Bulletin
No. 7-1 (April 15, 2000)
4,500
groups worldwide
all
set for Earth Day 2000
…..
…..MANILA,
Philippines, April 14, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- Most of the countries
of the world are taking part in the commemoration of Earth
Day 2000, the  first
in the new millennium.
..
…..No
less than 4,500 organizations in 181 countries are directly or indirectly
in touch with the worldwide Earth Day 2000 network, according to a dispatch
e-mailed by the network's secretariat to SanibLakas InfoShare this morning.
AS
WE PREPARED TO UPLOAD THIS BULLETIN, WORD JUST CAME IN FROM THE MANILA
OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP) SAYING THE U.N.
IS CALLING UPON EVERYONE TO LINK UP THE CELEBRATION OF EARTH DAY ON APRIL
22 WITH WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY ON JUNE 5, WITH MORE ENVIRONMENT-ORIENTED
ACTIVITIES BETWEEN THESE TWO DATES. MORE ON THIS IN THE NEXT
BULLETIN. --The SanibLakas InfoShare Editor
..
…..Just
about days before April 22, the date of Earth Day every year since, these
groups are reaching a fever pitch in preparations and "drum-up" activities
in all these countries around the world.
…..
…..Parallel
to these developments, many organizations have also joined the campaign
to enlist more signatories behind such declarations of planet-wide significance,
such as the Earth Charter and Manifesto 2000.
…..
…..The
Earth
Charter, now on its revised "Benchmark Draft" stage, will continue
gathering comments and signatories in the two-year run-up to 2002, the
tenth  anniversary
of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED, also called "Earth Summit"), which was held in Rio de Janeiro as
the largest-attended summit of heads of state. This draft has been serialized
in Earthlite Sparks & Reflections, the fortnightly newsletter
of Earthlite, the "wholistic place" at the center of Metropolitan
Manila.
…..
…..And
Manifesto
2000 was drafted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual
University, for signatories worldwide before a formal presentation
to the UN General Assembly this coming September. Also spreading
in various countries is the poem-prayer for "Earth Synergy 2000" called
"A Giant Leap for Humankind," already translated into more than
a dozen languages, and around which a simple ceremony, called "Handshakes
and Hugs (Around the World) for Earth Synergy 2000," has been designed
and widely proposed (click here
--> ).
…..
…..The
same dispatch called for the registration of more and more events information
with the secretariat, or with its local country counterparts. (About
the Philippine counterpart; click
here -->).
…..
…..Earth
Day commemorations have had a very significant and colorful history. The
first one held in the United States on April 22, 1970 drew together more
than 20 million Americans. Participants took to the streets, lobbied Congress
and helped launch the modern environmental movement.
…..
…..Twenty
years later, on April 22, 1990, 200 million people in 141 nations participated
in the first international Earth Day. Thousands of activities took place
worldwide, including demonstrations, tree-plantings, Earth Fairs, river
clean-ups, cultural events and government-sponsored initiatives. In many
countries, the campaign pressured heads of state to participate personally
in the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, an unprecedented gathering of
nations that addressed issues such as climate change and the worldwide
loss of species.
…..
…..There
has been no headcount attempted yet on participants in the current celebration.
But having activities in 181 countries, Earth
Day 2000 is currently involving the
majority of countries of the world. As of last official count
(September 1999), the number of member-states of the United Nations
stood
at 188.
Bulletin
No. 7-2 (April 13, 2000)
…
Earth
Day Philippines
network
lists activities
…..
…..MANILA,
Philippines, April 13, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- The Cable
News Network, more widely known by its initials, CNN, will cover
the commemoration of  Earth
Day 2000 in the Philippines, one of only a few countries it could focus
on. This was revealed this evening by environmentalist artist Odette
Alcantara, program committee chair of the Earth Day Network 2000 - Philippines.
Speaking at the "Earth Solidarity Night" at Freedom
Park in Anonas, Quezon City, Alcantara also revealed that groups registered
with the network number almost 2,000 as of last official count. This represents
a big chunk out of the 4,500 groups in reported 181 countries where commemorative
activities are set to be held.
