Have you ever thrown your

trash where it is not supposed

to be thrown?

YES OR NO
Observe the following images:
How do you think these
images are related?
 1. She had been living a
reclusive life since her marriage
broke up.
a person that lives alone and deliberately
a.
avoids the company of others

b. a person that is fond of company

c. suitable for membership of a club

because of one’s sociability.
2. The proposed factory shutdown would
only exacerbate our unemployment
problems.

a. to make something better

b. to make something worse

c. to make some improvement

3. Their violent parenting method stunts
the child’s self-esteem and sense of
independent.

a. to hinder the development of something

or someone

b. to give support and encouragement

c. to help someone to grow in every

aspect
4. When I misbehaved in school, my teacher
sent me home with a written reprimand for
my parents to sign.

a. an act or circumstance that implies

respect
b. an award involving special praise

c. to rebuke or criticize someone who

has done something wrong
 5. He wanted to spare his family from
the stress he had endured.

a. to make involvement in a scenario

b. to prevent something or someone from

experiencing something unpleasant

c. to use someone for the benefit of the

group
 6. We always patronize Beaumont’s –
the food is so good there.

a. to support something or someone consistently

b. to withdraw from commercials or social

relations

c. to create a similar business for competition

purposes
 7. Since Jane stopped attending piano
practice, her playing skill has started to
deteriorate.

a. constantly doing a practice

b. to make some development

c. to become or make something worse

 8. Their reverie was broken by a loud
groan from behind them.

a. a state of dreaming while awake

b. a state of having nightmares

c. a state of using imagination to solve

something
9. When she meditates, Pauline goes to a
place in her mind where she is surrounded by
verdant pines, blue skies, and cool breezes.

