Nurture Nature, Save the Future

When COVID-19 entered our country, most people, especially kids like us are not allowed to go outside so we
would not get infected by the virus. Our daily lives were affected. Because we cannot go out, we cannot meet our
friends or visit the places where we used to go. Most of us really felt sad by this.

But after a month of lock down, we notice a big change in our environment. I noticed that the air is fresher, the
clouds became bluer and clearer, and the birds and bees are starting to visit us more often. It seems that Mother Earth
is starting to heal herself after we destroyed it with pollution.

In fact, did you know that God wants us to take care of our environment since the beginning of life. Oh, here is a
trivia about that. Do you know that after creating the universe, God created Man last? You know why we were created
last? It is because God loves us so much and He wanted everything we need to be prepared for us. That is why the
trees, the animals, the water and land, and everything we need were created ahead for us. Since the beginning, God is
telling us that we need Nature to survive and we were made to take care of his creations and not destroy them.

Our family is already active in keeping our environment healthy for a long time now. I just want to share with you
what we do to help nurture nature and our plans to continue helping the environment even during COVID times by
following the 5Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover and Repair.

1. RECYCLE and RECOVER. Our family has been active in Recycling house waste for years. We segregate cans, used
bottles, and paper products in our yard and sell them to “manong” who collects them for recycling. While the
collected cans are recycled, the bottles are brought to a recovering facility where they are cleaned and
recovered for reuse. This process not only help save our environment by conserving energy and nature, but it
also helps other people like “manong” to earn extra income.

2. REUSE – There are tons of things that we can do with household items that usually goes to the trash. We use
noodle cups, plastic cups, and trays in planting and growing seeds. We try to use old cartons or paper products
into our school projects. One example is a project that my Kuya Gian is working on which is made of cardboard
boxes, medicine bottles and drinking straws. By doing this, we reduce waste and harmful emissions from
landfills. It also reduces the need to use natural resources to create new products.

3. REDUCE – We try to reduce our electric bill by unplugging our unused electronics or devices. We also turn off
the lights when no one is in the room to save electricity. We also replace our burn-out light bulbs with energy
efficient bulbs. They provide more light with less energy and cost.

4. REVIEW - We review the chemicals in our cleaning products protect our waterways. We select products that
does not have a lot of chemicals. Many people are not aware that the cleaning products they use in their homes
like soaps, shampoos, dishwasher detergents, etc. contain harmful chemicals that can harm our rivers and lakes.
We should avoid products like these.

Personally, I love using organic shampoo for my hair made with plants and the mosquito repellant that I use is
made of Citronella Oil. They have no harmful chemicals and does not destroy the environment.

5. REPAIR – My parents taught us to save. Instead of buying a lot of stuff we do not really need, we just refurbish
or repair some of our stuff at home. One example is our old sofa. It is already more than 15 years old, but it
looks so nice now because it was refurbished a few months ago. By doing this, we were able to save a big
fraction of our budget compared to buying a new sofa.

Curious how much we saved from refurbishing?

 A brand-new sofa cost around 30k. Our refurbished sofa of similar design only costs around half of it. If you
subtract ½ from the 30k to get the total amount of savings we accumulated from refurbishing, you will get a
total of 15k.

15k is ½ of 30k. So that means we already saved 1/2 of our budget!

There are other things no matter how simple they can be that you could do to help protect and nurture our
environment especially during the pandemic. Here are some examples:

1. Wash and reuse cloth masks. This way, you avoid polluting the environment cause by using disposable face
masks and, you get to support a small business selling cloth masks. You could also sew your own face masks too
by repurposing old clothes.

2. Instead of ordering products online to be shipped from across the continent, consider buying from local
businesses. It is a great way to support your own community while reducing the amount of greenhouse gases we
produce.

3. People nowadays are using disposable wipes more than ever. Avoid clogging our sewer systems by not flushing
disinfecting wipes in the toilet even if it is labelled as flushable. They do not decompose in our sanitary sewer
system and flushing this material causes damage to the sewer system and may even cause backups in your own
home. Please throw them out in the garbage instead!

4. DIY whatever you can. Bake your own snacks or desserts as it eliminates the need for individually packaged
snacks. Some people are also starting their own herb gardens or planting vegetables in their backyard. Both
options are more sustainable than grocery shopping.

5. Use Reusable bags when we do shopping or grocery to lessen the use of plastics.

6. Compost, too! Composting can really help alleviate landfill load. It is also is a very healthy alternative to
commercial fertilizers. You can also look for creative ways to use food scraps like eggshells, coffee grounds, garlic
skins, and potato peels. Here in our house, we collect eggshells to be used for our plants to provide them with
calcium they need.

Before I end this vlog, let me share with you a short poem that I made for taking care of our environment.

The more trees the more bees

The more plants, the less we rant.
You take down trees, you take down lives,
When storm comes, everything gets washed aside.

The pandemic is just a reminder

That we need to care if we do not want to suffer
Life is greener and healthier
If we continue to take care for Mother Nature