…..
…..The
"Earth Solidarity" night at Freedom Bar gathered about a hundred "Earth-loving
people," who were entertained by the Session Road band and
the  singing
group of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM). The
crowd included the secretary-general of the Philippine network, Dr. Delfin
Ganapin.
…..
…..The
Philippine network recently released through its secretariat a calendar
of activities e-mailed to SanibLakas InfoShare (via the SanibLakas
e-mail address sanib_alam@yahoo.com).
…..
…..[Click
here for -->.]
…..
…..The
listing is done on best-effort basis, and it is admittedly incomplete.
For example, it does not include some of the activities included in separate
lists made and issued by the Worldwide Earth Day 2000 Network and
the Japan-based Asia Earth Day 2000 Network. All these networks
exert best efforts to convince as many groups and individuals as possible
to mount or join Earth Day-related activities, and they all facilitate
networking and information-sharing, but none of them claim to have any
official authority to exclude or deny any group or activity the fact of
participation. However, it is undoubtedly to the credit of these networks
that the number of groups involved in Earth
Day 2000 activities has soared.
…..
…..At
the solidarity night, Alcantara explained that the network only lists activities
that are officially registered with its secretariat hosted by the Miriam
College Environmental Education Center (EEC). For varied reasons,
many organizations in the Philippines have been unable or even unwilling
to register. As a SanibLakas Foundation statement put it late
last year, "Earth lovers in this country are now challenged to mount a
widespread and multi-form commemoration of Earth
Day 2000 that would be unified, at
least in spirit." (click
here -->).
…..
…..The
Worldwide Network has listed, along with events in 180 other countries,
nationwide activities in the Philippines, and not all of these are listed
by the Philippine network. These are organized separately by the Philippine
network itself and by the following groups: Saniblakas ng Taongbayan
Foundation ("Handshakes and Hugs" gatherings and information-sharing);
Kapunungan Sa Pagpanalipod ng Pag. Sa Kinaiyahan Inc. or KPPSK,
Inc. ("Seeds of Hope"); Youth for Sustainable Development Assembly or YSDA
("Youth Walk for the Environment"); Tanghalang Lakbay Pinoy Productions
Inc. ("Ta-Nood Kalikasan" video showing festival); PRRM
("Frontliners");
and Kalikasan Vigilante (radio program)-DWBR "Caravan
para sa Kalikasan" environmental roadshow.
…..
…..It
will not be easy for CNN to cover fully the Philippine commemoration
of Earth Day 2000,
as even local media organizations are slowly realizing. The widest-read
weekly magazine in the country, the Sunday Inquirer Magazine, had
to appeal to organizations for information on their activities, but could
only prepare an Earth Day issue (to come out April 16) with a very limited
coverage compared to the actual breadth of all the activities.
…..
…..SanibLakas
InfoShare, a cyber-based media project of SanibLakas Foundation,
has been having similar problems, and so has Earthian Magazine,
the official documentation arm of the Philippine network. "The best we
can do is to cover everything we can, and then be honest enough to admit
that this can only be a very limited sampling," Ed Aurelio Reyes, SanibLakas
InfoShare editor, explained in a recent meeting with activity organizers.
SanibLakas
InfoShare has reported on the activities of the Earth Day 2000 Network
- Philippines, as well as those of Haribon Foundation,
Earthlite,
the House of Representatives, and Earth Savers, that are
not all registered with the Philippine Network.
…..
….."It's
like Christmas," Reyes said, "how does one make a complete coverage of
Christmas in the Philippines? Ask the bishops? Ask the government? Ask
Santa Claus?"
Bulletin
No. 7-3 (April 15, 2000)
…
'Handshakes
& Hugs' gatherings
gaining
more support abroad
…..
…..MANILA,
Philippines, April 15, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- "Handshakes
and Hugs (Around the World) for Earth Synergy 2000," the "simple
worldwide  event"
proposed by SanibLakas Foundation in the Philippines, has been gaining
ground abroad, even as it has already been started in its country of origin.
