Public asked to fast for Mother Earth

MANILA, Philippines - Fast for Mother Earth, curb carbon emissions.

An official of the Climate Change Commission called on the public to undertake this sacrifice in observance of the Holy Week.

Commissioner Heherson Alvarez said “Fast for Mother Earth,” an annual program during the Holy Week observance initiated by the Earthsavers Movement more than a decade ago, is penitence that highlights the need to protect our environment and address climate change.

“During the Lenten season, as we atone for our sins, it may be most relevant that we also fast for the environment,” he said.

“A withdrawal from our wasteful consumption habits, a cutback of a meal a day, will provide some relief to our beleaguered environment and drive home the point that the solution to extreme consequences of climate change would be the disciplined use of energy like electricity and vehicle fuel, reduction of water and food wastage, and promotion of alternative clean energy,” he said.

Climate change, which upsets global temperatures and the balance of the global climate, is primarily caused by the warming of the earth due to carbon dioxide emissions with the extensive burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline, coal and oil.

Alvarez, who is also founding chair of the Earthsavers Movement, said he makes this appeal every year to remind the public of their grave responsibility to protect Mother Earth and help mitigate carbon emissions.

He said such penitence is more significant this year in view of the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which states that soaring carbon emissions will “amplify the risk of conflict, hunger, floods and mass migration,” and that the “impact would increase with every additional degree that temperature rises.”

“Our selfless penitence drives home the point that climate change, as a man-made disaster, will need our collective efforts to be able to address it,” Alvarez said.

The authors of the latest IPCC report unveiled in Yokohama last week said, “Things are worse than we had predicted. High levels of warming will result in magnified drought risks which will add to water stress and will in turn have consequences for agriculture and staples such as rice, wheat and corn.”

“If the world doesn’t cut pollution of heat trapping gases, the already noticeable harms of global warming could spiral out of control,” the head of IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, said.