a. cool breeze of a wind

b. bright green color of lush grass

c. a neat and pleasant surroundings

 10. The garden strawberry is a large-
fruited hybrid.

a. an extremely large plant

b. resulted from a cross between two races,

breeds, or varieties of same species

c. something with glamorous appearance

Catherine D. Tan won third prize in
the prestigious Carlos Palanca
Memorial Award in 2010 for her
essay “Green at Heart” under the
English Kabataan Essay category.
She studies at the University of the
Philippines Manila in college and in
Chiang Kai Shek College.
 As a little kid, I was pretty
reclusive. The caste system of a
young, which classified its hierarchy
by how high you can climb a tree
and how far you’re willing to go in
order not to be class nerd, did me no
justice at all. That’s why whenever
my cousins and playmates came
over to our place, I sought refuge in
my grandfather’s verdant backyard.
 Gradually, I treated his backyard like it
was my own secret world, and every seed
I planted made me feel like I was
contributing to something special. Not
before long, I started my own little garden
– it wasn’t as pretty as my grandfather’s,
but it was just as cozy. Each afternoon
would find me wielding a hose, deluging
every pot with what I believed was natural
superpowers.
 As my garden expanded, so did
my concerns for the environment. I
grew up with reveries of rescuing
the maltreated dolphins I saw on TV
and championing the causes of
Greenpeace which I read about in
books. That was years ago. Fast
forward to now: Walking on a street
in a casual day here in Manila can
say so much about our
environmental problems.
There’s horrid smoke up in your
nostrils, bridges littered with plastic
bags and soda bottles, under those
bridges you have rivers that carry
toxic materials that eventually kill
their aquatic inhabitants. Instead of
towering trees, we have towering
buildings. Rapid urbanization and
modernization do not exacerbate
the situation too.
In spite of these, the government
doesn’t seem to focus on our
environment, tarnishing walls,
posts, and bridges with campaign
posters instead. I guess, in the end,
we Filipino people have only
ourselves to wield the water hose
that can nurture our big garden –
Earth.
From a young age – up until now – I
believe that environmental protection
starts at home – in our own
“backyards”. Likewise, I know that
what I can protect in the environment
lies in my backyard too. By starting
small and thinking big, we can do so
much. Imagine: We can stunt the
possibilities of having raging tsunamis,
leaving millions dead and homeless,
heat waves that happen in December,
and our favorite animals on Animal
Planet becoming extinct.
It sounds idealistic enough to
border on impossible or
unattainable, but when dog-
piled, each small thing can
contribute a lot. After all, we
Filipinos have the perfect
Bayanihan spirit that goes with
this.
 With that said, I would like to
share what I believe are the things
in the environment that I can
protect.
 First, I can protect trees, the
plants, and the foliage. Here’s how:
By taking my sense of
responsibility to a higher level.
 In my grade school, whenever the classroom
went anywhere far from pristine, our teachers
would tell us to pick up the pieces of paper that
littered the floor and throw them on the proper
trash cans and everyone would comply. But as
we grow older, this elementary principle of
responsibility becomes hard to sustain. It’s rare
to see any teenager picking up the junk on the
streets (with fecal matter and other unsanitary
microcosms on the streets, who would blame
us?)
The seemingly 0.99% of humanity who does that
comprise of stoic sanitary workers are paid to do so.
Evidently, we no longer have the so called “adults” to
reprimand us when our environment becomes
polluted; no more teachers who would assign
“cleaners for the day” under the threats of giving low
conduct grades. Perhaps it’s time for us to act like real
grown-ups by bringing that kind of responsibility
back to our lines of thought. Improper disposal alone
can clog our sewage systems and lead to another
catastrophe (I’m sure Ondoy still rings a bell in our
auditory orifices), which not only do damage to our
homes but also to our environment.
 Also, more paper means less trees. Using
less paper in school doesn’t have to mean
cutting back on exams. The sheets of paper
used in note-passing in class alone, if totaled
within a school year, can amount to at least
one rim of intermediate pad paper. At least
once in our lives, we’ve done this (most
notable in Math or Science class.) It’s funny
to think that stifling a day’s worth of gossip
can save a tree from being killed.
 An even better weapon would be our
own green thumbs, I know that most of the
kids my age would rather hang out in the
mall and watch movies – even I am guilty of
this – and that a handful of us live in
buildings instead of houses with real
backyards, but during our spare minutes,
especially in summer when school’s out,
planting is definitely worth a try.
 Second, in my own little
ways, I can protect land, water,
and animals.
 I can do this by starting small, which can also mean
gradually changing the preferences – from what to
buy, eat and throw away. Most people are always hell-
bent on getting the flashiest phones and MP3s for the
purpose of “coolness.” Sadly, the few people who are
marching the beat of their own drums by rejecting this
kind of conformity are as endangered as the next
Polar Bear. In a way, this can be blamed to that life-
style of excess where, at the behest of television ads,
billboards, and commercials, we rush out to buy the
latest products that “guarantee” glowing skin, long-
lasting durability, speed and better mileage.
Where’s the free will in that? There’s nothing wrong
with patronizing these things, of course; and these
“in” things are somehow essential in modern-day
living. But most of the time, we upgrade just because
we want to. Rather than acting like rash customers,
it’s better to keep in mind that an extra pair of pants is
not recyclable (except in the current fashion remains
trendy for the next decade – which is highly unlikely)
and that the phone you just replaced can cause
animals to mutate because gadgets contain parts that
are indispensable and unsustainable, plus their
exposure to a certain atmosphere can cause chemical
poisoning.
To anyone who avoids Science journals,
these general facts may be hard to
believe, but the proof exists – we have
documentaries that expose these
phenomena. And I’d like to believe that
my fellow youth would start paying
attention to them rather than raving about
the newest Vampire installment released
in theatres.
 Last, I can protect the
lifeblood of our environment.
We often forget that the fuel that keeps our
refrigerators running and our cars powered –
energy – is part of the environment that is slowly
deteriorating. It’s good thing that the decade is at
the apex of conference talks that propose new
scientific invention that would aid us in making
Mother’s Earth’s recuperation faster, which reminds
us of the need to contribute something to the
bandwagon. Soybean-powered vehicles, solar
panels, hybrid cars, and other breakthroughs – these
are the things that have been introduced to Earth for
the past years.
They’re definitely convenient, and we have
skilled men of science who can make using
them possible. But the problem lies in
accessibility and accommodation. These
inventions are too expensive. We’re still a Third
World country, our economy isn’t stable, and we
still have problems in overpopulation. Even if
we produce soybean-powered buses or hybrid
cars, perhaps only the upper middle class could
patronize them. In trying times like this, people
are already too busy trying to make ends meet.
 Needless to say, we don’t need these
inventions to protect our environment. In a
resourceful (and resilient, if I may say so)
country like ours, something as simple as
riding a bike (or a pedicab, in our case) or
walking, can reduce the amount of both
petrol, a commodity in short supply
because it can be renewed, and carbon,
culpable in penetrating the ozone layer, we
use and emit.
 Protecting the environment is basically
like riding a seesaw. There has to be
balance. If not, definitely, one side will be
stuck at the muddy bottom, and the other
will be at the top temporarily. In that case,
there will be no victors. I say we begin our
campaign toward what I call environmental
equilibrium – where what we use is
tantamount to the good things we produce.
 As for me, even though we’ve
moved away from the place that
housed my little garden, I’m still
green at heart. No longer a reclusive
young girl, I’m heading towards
college in just a few months to study
how chemicals in our industry affect
the changing world. And in a few
years, I hope that the whole world
would serve as my own big backyard.
Let’s
Think
It
Over!
 What did the
narrator consider
as her “secret
world” when she
was young?
What are the three
things in the
environment that,
according to the
narrator, she can
protect?
 What do you
think inspired
the narrator to
have a “green
heart?”
 Have you ever
experienced trying
to convince people
to take care of the
environment? How
did it go?
PLAN
and
ACT!
 The award winning essay of
Catherine D. Tan inspired many
people to take good care of our
environment and have a “green
heart.” The majority part of Tan’s
essay consists of suggested ways
on how to take care of Mother
Earth specifically in preserving
and planting trees, cleaning
bodies of water as well as the
land, and saving energy.
 As a student, list down
your own ways – whether
you are already practicing
them or you just plan to do
so – on how to take care and
save our environment.
Always remember that small
act comes with great help in
our Mother Earth.
 Protecting Trees,
Plants, and Foliage:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
 Protecting Land,
Water, and Animals:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
 Saving energy:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“You shall not pollute the land in which you
live, for blood pollutes the land, and no
atonement can be made for the land for the
blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of
the one who shed it.” - Numbers 35:33