It was held at the recent assembly of the Swedish-Filipino Association
in Stockholm, Sweden last April 1, according to a report that gave no details.
And an e-mailed message from Pakistan's Teachers Resource Center
in
Karachi reported that aside from translating the Earth Synergy poem-prayer
into Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, they have composed a song
based on the poem which, according to plans, will be sung by 10,000 children
on Earth Day. (click
here -->)
……..
…..THE
SANIBLAKAS FOUNDATION HAS ANNOUNCED THAT A BIG GATHERING FOR THE "HANDSHAKES
AND HUGS" CEREMONY WILL BE HELD ON JUNE 5, WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY,
AT 7 P.M. AT EARTHLITE (4TH FLOOR, C.O.D. BLDG., CUBAO) IN RESPONSE TO
THE UNITED NATIONS CALL FOR LINKING UP THAT DATE WITH EARTH DAY. MORE DETAILS
IN FUTURE BULLETINS.
Encouraging feedback had also been received earlier concerning plans in
Ireland, Japan, Africa and the United States.
..
…....In
a message sent to SanibLakas InfoShare, Mahenaz Mahmud of TRC said:
"Greetings from Pakistan. I did write to you earlier that we would be translating
the poem/prayer 'A Giant Leap for Humankind,' into Urdu. I am sorry it
has taken so long... it has been a difficult job getting it done. We will
be celebrating handshakes on April 22 starting around 8:00 am, for which
we have written a separate song (idea taken from Earth Synergy 2000). We
plan to have 10,000 children come and sing it to a popular local tune.
I will write more about it later. The translation of your poem/prayer is
attached. All the best."
…..
…..The
"Handshakes
and Hugs" gathering will be the culmination of the formal opening
program of the Ta-Nood Kalikasan video showing festival (click
here -->)
to be held in the evening of Easter Sunday, April 23, when in many countries
of the world would still be Earth Day, April 22. Efforts to invite as many
non-Filipinos as possible to this "planetary unity" affair are now being
undertaken by the Inititatives for International Development (IID).
According to Merci Ferrer, the Metro Manila officer of the Davao-based
IID,
the organization has linkages with many non-Filipino individuals and groupings.
…..
…..Tanghalang
Lakbay Pinoy (TLP)
Productions, which is behind the video festival project for Earth
Day 2000, was the very first organization
to officially adopt the poem-prayer and the latter became the invocation
prayer in all six seminars on video-making that TLP conducted in
various parts of the country.
…..
…..Over
at Earthlite, the "Wholistic Place" at C.O.D.-Cubao, "Handshakes
and Hugs" has been held several times, since right after the opening
program of "Earthday @ Earthlite Festival 2000" last March
22 (click
here -->),
mostly among Filipinos but with friends from Japan, New Zealand and the
United States. Last April 15, about a dozen children with some of their
parents symbolized intergenerational unity for environmentalism by holding
this ceremony. The children, with ages ranging from 4 to 12, were all art
lessons students of Marz Zafe who heads the Sanibkulay Visual Arts Group,
a Saniblakas-inspired organization which is Earthlite's resident
art group. That morning, the models for their drawing exercises featured
endangered Filipino endemic species.
…..
…..Also
in the Philippines, the ceremony will also be integrated into the big Earth
Day concert to be attended by about 50,000 people in Mindoro, according
to environmentalist singer-musician Billy Bonnevie. Arrangements are being
made for this ceremony to be also integrated into the PagSandiwa
Indigenous Peoples' Festival in Botolan, Zambales before the festival
ends late in the Earth Day Week (Easter Week). Medical Missions
nuns have also taken up the spread of this ceremony after some of their
members joined it a few days ago, led by Marz Zafe of Sanibkulay.
…..
