Ecowaste urges Filipinos to put to death practices that harm Mother Earth

An environmental watchdog has urged Christian Filipinos to quietly mark the upcoming Earth Day on April 22 with a commitment to “put to death” destructive practices not only on Good Friday but all throughout the year.

“We need not hold any bazaar, concert, symposium, protest or parade to commemorate the Earth Day which falls on a Good Friday,” said Roy Alvarez, president of the EcoWaste Coalition.

“What is needed is a quiet personal reflection about the state of Mother Earth’s health and an earnest commitment to ‘put to death’ practices that are contributing to her ailment, destruction and demise,” he pointed out.

“Practices that cause environmental degradation are acts that both disrespect and diminish the integrity of God’s creation,” he added.

Being a day of fasting, prayer, contemplation and atonement, the coming Good Friday offers a rare opportunity to draw attention to the frequent “crucifixion” of Mother Earth that is happening all over the country 24/7, Alvarez emphasized.

“We ‘crucify’ Mother Earth every time we recklessly exploit, consume and terminate the natural gifts of the planet without any thought about the needs of current and future generations,” he said.

“We ‘crucify’ her whenever we misuse the planet’s finite resources and when we unashamedly defile and contaminate the ecosystems with garbage and toxic residues,” he added.

Some of the often-ignored “bad” practices that harm Mother Earth and that caring Filipinos should refrain from doing include:

• Ignoring the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) in our daily lives and thus adding to the garbage woes.

• Thoughtlessly using and disposing plastic bags that choke rivers and the marine environment.

• Dumping cigarette butts on sidewalks and other spots that do not only worsen street and marine litter but also cause chemical contaminants in the filter to disperse.

• Dropping litter anywhere even in the most sacred religious occasions.

• Open burning trash that yields toxic byproducts of combustion such as dioxin, particulate matter and other emissions.

• Insensitively driving smoke-belching vehicles that emit health-damaging carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other pollutants.

“We invite everyone to acknowledge the myriad ordeals being faced daily by Mother Earth because of our uncaring practices. We need to put such practices to death to attain new beginnings for our nation and planet as Christ has shown the way to resurrection through His agony and death,” the EcoWaste Coalition said. -Jason Faustino, Daily Tribune