Julie Ann Abanilla Co

(or a postscript to Earth Hour in Calbayog)

Three weeks ago today, Calbayog participated in Earth Hour 2009. Among those who took part in the event was a young Calbayognon named Julie Ann Co, a daughter of my friends Joselo and Alet (Abanilla) Co. She recently graduated Valedictorian from the Calbayog City SPED Center. During the Earh Hour event, Julie Ann delivered a short message on behalf of the young peopole of Calbayog. Here's that speech:

Pollution. Greenhouse effect. Global Warming.

These are some of the never-ending and most devastating environmental difficulties of today which until now have no solution to completely bring back the Earth’s real beauty and purity.
Because of these, we experience poverty, hardships, environmental crisis, calamities and extinction of wildlife.

But the most miserable part of this is that we aren’t the one directly agonizing from our activities but it’s Mother Earth. Imagine her as a person and we will feel deeply sorry and we will regret a lot watching her suffer from the wounds, the deep cuts, burns and pain brought about by our greed and ignorance.

Let’s put in our minds that the world was put in existence not just for us but for all the generations. If we don’t care about the next thing that will happen after we live, then let’s think about our children. Each and everyone of us needs to have a strong responsibility and determination to protect our Mother Earth – land, water and air in whatever possible way. Let’s not point our fingers to others. Instead, we should do our share of responsibility. Otherwise, all of us will perish.

Now is the time. Let’s not procrastinate because this needs immediate action. The clock is ticking and we need to be consistent every second, every minute and every day of our lives. Always with a seal to protect our Mother Earth!