…..The
"Handshakes
and Hugs" ceremony will also be integrated in
Earth
Day 2000 activities in various other
countries. Near the border of Ireland with British Northern Ireland, delegations
from both parts of the island nation will meet and highlight their unity
with this ceremony. Earlier, the leadership of the seven-nation cluster
of Southern Africa discussed how the Earth synergy poem and gathering was
to be used in their respective countries. In Japan, Karin Miyake, a homecoming
Japanese videomaker will be leading her own
"Handshakes and Hugs"
after having joined it twice in the Philippines. Similar plans have been
made in the United States, especially among Filipinos and their American
friends. Chicago-based Rob Chua had earlier asked how expatriate Filipinos
could participate in activities described to them by SanibLakas InfoShare.
…..
….."Handshakes
and Hugs" revolves around the two-stanza poem-prayer in English
for Earth Synergy, titled 'A Giant Leap for Humankind,' which has
been translated into more than a dozen other languages (Bengali, Burmese,
Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese,
Swedish, Urdu, etc.).
…..
…..The
half-hour ceremony is expected to continue spreading in many parts of the
world in the months following Earth
Day 2000.
Bulletin
No. 7-4 (April 15, 2000)
…
'Ta-Nood
Kalikasan': nationwide
video
festival with worldwide view
…..
…..MANILA,
Philippines, April 15, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- Ta-Noód
Kalikasan, the nationwide project of Tanghalang Lakbay
Pinoy for Earth Day  2000,
also carries strongly the worldwide perspective-- the conscious context
is Earth Day which is being commemorated this year
in no less than 181 countries, it features side by side with Philippine
productions a substantial number of videos from abroad, and it integrates
into the formal opening program the "simple worldwide activity," called
"Handshakes and Hugs."
…..
…..The
video festival will be showing environmental video documentaries and short
videos during the Earth Day 2000 commemoration
in the coming Easter Week in sites covering the three major island groups
in the archipelago, Metro Manila for Luzon, Iloilo City for the Visayas
and General Santos City for Mindanao, with due attention also given to
Palawan, which has been dubbed as the country's "Last Frontier."
[Showing in the two sites in Quezon City (Quezon Circle and Earthlite)
will be April 23-30, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ]
…..
…..The
seminar sites were spread the same way, with a minor difference in the
case of the Visayas: it was held in rustic Guimaras island off Iloilo.
In Palawan, two cable TV stations are going to air the videos also during
the Earth Day (Easter) week.
…..
…..Participants
in the six seminars came from various parts of the country. The first three
seminars, which were all held at the Miriam College Environmental Education
Center (EEC), with billeting at the Ateneo Institute of Social Order
(ISO), had participants coming from as far north as Kalinga and as far
south as Mindoro and Palawan, with three participants coming from Nueva
Ecija. The General Santos City seminar had participants coming from
that city, from Cotabato City, and also from Davao.
…..
…..The
videos they submitted also cover environment concerns in various parts
of the Philippine archipelago, where these participants are based or where
they had the interest and opportunity to shoot those footages that went
into their videos.
…..
…..Following
is a partial list of videos to be shown in the Ta-Noód Kalikasan
festival (titles of video projects submitted as of the time we were preparing
this report: An Undersea partLy by Daniel S. Torres; Sumbang
(Curse),
Partnership
of Life and Water, and A Park in the Wilderness by Cristina
Banluta, both of whom are Palawan-based; Buhay-buhay sa Ilalim ng Tulay
(Life Under the Bridge) by James Torres, The Coral Reef by Eric
Gasataya and Destructive Fishing by Nellie Joy Dagoon, all of them
Iloilo-based environmentalists;
Mangroves: A Step Together for
the Future
by Josephine Sabas and Mango-Planting
by Rudy Dewara,
both based in General Santos; Kalikasiyahan by RC Cotabato;
Tagarito
Ako sa Calapan from Mindoro-based Robert Bahia; and the following
videos from Metro Manila-based participants:
The Dawn of a New Era by
Maryvee Agas, Kamusta Ka Na, Mariang Makiling? (How have you been,
nature goddess Mariang Makiling?) by Geraldine T. Brillantes, Our Co-inhabitants
on Earth by Joydee C. Robledo,
Lobo by Rachelle Ambrosio, Pag-unlad
at Kalikasan by Jewel Sico, Agos ng Panahon
by Albert Banzon,
Alimpuyo
by
Ronnie de los Reyes, Trees by Fr. Jose R. Nacu, MS, the Deflated
Globe series by Casimiro Villarosa, Camille Castillo, Mutya Frio and
Bernadette Jimenez, Metro Manila Environment by Catherine Lagunzad,
Bakawanan by Belyn Rafael, Mahogany Symphony by Anna S.
