Greening of the Soul

Green Your Soul

Everyone feels it.

The earth is no longer young.  Its resources are no longer inexhaustible.  Temperatures are rising.  Entire species are disappearing.

Just yesterday, everyone cavorted in clean, sparkling water, drenched themselves in sunshine, fished an abundant ocean, breathed air that is fresh, harvested a generous, bountiful earth.

Something happened between the space of yesterday and today

Mother earth was taken for granted, and overtaken (over taken) by human greed.

From the distance, it is as if ashes are rising – pollution spreading out its arms to envelop the world.  The glaciers are melting, there is fish kill, red tide, more incidents of asthma – but factories continued to spew out their carcinogens, their lead, their poison, this amidst the ding of their cash registers.  The earth is almost drained of its black blood, but oddly, initiatives to look for alternative fuel has captivated the world’s imagination only now, when it is almost too late.

But maybe it is not too late.  And the green movements are showing the way.

ABS-CBN has banned Styrofoam and required the use of recyclable materials by its food concessionaires and set up its own water sewage plant to recycle waste water (for watering plants and flushing toilets).  TheNetGroup has consulted experts in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System to make sure that its future buildings will be energy-saving, water efficient, have reduced CO₂ emissions and improved indoor environmental quality.

There is also money in green.

Green products – sturdy handmade bags made of recycled paper (the bags are so beautiful – world class – I wish I could have taken a picture!) or fashioned from tetra packs, reusable diapers, kitchen herbs, organic soaps and scents and sanitizers and bug sprays – are a hit in bazaars.  My co-Maven Jhoey Hernandez of PinoyOrganics.com is a prime proponent of the green revolution and you can learn a lot from her site.

From our end, my husband and his EcoThings.net partners launched The Green Book, a beautiful green planner that is 100% recyclable and printed using soya ink, and it is acid free, with an archival life of at least 100 years.  Inside it are postcards and discount coupons for similarly-minded (green) business establishments.  It also has 30 pages of recycled paper that you can use as notes, idea pads, or stationary.  All designs are by Danvic Briones, the hubby.

For orders, you can email me at issa@youwanttoberich.com.  The planners are priced at P595 (or USD$20) each and feature the different seasons on the cover.  The inside pages are filled with beautiful illustration and green tips for the “greening of the soul”.  Your planners can also be delivered via Pedala (bike couriers) for a fee.  For international orders, you can email me too and we will find a way to get it to you.

Article by Issa. Illustrations by Danvic Briones. Copyright 2010.
website: www.YouWantToBeRich.com
email: issa@youwanttoberich.com

P.S.  Both Jhoey Hernandez and I made it to the 8 Most Admired Upcoming Filipina Bloggers.  Many thanks to Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet!  We are very honored to be part of that list 🙂

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