(1) category: Youth

(2) essay title: Gratitude Operations Inc.

(3) your name: Luigine Christi Colina Chan
(4) postal address: 188D Katipunan St. Doña Esperanza Village II Tisa Cebu City
(5) phone number: (032) 4138719
(6) e-mail address: lujchan@gmail.com
(7) nationality: Filipino
(8) age as of June 30, 2008 : 17 y.o.
(9) sex: F
(10) school name: Southwestern University
(11) word count: 771

Teacher’s Contact info;

Mrs. Ma. Elena A. Cabigon
Dean
College of Nursing
Southwestern University
Villa Aznar Rd. Urgello St. Cebu City
(032) 4187278
 Summer’s idle moments bring most teens and kids searching for jobs to earn from,
special training classes to learn from or just something to keep busy with during the two-month
long vacation. The proposal I have conceived was to bring these things together and mingle it
with a little touch of environmental advocacy.
I am planning to create a volunteer-driven environmentalist’s organization that will serve
as the youth’s summer job agency. This org will help them find a fitting job for youths aged 7 -
17 for summer, depending on the qualifications of the job offer. As they will apply to any job on
the list, they will be registered as members of the organization with the member’s card bearing
the words, “I’m working to uphold nature because nature makes me live.” and the participants
will then sign a pledge that they will share 10% of their earnings to the agency. The money will
then be used to purchase seedlings to be planted in the selected watersheds of Cebu. The
culminating activity will be a tree-planting activity by the volunteers themselves. This is to
commemorate that the tree they have planted is not just some thing that came up out of money
and human hands, but a living proof that a future awaits to those who work for it today.
I believe in the feasibility and efficiency of my project since I am witness to the youth’s
eagerness to make themselves useful at home, in school and eventually, in the community
despite being considered as yet dependents to their parents and guardians. In my point of view, I
do not consider this dependence and unworldliness as hindrances in making a difference. It is,
instead, a privilege that will help us make the most out of our formative years by being
productive citizens of the country. It is indeed a privilege to not have the priority of budgeting
household expenses of the family. With this, it is high time that we, the youth, direct our energies
and efforts in the safekeeping of our environment since, in the first place, it is our home too.

It is true that sometimes we feel scarcity and deprivation of our needs with the growing
crisis we are experiencing in the country, like the elevating price of the rice and petroleum
products. Everyone seems to be desperate about money that sometimes we begin to ignore the
fact that money isn’t what we NEED after all. Yes, money can buy the food we eat and the water
we drink. It can bring us the finest homes. But we sometimes overlook to consider the truth that
the food, water and shelter we are enjoying right now have their sources already depleted
because Mother Nature never gets fairly compensated by the investment she devotes in us.

Cebu, my hometown, is a zero-forest area community. Its major watershed, the Mananga-
Kotkot-Lusaran watershed, which is supplying water to the growing population of the city, is
considered to be in critical condition since its vegetative cover is in bad shape and its remaining
forest cover is receding. According to Philippine Soil and Water Conservation Foundation, Inc.,
water production is less than half of the actual daily demand and is expected to fan the flames to
15% annually for the next five years. Therefore, a degenerating forest condition is not just a
problem for the wildlife, but more to the human population too.

I am aware that there is no “just one thing” in nature because one disruption in its balance
leads to another problem yet to be solved. Denuding a forest is linked to floods, global warming,
and now to depleting potable water supply. This project may only be just a drop in the bucket,
but I do hope that these efforts will spread awareness and ignite hopes to live in a more livable
earth, a better world.
If God wills it that this project prospers, we can conduct seminars and activities during
the summer break that will rouse the youth’s inclination to nature. We could invite companies
and business establishments to join in the advocacy as they provide temporary jobs for the youth
and at the same time; they are encouraged to practice environment-friendly practices in their
workplaces. We could also summon leaders from other youth organizations so we could gather
more participants and put our acts together.
We do not conquer these huge environmental problems, we conquer ourselves instead.
We must always keep in mind that sustainable development entails sustained action. We do not
end the issues, but we begin life geared towards fullness and development. This is what we must
sustain.