February as Love Our Earth Month

Valentine, flowers, hearts, and February go together. Although there are other special days celebrated during this month, February is most remembered for being the month of Love.

For 2024, can we share our love, not only with persons dear to us, but to our planet as well? Can we also celebrate February as Love Our Earth Month?

The Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE-Cebu) and our Netherlands partner, VHC, are inviting all to be partners for this Love Our Earth campaign this February!

Heeding the call of scientists for all to contribute to arresting global warming and of Pope Francis in his Laudato Si to care for the earth/our home, and as part of our training project on Kitchen Waste Composting and Options for Other Waste Types, may we   propose to all of you that, especially for this February, may we together offer our love for our earth by taking care of/by properly managing all waste types: kitchen wastes converted into compost soil/gardens, paper wastes for paper charcoal/recycled paper, and especially, plastic wastes into personal ecobricks?

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone segregated and managed their different household wastes as daily eco-offering to restore and renew the earth, our home?

If handling all types of household wastes will be difficult to start, can you offer your time and love for our earth each day by starting even with just this simple, small step of personal ecobricking?

Can you find an empty PET bottle, remove the label, put that plastic label inside that PET bottle? Then please use the same PET bottle to store all your plastic wastes for each day: sachets, single use plastics, styrofoam, shopping bags, others.

Can you do this personal ecobricking daily for the whole month of February?

Then please weigh your personal ecobrick so you can know how much plastics you have kept away from the dumpsites/landfills and water bodies (creeks, rivers, seas, ocean)!

If you do this personal ecobricking, can you let us know (please send us photos of your personal ecobrick, with your name/designation, plastic kilos saved) so we can include you among our earth lovers/our ecopartners and proudly share with the rest of the global community, that you and other partners, through your wonderful personal ecobricking, have spared and saved the earth of polluting plastics for this love month of February?

Please share your ecobrick experience, photos, tiktoks and/or messages with us at [email protected] or # 0927 733 4940. Thank you all very much!

Can you imagine how simple daily ecobricking, yours and others, can keep tons of plastics away bringing harm to our earth, our water bodies and resources?

Can you imagine how your simple daily ecobricking, together with others, can provide safe food and continuing livelihood for billions of people dependent on marine resources?

Oh, if only DEPED-7 RED Jimenez will ask their millions of students/faculty/PTAs to join the personal ecobricking February Love Our Earth Campaign!

And DENR-7/EMB-7 to lead this campaign among employees/officials of all local/national government agencies, and DSWD-7’s PPP beneficiaries?

But, you are correct. Personal ecobricking IS NOT the best nor the perfect solution for plastic reduction and management.

Plastic production has to be stopped, plastic incineration/burning and conversion of plastics to fuel as well because of the pollution and harm these bring to our earth and people. Alternatives to plastics should also be aggressively promoted.

Until then, however, until better technology and initiatives can better manage and reduce/stop plastic production and pollution, we laud all genuine efforts to keep plastics from polluting air, water, and land.

Coca Cola, SM, others, have set up plastic recycling drop-off points.

Cebu Province and many LGUs, like Mandaue City and Barangay Cabancalan, have plastic-management-related initiatives.

Small steps for Love Our Earth Campaign, this February, and beyond…