Torres,
Gardens: Man's Romance With Nature
by Arsenia Casauay, Paraiso
by Roswill Hilario, and Montalban, A mythical Town: Endangered by
Belle Fernandez.
…..
….The
showing of many of the guest videos from abroad was facilitated by the
Environmental
Broadcast Circle (EBC), the Philippine network partner of the London-based
Television
for Environment Education or TVE.
…..
…..A
45-minute video on persistent organic pollutants , produced by the Indigenous
Environment Network (of the United States) in cooperation with Greenpeace,
will be shown in the festival through the facilitation efforts of the People's
Task Force for the Bases' Clean-up. Titled Drumbeat for the
Earth, the video shows how the POPs, which are carbon-based chemicals
that are persistent in the environment, migrate long distances, bioaccumulate
in the fats of people and wildlife, and biomagnify to a thousand times
when eaten by fish and the fish is eaten by human beings. The video explains
how the POPs problem has affected the Indigenous people and wildlife in
the Artic, in colder where POPs settle. It shows how the culture,
lifestyle and the very existence of the native First Americans (erroneously
called "Indians") are threatened. The video also speaks of the earth wisdom
of the tribes and shows their beautiful culture.
…..
….Another
guest video, this one on deforestation in Mindanao, was produced by Karin
Miyake, a Japanese associate of the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian
Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC). This is titled, We Need the
Forest.
…..
…..There
are other guest videos that were Philippine-produced, like The Greening
of Libertad, Cleaner and Greener: NGOs Mobilize to Save the
Cities; and Saving the Ozone Layer: the Philippine Experience,
all from the Alternative Horizons Media Cooperative; and the presentation
on
Vegetarianism, produced by the group Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals and Plants (PCAP).
…..
…..In
cooperation with SanibLakas ng Taongbayan Foundation, a synergism-oriented
organization,
TLP will include in the formal opening ceremony of
Ta-Noód Kalikasan in the early evening of Easter Sunday (April 23,
the day after Earth Day) the "Handshakes and Hugs (Around the World)
for Earth Synergy 2000."
…..
…..For
this activity, the Manila office of the Initiatives for International
Dialogue (IID) has committed to help invite "non-Filipino friends,"
especially from the respective networks of the Philippine International
Forum (PIF), Philippine Global Exchange (PGX), and the United
Nations Volunteers in the Philippines, among others. Tanghalang
Lakbay Pinoy was the very first organization to adopt this poem after
it was proposed worldwide by SanibLakas. The poem-prayer was chorus-recited
as invocation during the graduation ceremonies of each of the six Ta-Noód
Kalikasan seminars.
…..
…..Ta-Noód
Kalikasan is a project of TLP, with support from L.G.
Collins, Land Bank of the Philippines, World Partners Finance
Corp., Ecological Society of the Philippines, JRS Express,
and Philippine Graphic Weekly Magazine, in cooperation with EBC-TVE,
Earthlite,
and Earth Day 2000 Network - Philippines.
…..
Bulletin
No. 7-5 (April 15, 2000)
…
Green
Concerts Scheduled in Mindoro,
Subic
and Cagayan de Oro City
…
…..…..MANILA,
Philippines, April 15, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- Environment
concerts are being readied in connection with Earth Day 2000 in
Mindoro and Subic and another has been reset for May.
…..
…..According
to environmentalist artist Billy Bonnevie, about 50,000 people are expected
to attend a grand concert of their group at Puerto Galera in Mindoro, as
one of the highlights of the month-long series of Earth Day activities
in that place, while his sister and fellow-artist Lou is involved with
another concert at the Subic Freeport in Zambales.
…..
