Truth Bomb

The Philippines is the only country with the most plastic waste above 36% emitted to the ocean. This is followed by India but not even close at less than 13%. While the highest spenders of plastics are not in my country, the rest of the world has a better waste management system that is not present here.

I remember our chat with our dean about our project to plant trees. I was mortified because I expected that we will be received warmly. But what else can I expect from a Brother? He challenged me on what the long-term plan is. Everybody is planting trees. But what can we do as a university? We went to our neighbor university in Los Banos and we hauled hundreds of seedlings that can suit our region's biodiversity. We set up the very first seedling bank that we'll nurture until it's ready. While Cubo Toys might be cleaning up the ocean through the help of Handprint/Seven Clean Seas in Bali, Indonesia (share of plastic waste is less than 6% there), I know this does not even remotely answer the REAL problem. We don't need to clean the oceans, that's an easy job to do and I had my share of cleaning up creeks when I was 9 years old. It's no longer "I-got-time-on-my-weekend-non-profit-for-companies-job". No, those are for the rookies. Now, what we need are better waste management systems placed in our cities.