But at the dead of the night one sneaky fellow just throw right there the black bag that was missed by the garbage collector during the day. A thirsty driver just downed a cold drink while driving, he opened the window of the car and throw his empty cup beside the road thinking that nobody had seen him.
Reeducation needs to begin within ourselves, at home, in the school and in all places. Mass media and social media will have to play a significant role and can share valuable moral support to this campaign. Due to the great impact of broadcasting and internet flatforms, waste management reeducation can be easily implemented in a broader spectrum reaching even at the grassroots level. Information dissemination is the key to environment preservation!
Environment Preservation Movement
All rights reserved.
By Miles Encarnacion - Admin
