Earth Day Everyday

The first Earth Day movement by earthday.org happened in 1970. Forty six years later, it announced April 22, 2016 as this year’s Earth Day. But as they say, this is more than just a single day.

Earth Day Everyday was the message conveyed by the Archdiocese of Cagayan De Oro City (ACDO) - Ecology Ministry last April 17, 2016 (Sunday) at Centrio Ayala Garden. The event was named “HARANA para kay INA”, an acoustic jam for Mother Earth.

This was graced by numerous indie bands: Grupong Laya, Memoronnie, Cookies and Cream, Estilo, Escapo, But Karma Kills, Bloodflowers, Northern Sparks, Bombo Radyo Jasaan Rondalla, 4^th ID Band, Rage of Laura and Glennfalse & Thony. It also featured CDO Archidocese’s Ecology Musicians: Zee, The Right Stop, Dodu Abrio and Ding Cabreira.

Harana Para Kay Ina was a fusion of original compositions by several indie bands and unique renditions of popular songs like Lion King’s Circle of Life and Pocahontas’ Colors of the Wind. The event also included a performance of Malvina Reynolds’ song, “What Have They Done To The Rain?” by St. Francis Xavier Church Social Action Committee Head, Mr. Natz Jumangit and ACDO Ecology Musician, Mr. Ding Cabrera. The acoustic jam was concluded with all the bands singing the song, “Kapayapaan” by Tropical Depression.

To remind the people of our role in our environment, Mr. Ding Cabreira asked the audience to pick up the trash seen at the event area. He even left us with the words, “Basura ko, Ibulsa Ko.”, a movement inviting people to be mindful of their trash even candy wrappers that certainly go a long way destroying sea animals.

On April 21-24, 2016, tribute to Mother Earth continued as the Luna Musikalawaig Full Moon Festival was held at the Ki Bathala Gardens in Talakag, Bukidnon. It was graced by various musicians and artists: Joe D’ Farmer, Lost Tribe, Kamaggong, SinoSiKat, Emann Vibration, Jericho Vamenta, Spy, among others, with Rafael Kiefer, President of Professional Models Association of the Philippines, as one of the organizers. The tribal gathering was on its 5^th year since it started 2011.

The Summer Peace Festival was not just one night, but three nights of expression of love for art and music dedicated to Mother Earth. It was a way to commune with nature whilst being away from the convenience of technology and the internet world, to be specific.

To get to the venue, shuttles were provided and a camping site at the gardens was made available to those attending the gathering. It was nights of soulful music and speaking with the gardens and the river.

Meanwhile, in the north, a beach cleanup activity in partnership with Gawad Kalinga was hosted by O’Tara at Baler, Aurora. O’Tara is a non-profit organization with numerous advocacies like arts and nature. Last February 2016, O’Tara brought scholars of Smokey Mountain to an art tour at Angono, Rizal. Its latest advocacy is coined #advocaSEA for cleaning up Baler.

To sum it up, we can all take part in being stewards of Mother Earth. We can do simple acts of saving nature by throwing our garbage in the assigned waste cans and yes, cigarette butts in their supposed places. Human population is growing fast while trees and rivers continue to deteriorate as a consequence of our actions. We are so much into industrialization and constructing commercial buildings, we forget that every tree we cut, or every mountain we flatten is a pollution we impart with Mother Earth.

Let the passion for Mother Earth of the Archdiocese of Cagayan De Oro-Ecology Ministry, Musikalawaig Organizers and O’Tara be our guide to our personal advocacy in saving our world. There will be no use getting all the money we can from stock market or our rising business if the world we live in will just vanish. We will vanish along with the extinction of Mother Earth – no more food to eat, no more water to drink.

We make the world with our actions of negligence and self-centeredness. Let us try to be selfless and think of all the people living in this world, the future of the next generations, the cute pandas, the beautiful flowers, the relaxing rivers, and the innocent infants.

Indeed, everyday should be earth day.

(Photo credits to David Roa, Kim Alcantara and Yam Otarra.)