Mangrove seedling @ South Reclamation Area
Since, I'm not going around the island lately, i decided to blog Cebu City only. This will be updated everyday and is part of City Daily Photoblog My Everyday Cebu (now Cebu Photoblog) site will be for the whole island and will be updated weekly.
Recently, I’ve an obsession of going the way of Bono: GREEN. Aside from voluntary joining Cebu’s Green Forum and Coastal Conservation & Education Foundation, I’ve resolved to actively pursue organic gardening and energy conservation. I think its healthy- physically, ecologically and financially to plant your OWN fruits and veggies. My first goal is simple - to raise a salad garden for our dinner table.
So for a couple of days last month, I resort to my ever-reliable friends, Google and Wiki, for some organic farming tips for beginners. I’m not talking of acres-wide farms but of simple urban backyard lot which is max of 10 square meters plot and few pots of compost soil. The trick is to find ways to make it easier to grow more in a limited amount of space in a city. After reading some articles, hubby and I went to the mall and bought some seedling trays, compost soil and packs of seeds – 2 varieties of lettuce, beefsteak tomato and a pack coleus plant seeds. This is just an experiment – I never tried veggies before but I know that I can grow flowering plants from seeds!
Anyhoo, for a brief moment yesterday I have this quick inspiration of sowing the seeds which had been stored in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. The minute I felt the soil on the palm of my hand, I couldn’t stop! It was already dark when I cleared the work table. I’ve never been excited about gardening before but the recent activity makes me wonder all the time when will my seeds start sprouting and when will I harvest the goodies!
To divert my pent-up excitement, I resorted to online research of my issue du jour and now, I’m blogging again....
Since, we are on the topic of organic gardening and the “trend” we are trying to introduce to this city, I made a simple list of ways to go GREEN in Cebu.
- Go Organic – One of the ways to reduce waste is to go Organic – whether you consume organic food or clothing, you will contribute a lot to balance the ecosystem. We create a healthy environment by reducing the use of harmful chemicals thus protecting human and natural resources which on the long run will be conducive for nature to recover and thrive.
- Buy local – Reduce environmental footprints by buying local products – food, furniture, clothes, etc. The lesser the travel time to reach your products, the lesser use of transportation, thus it will reduce the effect of transportation to the environment. Support local trade fairs, weekend farmers markets, agri-fairs, etc. It will also support small business owners and let them produce more products with minimal impact on the environment by reducing processing, packaging and shipment costs. Support local clothing brands to maximize resources and lessen carbon-emission from producing the clothes.
- Grow your own fruits and veggies – To a budding gardener, this could be the most enjoyable. Growing your own fruits and veggies assures you that you’re eating healthy food (that is if you’re growing it organically). There is no limit to this, whether you live in a condominium or city outskirts, it will really help reduce your carbon footprints.
- Lessen meat consumption – the lesser the demand for meat, the lesser amount of resources will be used up for producing meat. It will also lessen the greenhouse effect. We all know that this leads to pollution and global warming as meat production requires tremendous use of water, land, etc and it is basically NOT HEALTHY because of practices such as the use of animal growth hormones and chemicals which are harmful to human. Ever wonder why are there more obese people than 20 years ago? Blame it on fast –food.... But its all up to you if you really want to remove meat from your food, it really is your choice.
- Control your wastes – Patronize products using biodegradable packaging. When shopping use all-natural canvass bags which usually last 5 years and yet biodegradable. Since plastics cannot be broken down, lessen its use instead replace it with the cool and hip canvass shopping bags. SM City is one of the first retail companies who actively promote the use of cloth shopping bags. Just lessen the use of plastics. I'm not telling you not to use plastics but I’m sure you are aware of the consequences. With the harsh effect of sudden flood, I should give you instructions on how to make boats instead of this blog!
- Unplug it! – I’ll have to warn you, even if you turn off that TV or computer and in standby mode it still consumes energy. Please unplug appliances not in use and you will see a significant change in your electricity bill. We experimented last month and there was a really significant change in our electric bill – from P6,400 for each month of May and June to P5,100 this July!
- Digitize your office – The traditional use of fax and printing of documents such as reports and proposals, etc confuses me a lot! When I started dealing with international clients, I feel good not using printed documents. It isn’t because of the environmental awareness but because I thought it was a waste of time – waiting for the document to print then faxing it to clients whereas its easier to just email the documents. During 2000, my clients from Europe and US taught me to conserve energy by informing us that they prefer PDF files than fax or prints. My dream is for a paperless office and I really campaigned for it to my local clients and suppliers. I find it a bit strange here in the Philippines where most of the people are tech –savvy and yet majority of companies still require printed document to send to your client wherein you can sign your docs digitally and had it authenticated.
- Work from Home – Less time hitting the road, lesser energy consumption.
- Use your legs – Walk or bike! Its cheaper and healthier.
- Use all-natural fabric shopping bags – Be stylish! Create your own or buy from SM City. For a minimal shopping amount – you can have these Green bags which you can use for shopping. Recently, Rustan’s Supermarket together with World Wildlife Fund introduced the canvass shopping bags to shoppers. You can also get points each time you use your bags!
If you reach this far that means you’re really interested in environmental conservation. I hope we could start something here and at least make a difference by helping our planet restore its natural balance. If you have more tips to add, let me know! ;P
Labels: cebu city, environment, greening Cebu, plants
