THERE ARE THOUSANDS (maybe even millions) of armchair environmentalists in the Philippines (I am one of them).† These are the people who claim to be concerned with the environment and the many ecological issues of our time.† They gasp in horror when they see, hear, or read about abuses to the environment.† They praise Al Gore for The Inconvenient Truth.† Yet they do nothing more than passively profess their support for environmental advocacies.
Meanwhile, while we armchair environmentalists are hawing and hewing, a group of youngsters in Bacolod decided to do something concrete about the environmental issues confronting their community.
Beatriz Hagad, a high school student in Bacolod City and one of the prime movers of the Greenwatchers MustLOVEtrees Network, tells us about it in the following news article she wrote for submission to the Boy Scout Web Portal.
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Young Students Form Environmental Organization
A group of high school students in Bacolod City recently formed the Junior Greenwatchers MustLOVEtrees Network, a youth organization aiming to promote environmental awareness, in response to the local issue of the Energy Development Corporationís entry into Mt. Kanlaon Natural Parkís buffer zone.
The issue surrounding the buffer zone is that EDC would have to cut down trees within the buffer zone in order to explore for geothermal energy.
The MustLOVEtrees first event was a Yellow Ribbon Bikecade where supporters of the Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition biked through the streets of Bacolod with banners asking to save the trees in Mt. Kanlaon.
Members of the Coalition consider the junior greenwatchers an inspiration because of their enthusiasm and how they proved what a small group can do.
The MustLOVEtrees Network is an organization under GreenWatch Philippines, Inc. and the first of many more junior greenwatchers clubs which GreenWatch hopes to form in the Philippines. #
Greewatch is an international NGO, right? Would you know if it active in Luzon? Are you a member?