BASURA KO, ATIMANON KO. NSTP students of Xavier University march on the streets of Carmen Market to promote proper waste segregation. Supplied photo.
By Francis Nicole Raut, NSTP student
It’s hard to believe that our planet is already 4.5 billion years old and human beings first appeared between 5 million and 7 million years ago. Earth, third planet from the sun and is the only planet fit for human life, is now slowly losing its habitability. With our constant hunger for knowledge and the need to quench our curiosity, we have adapted and progressed in various aspects millennium after millennium. The sad thing is that we are also slowly killing our own home.
Waste segregation is one of the simple things we can do at home that we hardly follow, much less do it constantly. Segregation is the first step in managing our waste. By properly disposing our waste, we help hasten the work of our garbage handlers.
Xavier University’s National Service Training Program in coordination with the City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office of Cagayan de Oro City recently spearheaded a flash mob at Carmen Market, where it had a rather unkempt way of trash disposal. People around the area said that it would all start with one plastic bag where it may have been conceived as “a place for trash disposal.” Slowly, that little plastic bag would be piled up with another plastic bag and so on. It then turns into a huge mound of trash that is at least chest high.
The flash mob was participated in by three NSTP sections composed of about 150 students who were tasked to conduct an information education campaign on solid waste management for two semesters this school year. They danced not just for entertainment, but for the core message of proper segregation of waste. After the flash mob, the students marched around the market and handed out brochures on trash management. The students gave out hearty shouts of “BASURA KO, ATIMANON KO!” that was not directed only for the marketplace but for the whole humanity.
BASURA KO, ATIMANON KO. NSTP students of Xavier University march on the streets of Carmen Market to encourage the people around the vicinity to segregate their wastes properly. Supplied photo.
“In time, if we’re not responsible enough with segregating our wastes, our landfill will fill up faster than we can manage. If we can’t even do proper solid waste management, then where can we live? Let’s take care of our common home as Pope Francis says in Laudato Si,” said Rousell Ferrer, an NSTP student who took part of the flash mob.
As this world’s caretakers and ironically, the ones who aggravate environmental problems, it is indeed up to us to change. Change isn’t always bad. Sometimes, change is what we really need. Let’s help stop global warming slowly but steadily. Let’s hope we can still see our great grandchildren playing outside and bask under the sun. ∎
DANCE FOR MOTHER EARTH. The flash mob by NSTP students features messages of taking care for Mother Earth, proper waste segregation, and keeping Cagayan de Oro City clean. Supplied photo.