The unusual non-stop heavy rains that hit the Philippines
since last Tuesday has transformed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, and other
provinces into Water World. It isn’t about just the rain or the floods. These
past few days, many parts of the Philippines have been suffering
from floods because of continuous heavy rain that the Southwest monsoon
brought. It’s only a monsoon which made a whole lot of disaster so what about
the storms that may follow? It’s about the infrastructure and the means of
livelihood that get washed away. It’s about the homes that will probably never
get rebuilt. It’s about the next time a heavy downpour happens and you start
thinking, “Oh no. not again.”
Aerial view of the affected areas
What I like about this country is the people’s undying
spirit of optimism. Despite the rains and floods we’ve been experiencing for
the past two weeks, we Filipinos have a way to turn a bad situation into
something that’s worth a smile.
Feeling proud for actually buying boxes of food and
toiletries today to donate to evacuees. It was an even greater feeling to see
the supermarkets full of people with the same good intentions. Everyone just
wanted to play their part to help. The Filipino Bayanihan spirit thrives. After
donating and volunteering for several days, I realized how helping really
brings joy to your heart. Despite, the heavy rains, and the floods, we were
successfully able to fill boxes with food, water, clothes, etc.
Volunteers from UP - Diliman
A collection of
photos surfaced the different social media sites showing how Filipinos dealt
with the catastrophe that fell upon the country. Thus, this event marked the
birth of ‘The Filipino Spirit is Waterproof’ campaign. Still, in the end, it’s
a clear manifestation of God’s love for us. No matter what happens, we’ll be
safe in His arms. We just have to pray hard and have faith in Him and
everything will be fine again. Thank you, Lord! It’s more fun in the
Philippines, indeed.
You can also help. Volunteer and donate canned goods, cooked
food, noodles, biscuits,bread, milk, bottled water, medicine, blankets,
clothes, towels, reusable containers, toothbrushes, toothpastes, etc. Peso and
Dollar cash donations can also be made. The link below has the most updated
list of media outlets, government and non-government organizations, churches,
businesses and overseas efforts that are accepting donations and volunteers.
Here’s a website that has a comprehensive list of places to
donate to, what to donate, evacuation centers, etc. Visit www.reliefph.com
Mansalay
EcoPark (Located right by National Highway in Mansalay, a
3rd class municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines) welcomes you whether you come alone; bring the whole family, or group socialization. You have the pleasure of mountain climbing, picnics and group bonding whether it is
nature tripping using spinning wheels or learn the noble art of walking/jogging
for those who want more of a challenge.
Overlooking Fish Sanctuary, a marine reserve managed by the local government with fine sandy beaches and shallow coral formations ideal for snorkeling.
Globe Tower
Background: Mansalay Bay
A true haven for outdoorsy and nature-loving people, the area has a wide variety of physical activities to choose from. The park opens all day. It is best to go in the morning as you will get to see the beauty of the sunrise and people doing their early morning rituals from exercising, jogging, to just being one with nature.
Cottage overlooking Poblacion Area
Whatever it is that you would like to do here, this place surely champions its cause of ecotourism and environmental preservation by immersing frequent visitors like me in the beauty of nature and the right means to enjoy it. I applaud the Mansalay local government for developing the place and initiating this project.
A rest house built by the local gov't
Cool weather and spectacular scenery.
Overlooking Brgy. B. del Mundo
A perfect setting for romance or nature tripping
Learn to appreciate nature, improve your senses, relax and leave the cares of the world behind you.
The sweet scent of trees and flowers permeate the air.
Accommodation facility
This is a familiar place to some but my weekend visit here was exciting. A nice place to appreciate my hometown and commune with nature. Ecopark is just the perfect place to
be.
The main goal of green intelligence including
strategies on market-based approaches is to provide safe and complete value of
natural resources and harmonize environment to improve quality of lives while
preventing the environmental impact of depletion and supporting the welfare
communities.
Yes, market-based approaches could save the planet
because current events regarding the environmental awareness face different
political and economic issues and challenges today. This will be effective
using an emerging generation of information systems to develop market pressures
to upgrade the ecological performance of industry and commerce. In spite of the
introduction of cleaner technologies in industry, energy production and
transport, waste disposal remains a major health risk.
The people on market and
trade should focus on issue regarding waste disposal or programs that support
the integrated waste management. Green intelligence advocates programs on pollution and waste management
including several campaign and activities on the processes to treat waste
products, management of hazardous waste landfill (sequestering, isolation,
etc), incineration, neutralization, recycling, and destruction and
waste-to-energy methods.
Green intelligence also investigates the environment
generally and such premises necessary to ascertain the nature of pollution and waste
products
Very inspiring, but has anything changed? We are destroying
more than what we are saving.This is exactly what the world needs, to stop
fighting wars and to build schools, hospitals and stop pollution, this girl is
right, we must act together now, before it's too late! We are one world, one
people and we must all live together on one planet.
Here is the full text of Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s speech
before the UN Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil in 1992, made when she was 12 years
old. Too bad the world listened, applauded, and shed an emotional tear, but did
not do anything substantial for her, as the likes of George W. Bush decided it
would be too restrictive on their accustomed way of life, and would cost their
industrial cronies too much. (ssjothiratnam)
Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The
Environmental Children’s Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada
trying to make a difference: Vanessa
Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money
ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your
ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my
future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few
points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around
the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across
this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not
heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in
the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals
are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a
few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals
and plants going extinct every day — vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild
animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I
wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were
my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if
we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I
don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!
• You don’t
know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
• You don’t
know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
• You don’t
know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
• And you
can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business
people, organisers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and
fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s
child.
I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family,
five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the
same air, water and soil — borders and governments will never change that
I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and
should act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid
to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away,
buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy.
Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth,
afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food,
water and shelter — we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent
some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child
told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children
food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to
share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?
I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that
it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of
those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in
Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war
was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful
place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in
the world. You teach us:
• not to
fight with others,
• to work
things out,
• to
respect others,
• to clean
up our mess,
• not to
hurt other creatures
• to share
– not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to
do?
Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who
you’re doing this for — we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of
world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by
saying “everything’s going to be alright” , “we’re doing the best we can” and
“it’s not the end of the world”.
But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we
even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do,
not what you say.”
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say
you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words.
Thank you for listening
Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental
and social justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when
she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23,
Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak to schools
and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. She lives
in Vancouver, British Columbia.(ssjothiratnam)