…SanibLakas
InfoShare was told by a Grace Santos, an officer of the Asian
NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) that
its Earth Day concert, entitled Awit sa Kinaiyahan to be
held in Cagayan de Oro City and broadcast live in the whole Southeast Asian
region, has been reset for May 6.
…..
…The
"Earthborne"
concert in Subic, featuring poet/songwriter Joey Ayala, producer/artist
Lou Bonnevie, Reggae group Put3Ska with the Manila Youth Symphony Orchestra
(MYSO) and other special friends, will be presented by the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in the evening of Earth Day, April 22,
to highlight its efforts in environmental activism. This has been conceptualized
for staging by Dimitri Productions, according to information e-mailed
to SanibLakas InfoShare, will have a tree-planting activitiy in
the morning. The evening concert will be staged at Waterfront Road
in Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Olongapo City. SBMA is inviting everyone
is invited to savor this event, free of charge, in celebration of
Earthday 2000.
…..
…Meanwhile,
SanibLakas
InfoShare also received word that there will be an earth music concert
featuring Ato Mariano and friends from 6 pm april 21 to 6 am april 23 2000
at the Quezon Memorial Circle, in Quezon City. This has been projected
to be "36 hours of live musical performance by single group, the longest
world music performance by single group."
…..
Bulletin
No. 7-6 (April 15, 2000)
…
Environmental
forum highlights
'Loving
All Life'; network core formed
…..
…..MANILA,
Philippines, April 15, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- The paradigm
of Deep Ecology for the current commemoration of Earth
Day 2000 was given a boost recently
when the topic, "Love All Life" was discussed at the environmentalist Kamayan
para sa Kalikasan forum held yesterday at the Kamayan Restaurant
in EDSA, and more so with the formation right there of an initiating core
of the Love All Life! Consciousness Campaign Network.
…..
…Haribon
Foundation Executive
Director Al Manaloto had prepared a power-point presentation on biodiversity
for the forum participants to see, but he had to send a representative
because he was stranded out of town by a plane flight delay.
…..
…Among
the speakers at the forum's 122nd monthly session were Annabel Dimapilis,
wildlife field specialist of Haribon; Becky Ortega of the
Brahma
Kumaris Meditation Centers; Marie R. Marciano, vice president of SanibLakas
ng Taongbayan Foundation and main organizer of the citizens' green
army called Hukbong Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (HULIKA); Fe San Juan
Hidalgo, author of a book on sustainable development; Nandy Pacheco, president
of the National Action for the Total Uplift and Resoration of the Environment
(NATURE)
and head of its project, the Gunless Society; and Fr. Philemon Castro
of the Annunciation Orthodox Church.
…..
…All
of them agreed to become members of the initiating core group for the Love
All Life! Network.
…..
…Kamayan
para sa Kalikasan is
being convened monthly since March 1990 by the Communicators League
for Environmental Action and Restoration (CLEAR) with full support
from the owners of Kamayan Restaurant.
…..
…e
discussion for "Loving All Life" was moderated by CLEAR secretary-general
Ed Aurelio Reyes, main convenor of the Love All Life! Consciousness
Campaign Network. Days before the holding of that forum, Nita
Hontiveros-Lichauco of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Plants (PCAP) expressed
the desire for their respective organizations to join this network.
…..
Bulletin
No. 7-7 (April 15, 2000)
…
Essay
Contest Deadline Extended;
youth
pilgimage to Banahaw move
…..
…MANILA,
Philippines, April 15, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- The Ecological
Society of the Philippines (ESP) and JRS Business Corporation, both
headed by Mr. Antonio M. Claparols, announced that the essay
contest they have organized among high school students and elementary
pupils in the country has been extended, with the deadline for the submission
of entries moved to May 31 this year. …..
…Nene
Manalo, an official of JRS told SanibLakas InfoShare
in a phone interview that they have also started allowing entries to be
mailed via the postal system to their main office at 19 Brixton st., Bgy.
Kapitolyo, Pasig City. According to earlier rules, all entries had
to pass through JRS Express outlets, Manalo said.
…..
