Commitment of the Philippine Youth for the Protection (...)

We live in the Philippine islands

We take pride and are always in awe and marvel at the richness of our land, the abundance of our diverse natural resources – the thick and ages-old forests of both land and sea where thrive exceptional flora and fauna, the grasslands and the marine resources which provide for our people. We grow up relishing on sea food and recreation means frolicking on the sand. We travel by land, sea and air and traveling is always a fun and eco-cultural experience. We visit our relatives and friends in islands where they grow up and know by heart the marine creatures. They can tell when the monsoons are coming and whether or not the intensity of the rain would impede the sailors from sailing afar. All these are more and ours for the fighting. We must live.

We need to protect ourselves

We experienced countless storms and typhoons ravaging our shores. We have seen deaths and destruction of our land. We felt the helplessness of our people when Mother Nature comes to claim the irresponsibility of our peoples. We saw how vicious those calamities can be. On the other hand, we have seen how the thickly forested mangroves shield us from the waves and the fierceness of these winds. They protect us from harm. They shield us from the wind that blows our structures and livelihood. The mangroves play host to bio-diversity and shelters fries of diversified species.

As the different changes occurred such as calamities that devastated our properties and even life, we can say that now is the time to repair it. We may not be able to fix them all but at least we can do things that can preserve what has been left.

We need to mitigate our carbon footprints

We are guilty in emitting green house gases in the air. Our lifestyle is a stumbling block to the mitigation of carbon footprints in the world. We are still students and often get dismayed at how the giant factories, lawmakers and cities do little to control our footprints. The earth care initiatives that we have in school made us realize that we can do so much in mitigating our carbon footprints.

We, the Filipino youth share in the beliefs that:

“The environment does not belong to us. We only borrowed it from our forefathers in order to be passed on to future generations.“

“We do not inherit our environment from our ancestors; instead we borrow it from the next generation.”

Why wait for change, if you can be the catalyst for the said change?

“Change start from the self, like change in attitude to influence others to protect the environment.”

We inform, we serve, we preserve! Now is the time to preserve mother Earth!

“We can promote change, we can make a difference.”

We share in the responsibility of protecting Mother Earth.

As youth who are part of the environment, we also have to do our share in protecting Mother Earth. We have deep concern for a clean and green future. Thus we take a stand to consolidate all our efforts with the support of our government agencies, to be responsible in safeguarding, preserving and protecting our environment.

Moreover, we understand that the actions we make are made not simply for us, but also for our loved ones, for our planet and for our future.

We commit to the full measure our support and actions toward saving the planet. We commit ourselves to initiate activities that would save and protect Mother Earth by striving to do the following:

As citizens of the Philippines and youth who are considered the hope of the nation, we promise to take good care of our mother Earth.

We declare a war on wastes to solve pollution in all facets. We shall throw our garbage in proper places and segregate it into trash bins labeled non-biodegradable, bottles, newspapers and cans.

We swear to stop burning plastic materials which releases harmful gases to the atmosphere that contribute much to the global warming. We will avoid using plastic covers for books and projects, avoid using hairsprays and insecticides, and by all means, reuse and recycle paper materials that can still be used for the restoration of more forests.

We will try lessen our energy consumption to lessen also the act of burning fossil fuel to supply our electric demands. We will maximize wise access to technology.

We sustain the massive campaign to plant more mangroves, plant more fruit trees and forest trees especially in deforested areas in our respective localities to offset our carbon footprints.

We hereby pledge to implement our action plan for the protection and preservation of giant clams.

We shall conserve water in our everyday living.

We vow to keep our lifestyles compatible and consistent with the efforts to preserve our environment.

As advocates: We will inform people about the effects of improper waste disposal. We will be advocates of a clean and green environment not only to the other youth but also to our fellow citizens, for we believe that this small step we are making will drive the whole nation, towards full awareness and action for our planet.

Our school will continue to be at the side of the environment. We will cooperate with all sectors to protect the environment for our sake and for the sake of those who will inherit what we shall leave behind.

As we become aware of God’s grace, we teachers, students, and staff of the participating institutions, commit to do carry out our responsibility and accountability and hereby pledge to be good stewards of God’s creation, to participate in the enrichment and protection of environment and to instill in ourselves the value of the right to live and let live all forms of life on Earth.

March 3, 2010

Commitment of the Philippine Youth for the Protection of the Planet Earth