DENR enjoins nation to

Unite for environment 

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, June 5, (PIA)—On the 32nd year when the country commemorates Philippine Environment Month, environment officials enjoin the nation to form part of the fight for collective effort to address urgent environmental concerns. 

But, this is not in the way most people think. 

In his message to people across Central Visayas, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Executive Director Paquito D. Melicor Jr., echoed the agency’s goals in this year’s celebration which has the theme “Protect nature, Sustain Our Future.” 

The DENR has issued a call for action for everyone to safeguard our future by making sure that nature is protected, conserved and preserved now, not by generally mass action of tree planting, trooping to beaches for coastal clean-ups and large community mobilizations. 

By action, the DENR means those small things that “one can initiate to produce good impacts to the environment.” 

And in times of the coronavirus pandemic “as we slowly adjust to the new normal, let us rethink our ways and initiate positive changes that will help improve our way of life and our environment,” the DENR said. 

While the DENR said the COVID 19 stay at home orders, limited activities have reduced road traffic resulting to improved air quality levels due to lesser air pollutants, many believe the situation has also caused the earth to heal. 

But this is apparently not enough. 

On this, Melicor urged everyone to make this ‘healing mother earth’ opportunity to bounce back and work together on how we can sustain and reduce environmental degradation. 

Nothing fancy, environment authorities want no big things, as the current restrictions for mass gathering, is still on. 

The DENR wants as small as “initiating [your own] environment friendly practices,” but done by everyone. 

“We have found that biking and walking as an alternative to transportation in the absence of buses and jeepneys in time of COVID -19,” as among the small things, DENR hinted. 

Planting a tree, raising awareness about eco-friendly lifestyle choices, organizing a community-wide bike to work, collecting recyclables in the community and taking them to the recycling center, organizing a carpool, recycling books, donating recycled goods, use of energy efficient light bulbs at home, school and community centers, creating compost in your backyard are just some of the things we can do to help protect nature and sustain our future, they suggested. 

And even with the COVID restrictions, the DENR has also put up a few pro-environment activities, ones they hope to implement with the least number of people mobilized. 

Those activities include televised couch discussions, social media video blogging contests, online spoken poetry contests, environment talks, minerals webinar, backyard planting and gardening promotion on arbor day and environment hour initiatives like switching off non-essential lights and appliances for an hour and still several energy conservation and climate change mitigation activities. 

We are confident that in close collaboration with our partners, NGOs Academe, religious organizations, local government units, civic organizations, youth groups and the general public, we will give a positive impacts to protect nature and sustain our future, Melicor said. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol) 

IN OUR OWN LITTLE WAYS. A year after taking over and leading the DENR, Regional Executive Director Paquito D. Melicor Jr. calls on everyone to do the little things they can to help sustain conserve and preserve the environment. (Denr7)