I took advantage of the long weekend to realign myself with things that truly matter to me, and one of the things I got reconnected with was my surroundings and nature in general.
One Twitter user posted photos of two different places, one with a church nearby. It looks like an aftermath of a day’s worth of Visita Iglesia, given the influx of devotees coming in since Maundy Thursday.
It’s an ugly sight, albeit nothing new if you live in the city.
Among the usual suspects were plastic bottles, bags, and leftover food. What happened to CLAYGO (clean as you go)? I’m pretty sure there were waste bins around the area, and if there were none, how hard is it to stow your trash in your bag until you find one?
Maka-diyos, Makabansa
pero hindi Makatao at Makakalikasan pic.twitter.com/jdh3JhRj8g
— james (@clearlynotjames) March 31, 2018
All this reminded me of this year’s theme for World Water Day (Mar. 22) which is “Nature for Water.” If there’s anything that’s challenging our waters right now, it would be the ocean of pollution that’s slowly killing it. From salt to seafood, plastic is present.
In the book A Human Rights Manifesto, author Julie Wark talks about the “monetization of resources and rights,” highlighting the role of water bottles in environmental destruction. Ward said that none of this damage will be “reversed by planting trees or restoring wetlands.”
“The annual production of tens of billions of plastic bottles in the United States alone uses 17 million barrels of oil per year, and making the bottle takes three times more water than that which fills it,” wrote Wark.
It always starts with you
The next time you see somebody littering, pick up after them instead of getting frustrated and ranting about it. However, if you’re on the other side of the coin, you’ve got to try harder. Being a responsible consumer should go beyond avoiding plastic and using metal straws. Knowing how and where to dispose of our trash must be second nature.
One doable solution is turning discarded plastic bottles into ecobricks by stuffing other plastic wastes such as straws, sachets, and food wrappers.
If you want more fish in our oceans than plastic by 2050, maybe you can add this to your Holy Week reflection.
Photos courtesy of Twitter users @clearlynotjames and @isaiahrys
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Everyone wants to be an environmentalist these days
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