My Speech at the Environmental Awareness Symposium in Lyceum of the Philippines University Batangas Yesterday
November 29, 2016To breathe is to live, but are we really living? To survive is to be alive, but can we thrive? To simply exist is not enough. You and I are lucky to be here today to experience life... to smile, laugh, get upset sometimes but most of all, the most powerful force of all...to love. No, this is not a Valentine's speech but just a speech to remind us that we are blessed.
I really believe that talking about the environment is talking about love. Who's the most important person for you? Is it family? A friend? A special friend? Whoever popped into your head, I want you to think of that person when you think about the environment. Think of how much you love that person and how much you would protect and just give that person everything. Why? Because that person will be your motivation to be the better version of yourself and to be a better steward of the planet. The love that you want to give that person is the same love I will ask of you for our Mother Earth. When you love this planet, you'll love everything in it which includes your most loved person, including the ones beside you. When you love the environment, everybody wins. It's the best investment one can give as respect to our creator and to one another.
It's with a heavy heart that I say that our Mother needs our love and respect now more than ever. When we hear the words "Save Mother Earth" it sounds like a huge responsibility and a hard one. Yes, it is a huge responsibility but it's not as hard as you think it is. Don't let "saving it" intimidate you because in all honesty, the planet needs no saving, it will go on with or without us as it did in the past. All it needs is our cooperation, and this cooperation is for our own good, believe me.
The simplest things we do for the environment make the greatest of impacts. But we seem to have forgotten the things we learned in taking care of it.. do you still remember your (CLean As You GO) CLAYGO? The 5R's (Rethink, Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Respect)? Isn't it so easy to do these things? But we forget it. Worse, we ignore to do these things. Just because we still have air to breathe, and still have food on our table, doesn't mean we're still okay.
It's still not too late to do something about it. It's still not too late to contribute in making our Earth a better place than just helping to deteriorate it. Sustainability is one of the answers and it is feasible and possible. Like I said in Vienna, Austria where I got crowned as your Miss Earth 2015, "WE WILL BECAUSE WE CAN" but I had one condition, "ONLY IF WE WORK TOGETHER" and together means not alone. That's you and me.
Just because we don't see things happen, doesn't mean it's not happening. Climate change is real, and it gets more real as it unfolds before our eyes...when you lose your home and even the lives of the ones you hold dear, it's gonna be painful. We, Filipinos above all know that. We regularly have typhoons visiting us but these typhoons get stronger and stronger and humans are the biggest factors why it happens. Who can forget Yolanda? There will be more Yolandas and even stronger Yolandas to come if we don't do something about it now. Yes NOW, not later, tomorrow, next week, next year. Change couldn't wait because the cry for it is urgent.
I encourage you all to take this journey with me. Just like what Lyceum of the Philippines (LPU) says.. LETS TAKE THE LEAD!