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Dear Eartheasy,
I had been working abroad half of my life, it is in this span of time that
my eyes opened and became aware about environmental effects and issues. We,
as individuals wherever we are, can actually share the responsibilities of
protecting and sharing for the improvement of our ecosystem. With my savings
12 years ago upon returning to my village in the southern Philippines I started
planting trees at a measely 4 acres I inherited from my father; actually he
did not agree with my idea at first and suggested me to plant coconuts instead.
With my experience here in the middle east where arab people felt euphoric
seeing a potato or a tomato grow in a barren dessert and arid land, felt as
if our soil grade is 100 % better than those....so I went on with my stubborness
and focus on planting mahogany trees, native laua-an tree(hardwood).I was
thinking it was enough but I was hooked to that effect that when ever I see
a wasted bald piece of land as if I have this urge to take some seedlings
and plant it there!!!! So my trees spread to 36 acres where every time I go
to my village for my yearly vacation my first stop - my trees.... i love them
, there is this unexplainable feeling in my heart that looking at their green
and healthy leaves dancing to the blow of the wind...I find peace, tranquility,
stability and I am simply happy..... I talk to my trees...really! they are
a part of me...sometimes if I felt lonely or deppressed I packed few things
like cleaning tools and hiked to my nearby farm and start cleaning.. it is
my emotional theraphy ....my refuge. Then I realized that aside from me seeking
refuge, were these communities of birds chatting, singing, mongering in tree
branches....aha.... my trees become their sanctary too, they are protected
here....diff. species, new group, new comers, they felt safe........here.
My tree farm is the only visible group of trees that looks like a forest --for
the neighboring plots are tilled for the crops....even this couple of big
brown eagles I spotted few years back, still there -for everytime during my
vacation, I have this notebook and sketches of the birds and for a day I kept
on tracking them...usually I know where is their site. Also this big, huge
grey owls... I saw 10 yrs ago tho' I did not see during my last vacation,
my caretaker told me they are there.. just shy...so I am contented with my
natural board and lodging friends...snakes, iguanas, butterflies, ants, fish...it
has a river too...they are all there. Now this year I am planning to send
this seeds of ornamental trees name: fire tree- a tree which bears fiery red
and orange flower in the tropics like philippines...I took them my self here
in local parks and saved around 4 kilos of seeds enough I think for my beautification
of the river banks and will donate the rest in our local park. I wanted some
color aside from green... .....I founded an environmental group too, in my
town Friends of Nature Environmental Council, which is active... this year
I cant rest..I am restless...I organized a sub group to our council - for
the kids!!! target: secondary level students KIDS4 TREES......composed of
7 local towns with around 40 schools........so big project, but ..I know I
can do it, the moment my trees grew with me, from barren to rich flora and
fauna, I realized nothing is impossible when you dream of something...just
do it!!!!. So hopefully this coming july will be my first Kids Environmental
Summit2002.... a two day event on environmental drawing, photo,essay, debate,
quiz contest. Environmental Forum with students and invited speakers, sports
for kids, like basketball tournaments, vollyball, recognition and awards too.......best
environmentally friendly school, mr. ms, environmental kids...and a visit
to my trees too. Then we will see this local mangrove reforestation project
of another group to learn and survey the progress, its effects and improvement
of the marine life...and hopefully see another two projects- the conservation
of the marine turtle in a nearby turtle island, and the other one the water
basin project of a nearby town. thats it.........!! Then we will organized
an umbrella comittee focusing students projects and research........with of
course the help of their teachers.....I am planning to give a substantial
prize money for this competition for them to be eager and excited....bottom
line?....they will learn.....and become a responsible human being...saving
and protecting the environment......
Butz Fuentes, Dubai
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Hello from Suihua, China
I'm a Canadian teaching English in a high school in northeastern China. The
students here have been gathering pop bottles for recycling, mainly because
they get a little money back or because they want to be kind to some of the
older employees around the school who collect them for a little extra money.
As far as I can tell, the students have no idea what happens to the bottles.
Some think perhaps they are washed and refilled but your story is much more
realistic and much more exciting. (note: the writer is referring to Eartheasy's
page on EcoSpun
fleece garments which are made from recycled pop bottles.) You know the old
saying about truth being stranger than fiction. I tried to tell some of the
classes about clothing made from pop bottles but they obviously thought they
just didn't understand what I was saying.
Your story is excellent and tells all about the process in a way they could
understand, but I don't see any way to download it so that they can read it
for themselves. Would it be possible for you to send me the text as an attachment?
The students here need a lot more of this kind of thing to get them thinking
on a global basis - just to get their heads out of the textbook grind and
looking around them to see what is really happening. It takes an old grannie
like me to shake the education system out of its lethargy and get them to
think about something other than examination scores, so I'm doing as much
as I can for as long as I can stand it ! Please help me. Thanks, I'll go back
and read more of your website now.
Sally Winterbon, Suihua, China
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.Thanks
to the writers for these thoughts, and for giving permission to print
their letters.
