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(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 UniversityVilla Aznar Rd. Urgello St. Cebu City

(032) 4187278

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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 itwith 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 participantswill 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 moneyand 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, Ido 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 thefact 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 to15% 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

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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 notend the issues, but we begin life geared towards fullness and development. This is what we must

sustain.