By Stephen J Pedroza
The acoustic album dubbed as “An Ode to Mother Nature II” for the Valuing Ecosystem Services Together (VEST) campaign of Xavier University is set to be officially released during the Earth Hour 2015.
The album is a musical offering of local composers and singers of Cagayan de Oro City with messages varying from the left-and-right environmental degradation to how it affects the lives of those who depend on the forests, from calling for sustainable actions to inspiring the youth to step up in managing our natural resources well.
“The sound now reflects a more grounded experience. The instruments are simpler,” shared Evans Yonson, the social marketing supervisor of VEST.
Yonson, who is also a Development Communication professor at XU, has asked some of his present and former students to compose the lyrics for this particular album.
Soundtable, an XU music organization, led by DevCom student Lori Janubas, has arranged and recorded the songs for roughly two months. The group will perform the songs during the Earth Hour concert at the Centrio - Ayala Mall on March 28.
Music online and on air
The VEST team has decided to upload the entire album composed of 10 songs on Sound Cloud, an online audio distribution platform that enables broad accessibility for the netizens.
“Putting the VEST album online promises wider reach for our project,” Yonson said.
The album repertoire included the songs “Apocalypse,” “Invest in Nature,” “Mensahe” and “Young Hearts,” among others, that implore the listeners to be wary of the detrimental effects of our actions to the environment, and call for action and synergy among all stakeholders.
“We chose the acoustic sound and catchy lyrics to appeal the netizens in our target sectors,” the VEST supervisor added.
VEST targets five sectors to take part in this ecological undertaking, namely, the corporations, cooperatives, the academe, religious groups and the households.
Earth Hour 2015
The acoustic songs will be played at the Habagat outlets, the partner environment-friend business organization of VEST for the Earth Hour 2015 celebration. (The lights-off event will transpire from 8:30PM to 9:30PM).
VEST is a social marketing arm of the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) project of XU through the McKeough Marine Center (MMC), Research and Social Outreach (RSO) and Xavier Science Foundation (XSF) as the fund manager.
In Northern Mindanao, the project has been piloted within the ancestral domain of the Miarayon-Lapok-Lirongan-Tinaytayan Tribal Association (MILALITTRA), one of the 12 lumad communities in the protected area of Talakag, Bukidnon where Mt Kalatungan stands.
The 5-year community development master plan of MILALITTRA aims to reforest 832 hectares, while 816 hectares will be allotted for agroforestry.
Part of this green endeavor is to mainstream the principles of VEST through a slew of activities to encourage Kagay-anons to participate in the fund drive to reforest Mt Kalatungan and reward the efforts of the indigenous people community as the forest managers.
One of these activities is the Earth Hour participation, a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature since 2007 as a lights-off event to raise awareness about climate change.
Listen to the full acoustic album of VEST here.