What you should do on my birthday
April 22, 1982 - 7:35 am, the world
welcomed ME! I was born to Annie and
Wally Buhay. If you’re from Manila, you
know where Polymedic is. I think it goes
by some other name now. Oh well…
April 22, 1970 - 20 million people
celebrated the first Earth Day. This was
also when the first clean air act was
also enacted in the US.
When I was a kid.
During my summer vacations and weekends
when I was in grade school, I would
gather all my art materials and oslo
paper that my mom brought from work and
called on the help of my brothers and
friends from our street. I had one bike,
my brother Yoyo had another. As early as
6:30 in the morning, my friends Mark,
Mischelle, Kristine, Camille, Theresa
and my brothers Yo and Li would help me
start working on hand drawn posters.
The posters read:
"Reuse, Reduce, Recycle"
"Conserve and Preserve"
It would have hand drawn pictures of
three types of trash cans. Of the three
arrowed recycle logo… It would also
have our little groups name "Go For
Green Earth".
That’s what we called ourselves. That
was our little group. We would go around
our area on our little bikes. We braved
the neighborhood dogs and bullies. We
would make around a dozen oslo paper
posters and put them on lamp posts,
trash cans, walls, gates and fences. We
did this for months… Sometimes, we
would find that some kids and grown ups
tear our posters down. But we would be
back the next week to put a new one up.
Go For Green Earth was not going down
that easily.
By lunch time we would be done. Proud of
what we’ve done. Proud that we were
doing something good for Mother Nature.
Years later in college, I was climbing
mountains with my awesome friends from
the UP Badgers Club. We were bringing
down trash that other mountaineers left
on the mountain. We were cleaning creeks
and streams. We were teaching other
concerned individuals to appreciate
mother nature face to face…
We did this while watching sunsets from
the vantage point of gods. Something
that only a few of us can do. A reward
for nature freaks.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Growing up, my birthdays we’re normally
filled with drama. My wish was always,
for a good number of years, to see my
family be back together again. That I
would wake up after my birthday and see
my family enjoying a nice breakfast just
like before. Or go to church on Sundays
just like what we normally did before…
Oh well… Some wishes don’t come true.
Here’s a wish though, that I’d like to
share with you all so that you can help
make these wishes a reality.
Do something for the Earth. Do something
for yourself.
Quit smoking for one day… Make it
earth day. See how nice it feels.
Instead of throwing that litter on the
street, ball it up and keep in you
pocket and throw it later when a rubbish
bin is available.
Tell the guy or girl who threw their
litter on the ground to pick it up.
Carpool.
When you brush your teeth, do not leave
the tap open.
Quick showers are Ok… Tabo’ and balde’
is better. Bath tub? No good…
Walk when the distance permits.
Paper or plastic? Bring your own bag
man… Bring Back the Bayong.
PLANT A TREE!
Thanks guys. Do one of these things, and
you’ve just fulfilled a birthday wish of
mine.
Happy Earthday everyone… Happy 26th
B-Earthday for me!!!
