Last May 20-22, 2016, my fellow youth and I attended the "Laudato si' Reflection Workshop and Climate Leadership Training" in Don Bosco House of Tabor in Pansol, Calamba, a city 30 minutes away from San Pablo City.  The other participants were composed of other youth from around Metro Manila, who were mostly from the Catholic Seminaries in the area. The training was led by Ms. Lou Arsenio, who is the head of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) for the Philippines.  She is also connected with the Environment and Disaster Response Ministry of the Archdiocese of Manila.

GCCM is an international catholic group of advocates for the mitigation of the effects of Climate Change. Pope Francis told us: "On climate change there is a clear, definitive and ineluctable "ethical imperative to act.? Through the training we learned that there are many ways to turn the tide for climate justice.

We began our training with a fieldtrip around Laguna De Bay which is the third largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and is bounded by the provinces of Rizal and Laguna and cities that are part of the National Capital Region. Laguna De Bay has been the main source of fresh water of the cities around it and a source of livelihood,  too. Our first stop-over was the Binangonan fishport located near Manila wherein we saw how bad the situation of the water quality was. What made it even worse was we saw the fishes being sold in the markets being caught there. As we continued our trip around the lake and entered the province of Rizal, the urban structures started to lessen and more trees started to appear. We also made stopovers Rizal's wind farm in Pililia and Laguna?s hydroelectric power plant in Caliraya.

Upon arriving at our destination in Calamba, the first thing we talked about was the field trip and what we saw during the duration of the trip. After we all shared the things we saw, we then listened to a presentation about the Lake and its current condition.  According to our speaker, Paul De Leon, the lake is suffering from two major problems, which are both caused by human activity. The first major problem is pollution because as he said "the people have turned the lake into one big septic tank". Besides domestic  trash being thrown into the lake, there is also industrial sometimes toxic waste being dumped into the lake.  Second, human activity most specifically the cutting of trees around the lake has caused the soil on the mountains around the lake to erode. This causes siltation in the lake. As of now, the lake?s average depth is only 2 meters and it is getting even shallower.

During the next two days, we had speakers who talked to us about the connection between faith and saving the environment.  We also had speakers who connected psychology and ecology. However what struck me during the last day was what Ms. Lou said to us that in order for people to actually help us in our cause, we must be able to tap their emotions because this is what drives them to actually help.  It is not enough that we tell them what is happening and what must be done. I t doesn't matter what you believe in, whether you?re Catholic,  Muslim,  Buddist or any religion, because what we all have in common is a heart which has an instinct to love and care for someone or something. 

"Laudato si', mi Signore" means "Praise be to you, my Lord". This was the title of the Papal encyclical issued by Pope Francis. The words Laudato si' came from a song that St. Francis of Assisi composed where he reminds us that it is our common home, Mother Earth, that "sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs".  

Laudato si': Caring for our Common Home!