…Meanwhile,
the Youth Sustainable Development Assembly (YSDA) reported
major adjustments in both the time and place of the youth pilgrimage originally
scheduled around communities around Mt. Banahaw during this Earth
Day week.
…..
…According
to Roy Cabonegro, YSDA secretary-general, this will push through
on June 5, World Environment Day, around the area of the
historic Pamitinan Cave in Wawa, Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal. Pamitinan
was the site of the first "cry for independence"ade by the Katipunan more
than a year before the more well-known "First Cry." It was not immediately
clarified why the adjustments were made.
Bulletin
No. 7-8 (April 22, 2000)
…
SALI-KA!
-- Organized Synergy
of
Efforts for the Environment
…..
…MANILA,
Philippines, April 22, 1999 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- An emerging
nationwide network or "citizens' green army" of individual environmentalists
is changing its name to capture more precisely the essence of its work
and make it sound more embracive. Earlier dubbed Huli Ka!,
short for Hukbong Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan, which name, according
to feedback, tends to focus too much on its role in the enforcement
of environmental laws, the new organization has been renamed as Sali
Ka!, or Sanib-lakas para sa Inang Kalikasan.
…..
…This
was revealed by veteran broadcaster Marie Marciano, vice president of SanibLakas
ng Taongbayan Foundation and founder of the new formation. Interviewed
by SanibLakas InfoShare on Earth
Day 2000, Marciano said Sali Ka!
will be an independent organization focused on the promotion of synergism
in spirit, networking, shared information and coordination of diverse but
complementing actions of individuals and organizations for the rescue,
restoration and conservation of Mother Nature.
…..
…About
a hundred individuals have already signed forms to indicate interest in
joining Huli Ka! "and I'm sure they would not mind, and in fact
they would even welcome this new name as more positively-sounding," she
said, adding that "Huli Ka!" would be retained as the name of the
unit for assisting in law enforcement.
…..
…"Although
its formation is a project of SanibLakas Foundation, and it
shall be an effective contribution of the foundation for the social application
of the synergism principle to an urgent need, Sali Ka! shall carry
the foundation's name only in the common-noun sense of the coined word,
and shall be operationally independent from SanibLakas Foundation and
from all other organizations," explained Marciano, who hosts the weekly
Para
sa Inang Kalikasan radio program every Sunday at dwBL AM.
…..
…She
said Sali Ka! will focus on the promotion and application of synergism,
it shall not duplicate any existing and effective organization that is
ready to participate in complementing actions, and it shall not compete
with any such organization.
…..
…Sali
Ka!,
she explained, will primarily recruit among individuals who are not yet
organized, but it will also accept individuals who may already be officers
or members of other environmental organizations, and that all Sali
Ka! members, will be molded to be effective and exemplary propagators
and practitioners even within their respective organizations of a strong
personal commitment, sense of responsibility, and sense of efficiency relative
to any tasks given and accepted; of continuing development and sharing
of individual skills and knowledge needed for better effectiveness in the
service of Mother Nature, and of readiness to be a team player and maximize
synergy in all facets for any or all efforts for Mother Nature.
…..
…She
further said that Sali Ka! members shall imbibe the SanibLakas
Foundation's strong conviction that diversity should not necessarily
be treated as a source of conflict, that diversity necessitates mutual
efforts to understand and mutual basic respect, and that diversity is definitely
a source of dynamism for synergy and is therefore a resource to be valued.
Sali Ka! members will commit to a continuing development and application
of readiness and ability to act as living bridges for networking, cooperation
and team-ups among diverse groups, whether or not belonging to any of them.
…..
…Marciano
expressed the hope that the people will see the value of pursuing this
particular networking and synergizing approach, among others, in pursuing
environmental actions, and that various individuals, groups, and entities
would lend it active support in the respective forms and magnitudes best
suited to their own preferences and capabilities.
…..
…"Even
the simple act of any friend or associate to inform us of certain opportunities
to access resources would already be a big help," she said with a smile,
adding that "in a way, kasali na siya!"
.
Send information on your own activitires
via <sanib_alam@yahoo.com>
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