Yesterday was Earth Day

Land Reform Secretary Rene Villa led yesterday’s Earth Day celebration by planting small trees in the compound of the Department of Land Reform in Quezon. We were pleased to note that to commemorate the event, Manila Mayor Jose "Lito" Atienza also had a tree-planting project in Baseco, Tondo. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Kalahi Cultural Caregiving for the Poor Program took part in the Baseco celebration and called the event "International Earth Day in Baseco". NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez highlighted the program saying:

"This year, the NCCA has transformed Baseco into a model community by providing its community with free music, dance, theater, creative writing, visual arts and martial arts workshops and training. We will continue to help this community not just through arts but also through livelihood programs and eco-friendly activities."

On top of this, an on-site nursery for trees will be established courtesy of the Israeli Embassy through its Deputy Chief of Mission Guy Feldman, with internships for the youth through the National Youth Commission.

The son of Manila’s Mayor, Kim Atienza, coordinated the event for the city of Manila and he added, "Aside from the nursery, trees will be planted alongside the housing units. A mini forest park and recreational facility for the children and the Baseco families is also envisioned as part of the anti-poverty program of the government."

This means that Manila’s forest park will expand outside Arroceros.

We just hope that all these projects continue after Earth Day. Oftentimes, we launch programs to celebrate certain days but they are totally neglected or forgotten after the celebration. We believe that there is no better way of celebrating Earth Day than by planting trees and insuring their growth after Earth Day has long past.

Every Filipino should make sure that he has contributed at least one tree that will be there long after he himself has gone to the other world. Tree-planting should be part of the school curriculum and it should be an active program in all barangays. We have the growing problem of air pollution and trees are the major answer to that problem. Trees, not only absorb pollution, they produce oxygen that we need to breathe. City-dwellers who have gardens should plant trees and distribute them to their respective barangays. Imagine what a difference it would make if only all school children would plant one tree a year. Not all cities have free space that can be converted to forest parks but most sidewalks still have room for trees. The problem, of course, is that it will involve digging holes in cemented sidewalks but it will be a definite and permanent improvement.

We have so many beautiful trees. Sad to say, now one hardly sees flame trees in bloom. They seem to be things of the past. Manila was named after the nilad plant, now most Manilans don’t even have an idea of what they look like. We would like to see the day when the two main commercial avenues of Makati would be lined with big beautiful trees. All it would take is to have them balled and transferred to Makati. This was already done in one of the commercial streets. The trees that were balled and transferred were palm trees. They can use different kinds of trees for the two main commercial avenues.