The Stargazer, The River Wanderer, and the Tree Whisperer

SANGCOPAN, Nurul-Izza A.

Datu the Stargazer looks up at the sky every night to delve on his thoughts about
how to help his family at a tender age. Salman the Lake Wanderer visits the Lanao Lake
every morning to listen to his thoughts and the serene stream of water, recollecting his
thoughts on how to lead his young group in the coming dry season. Aminah the Tree
Whisperer visits the forest at noon to talk to the trees, her only company in the solitude
of their broken family. Three very different children brought together by their open eyes
and ears, awake to the weeps and wanes of the Bangsamoro environment. One day,
the Stargazer and the Lake Wanderer woke up to the Tree Whisperer screaming: she
attempted to stop a group of loggers from cutting down her favorite acacia tree. Not for
long, the Lake Wanderer looked far and saw a group of people disposing of their waste
in Lanao. He ran as fast as he could, but he failed to stop them in time. The Stargazer
goes home feeling melancholic for his friends’ travails, but realized he had problems of
his own when he looked up at the serene Bangsamoro night sky and saw that he could
no longer see its stars.

While we may think that we would not be able to relate to their stories, once in
our lifetime, we were also Datu, Salman and Aminah. We used to look at the sky and
admire its beauty, but it has now become too clouded by the amount of air pollution
produced by the burning of various harmful gases in our area. We used to look at Lanao
Lake, the same lake that provides electricity to our homes, to admire its grandeur
instead of thinking about how it must be infested with various harmful organisms by the
amount of waste that it has been exposed to. We used to have bountiful forests that
sheltered many forms of life, provided shade, and gave us air that felt like honey to our
lungs. Now, industrialization has made planting and taking care of trees an optional
activity done for school or work programs.

One has to ask: when did it all go downhill? We have grown accustomed to a
culture of pinpointing and blaming, but the environment is not like politics wherein we
have to entrust the power to enforce laws for the society to individuals who may be
more capable than we are. Taking care of the environment is a matter that affects all of
us, and it is not something that needs influence or special powers to be accomplished.
You don’t need to have a seat in the Government to voice out the need to protect our
natural resources. You don’t have to be rich to do your own part in caring for the
environment. Simply throwing your trash in the proper container or informing your friend
about the importance of nature can go a long way in its actual preservation.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is roughly

estimated to be home to more than three million people. That’s more than three million
people who would have to face the consequences of the deteriorating environment if we
do not go hand in hand in providing long-term solutions to its problems. Fighting and
blaming one another about who is responsible for the deterioration of our natural
resources only shifts our attention towards the fight: not the cause. Rather than asking
when it started, we need to think prospectively and think about what we can do today to
prevent further damage to our environment in the future.

The Bangsamoro people are known for being brave and determined. We are
known to have fought great battles to assert our own cultural identity. Because of our
collective stand in fighting for self-rule, the Bangsamoro Government was established
as mandated by the Bangsamoro Organic Law. There is no doubt that working together
towards the achievement of a common goal will always produce positive results. If we,
the Government and the people, knew how to channel this determination towards
solving problems that are persistent and affects the public, there is no doubt that we
would be able to reach, if not surpass, the very simple task of taking care of the
environment. Alone, our impact may be small. This does not, however, mean that we
are not responsible. Because we are responsible, we are also accountable for what
happens to our environment while we are still alive and capable of working. Alone we
are small, but together we can be big.
 Let us not allow another Stargazer to look at an empty sky. Let us prevent all
Lake Wanderers from ever thinking that their aim of protecting and preserving the lake
is a lost cause. Let us all work together, so that every tree whisperer can sit in the
shade and breathe in the fresh air given by our trees. Let us no allow any creature to
suffer from being homeless because of our vanity and tendency to shift responsibility.
Together, let us give the Bangsamoro children an environment that they would be proud
of when they grow older.