I Am Blogie

I was fortunate to have been invited to speak at a media workshop last Saturday, 10 March 2012, on environment reporting. Thanks to Mindanao Times editor-in-chief, Amy Cabusao, for the opportunity to engage Mindanao’s media practitioners in the advocacy to protect our marine environment!

The workshop, organized by the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center (MindaNews), was participated in by TV, print and radio journalists from different parts of Mindanao.

Here are the slides I used for that workshop, “Mindanao Journalists Training on Environment Reporting” :

The workshop was sponsored in part by the U.S. Embassy in Manila, and I had the chance to meet the American mission’s new press attaché, Tina Malone. Ms. Malone and I had a good chat about furthering the objectives of this workshop. I’m looking forward to working with the U.S. Embassy’s press office once again!

Intro dive

The following day, Sunday, I brought a handful of journalists from Davao, Dipolog, Surigao and other parts of Mindanao to Davao Gulf for them to see first-hand what I had talked about. They were not divers, but were given the chance to see the world under the sea, courtesy of Carabao Dive Center.

I sincerely hope that the workshop has sparked the spirit of advocacy among the participants. We do need our friends in the media to help us bring the message of environment conservation to their readers, viewers and listeners. Hopefully, more news organizations will develop a strong environment beat and thus sustain public awareness of the problems facing Philippine seas.

Due to the recent — and enduring — devastation brought about by Ondoy (a.k.a. Typhoon Ketsana), in the news now, we see pleas for more awareness of environmental issues. We read about government being asked to be more rigorous and meticulous in public infrastructure planning, as well as in granting land development projects to real estate corporations.

It’s been said time and again, hindsight is always 20/20 vision. But now we have to try and look at the future. These appeals must be heeded by all concerned, because tens of thousands of people have already lost their lives to nature’s wrath. Due, in significant part, to massive oversight on the part of our decision-makers. Our past leaders blatantly disregarded environment-related problems, and now we are paying for their mistakes.

Our government must indeed get down to brass tacks and tackle the obvious issues: improper land use, clogging of waterways, garbage disposal, pollution….

But, amid all of these calls for government action, we must not forget that each of us has a responsibility as well. No one is free from blame: each of us has contributed to the tons of trash that find their way to rivers, oceans, valleys, natural parks. All of us have been unmindful of what progress has made us become: wasteful.

Enough said. Let us do our part then. Let’s recycle what we can. Let’s minimize waste, and do our part in saving the environment. And somehow, possibly, save the future from even worse natural calamities.