It’s Earth Month this month! A paradoxical period celebrating what’s left and grieving what’s lost.
Take a moment to feel how hot the Earth’s temperatures have gone. Our shared home only gets warmer, and much of the waste we generate will still outlast us. The forests we’ve hurt? They fight back inadvertently, depriving us of protection from man-made disasters.
As sand slips through the hourglass, it’s easy to feel hopeless; we missed our head start centuries ago. But if we act now, we strike a better chance at passing on much of today’s resources to the next generation.
This Earth Month, let’s challenge ourselves to go beyond tossing trash in the right recycling bins, and put the spotlight on the Earth’s guardians—the indigenous communities.
Green goals beyond the basics
Consume less. Shop smart. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Ditch plastic. Take crappy public transit. Conserve water. Buy pre-loved products. Unplug unused outlets. Upcycle this and that. This can feel like an endless to-do list. So, how can we step up realistically our duty?
It’s impossible to do everything all at once—to save denuded forests while preventing waste from entering landfills, while stopping coral bleaching while cutting down carbon, while keeping air pollution at bay while demanding accountability from polluters. That sounds exhausting. For now, choose one to start with.
This is the time to join an eco-organization. There are plenty of non-governmental and non-profit groups in the Philippines working tirelessly to save our finite resources and slow down climate change. They’re just a message away, open to anyone willing to help—ready when you are.
Where to join?
If you aim to safeguard the country's marine ecosystems, Save Philipine Seas will help you do that. The conservation group educates communities on the value of marine resources—our coasts and seas and their fishing stocks—and leads advocacy campaigns to pass or amend legal frameworks.
Care to share ideas on climate solutions? The Climate Reality Project PH has 11 regional branches collaborating globally to drive climate justice. If your goal is to help empower a worldwide cultural movement to envision a sustainable future for the country, this organization is a good place to start.
If you seek to push for a zero-waste, toxic-free nation, Ecowaste Coalition is ready to team up. Pursuing sustainable solutions to waste and chemical issues, the coalition organizes citizens’ efforts to address trash through research and evidence-building, workshops, and projects for sustainable alternatives.
How about saving Philippine eagles and the country’s biodiversity? Haribon Foundation conserves vital sites and habitats, rescues species, conducts forest restoration and conservation, and pursues scientific and community-based research. Pairing up with such organizations helps individuals do their part for the planet.
If you aspire to end plastic pollution, protect our climate, and demand environmental justice, Greenpeace PH will assist you in achieving these. The group leads the fight against destructive business practices and advocates for our shared home's rights by advancing environmental policies.
Fighting for indigenous communities
Indigenous Peoples (IPs) hold unique, time-tested knowledge of environmental protection—built over thousands of years and rooted deeply in their cultures, a study by World Economic Forum stressed.
According to the latest report by World Bank, around 476 million IPs are vital partners in sustainable development. They manage or hold rights to about one-fourth of the planet’s land—home to much of the world’s biodiversity, nearly half of protected areas, and over half of remaining intact forests.
For example, indigenous and traditional food systems, when produced and consumed sustainably, protect natural resources, support ecosystems, promote healthier diets, and help reduce climate impacts.
While efforts are underway to recognize their history and rights, IPs still face disproportionate impacts from poverty and climate change, the United Nations pointed out.
In turn, there’s a need to guard the Earth’s guardians.
One among many ways to do this is by urging authorities to revoke their support for environmentally dangerous business practices, including the nickel operations in Palawan and Zambales, which hurt the right to livelihood, health, and water of IPs and rural groups.
“Companies have a responsibility to conduct due diligence to identify and prevent human rights abuses linked to their operations or business relationships and address negative impacts when they are found to occur. In situations where free, prior, and informed consent is not possible, companies should responsibly disengage in consultation with affected Indigenous People and cease planned operations,” Amnesty International said.
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