Celebrities and their advocacies you can support for the love of Mother Nature
The Philippines has been experiencing water shortage, has been named third largest contributor to ocean plastic in the world, and has been a casualty of the strongest typhoons in recent history. It is without a doubt that our country is experiencing an environmental crisis.
Despite these, there are steps you can take to curb climate change and help in the conservation of earth's natural resources. Take a cue from these celebrities and their green advocacies.
Dingdong Dantes and YesPinoy Foundation
Dingdong Dantes has been at the forefront of educating and mobilizing the youth for social change, serving as the chairman of YesPinoy Foundation. The organization he founded initiated the planning and implementation of #NowPH or Not On Our Watch Philippines movement, a campaign focused on climate action and disaster risk reduction efforts.
IN PHOTOS: Dingdong Dantes leads climate change campaign #NowPH
Gabbi Garcia and clean-up dives
Gabbi Garcia, being a water baby and a licensed SCUBA diver, advocates for plastic-free seas. She does her part by picking up trash whenever she goes diving.
In an old interview with GMA News Online, Gabbi said, “Not everyone has the opportunity to go down underwater. So ako 'yung isa sa mga lucky kids na nakaka-dive. In my own little way, 'pag nagda-dive ako, naglilinis na rin kami. Kasi hindi naman lahat ng tao nakakapunta doon sa ilalim e. So kami lang nakaka-reach sa point na 'yun. Siguro 'yun na rin tulong ko sa Mother Earth.”
Pepe Herrera, Antoinette Taus, Planet CORA, and Clean Seas Pilipinas
If doing clean-up initiatives like Gabbi may be a bit overwhelming because you don't know how to get started, you can volunteer at Planet CORA and Clean Seas Pilipinas like Pepe Herrera and Antoinette Taus.
The two have been doing beach clean-ups. Pepe and Antoinette are also very active in encouraging netizens to engage in the same via their respective social media accounts.
Andre Paras and World Wide Fund
Andre Paras continues his pledge to help the planet as the National Youth Ambassador of the World Wide Fund (WWF) Philippines. He uses his influence to encourage the younger generation to take on more environment-friendly ways like participating in the Earth Hour and saying no to single-use plastic.
LOOK: Andre Paras renews ties as National Youth Ambassador of WWF Philippines
“Once I get to have more physical contact with the sites or the work that they're doing I could start showing people what they're all about. It's like an insider's look to an average person like me who is learning so people would know it's not that big of pressure to join or big of a pressure to learn more about it,” he said in a previous interview with GMANetwork.com.
Romi Garduce and the GIG project of the UP Mountaineers
Romi Garduce, former Born To Be Wild host and the first Filipino to complete the Seven Summits, advocates the rehabilitation of the forests via the Green is Good (GIG) initiative of his organization, the UP Mountaineers.
After Mt. Apo caught fire, he initiated tree-planting and maintenance activities at the Philippines' highest peak. He shared, “We started this almost three years ago and completed planting 25,000 trees covering 10 hectares. What's left is the more difficult maintenance effort that will last for at least three years - which involves replanting to replace dead trees and removing invasive plants.”
The same initiative funds the reforestation of the Ipo Watershed that may address the water shortage in Manila.
He invited, “People can volunteer in one of the scheduled trips to the tree-planting sites, or they can help the communities that we support either through monetary donation or provisioning of helpful materials for the foresters and rangers. Or, by joining in some of our fund-raising and awareness campaign activities particularly the upcoming GIG run. The fees collected for the event will benefit both our IPO and Apo reforestation program.”