October is ATS' environment awareness month ergo OctoVironmental-fest. Our company organized symposium and other activities to help save the planet in our own little way; included in these activities are joining the 10.10.10 Run for Pasig River and tree planting in Makban Geothemal Plant in Bay. Laguna. And guess what? I participated. :)
10.10.10 Run for Pasig River
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| a beautiful day to save lives |
Let me be mushy and start this with a McDreamy quote: It's a beautiful day to save lives. Let's have some fun.
This was exactly what I felt when I woke up the dawn of 10.10.10. Well obviously I'm not a runner or a fitness buff and I don't think you can consider me an environmentalist but I felt excitement and hope and a tap on my shoulder that I should be doing this kind of activities for a better me and a better environment.
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| SuperFerry supports 10.10.10 Run for Pasig River |
The organizers planned to break a world record and expected more than 150,000 runners so we weren't expecting to run. True enough, there were so many who joined this cause. I saw people from different age-group - from kids to senior citicens, and walks of life -- high school and college students, yuppies, celebrities, etc.
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| let the race begin |
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| we thought those players only run for 3k. c'mon they're athletes! but we found out that they did the 21k. nice! |
The run walk started at around 5:30 (for the 3k) and everybody was so excited. Everyone was shouting and chanting when we heard the gun shot as a signal of the start. It's hard to run with the crowd because what we mostly did was a lot of overtakes and stop-overs.
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| finished the 3k run in 39 mins and so |
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| tara! let's run. |
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| with the VP! |
When we saw the finish line, we got more excited and hurriedly run to the end. We finished the 3k run walk in 39 minutes (kinda long because I heard there were 10k runners who finished it in less than 30 minutes, but hey this was our first and we're not runners remember?)
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| finisher's bracelet made of magazine paper by the relocated families in Calauan, Laguna |
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| jump for Pasig River |
Well, it's a pretty good experience personally and as a member of the community. So, whatever happened to the Piso for Pasig campaign I will not ask, but for sure a lot will be more vigilant to how will the proceeds of this cause be spent. And we're expecting a major and visible improvement on the Pasig River. (pics c/o Nicole)
Tree Planting in Makban Geothermal Plant (10.16.10)
We were supposed to plant trees in the Marikina watershed in Antipolo just like last year. But there's a last minute decision from the management that we do it in Bay, Laguna near the geothermal plant managed by Aboitiz Power instead. The change in venue was acceptable because the management reasoned that it's better to help the community around the area of the geo plant.
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| at the bus on the way to the Bay, Laguna |
We left Manila at around 6AM and arrived at the site at around 8:30 AM.
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| the tree planting site |
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| the boss - LMA giving a message |
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| giving instructions on how to plant properly |
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| ready to plant trees |
After some briefings and instructions on how to plant the seedlings properly, we proceeded to the area where we're gonna plant. What excite me was when I learned that we're gonna plant Narra. Yay!
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| on the way to the tree planting site |
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| tree planting it is |
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| down the slope |
Unlike last year where it's more a hike than a tree planting activity, this time we just walked for 8 minutes to the tree planting area. But the good thing about this was that we were able to plant more seedlings (the quota is 20 each) The spots where to plant seedlings were made ready for us, if you see in the pictures those were the ones with marked sticks.
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| after planting shot |
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| lunch time! |
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When we're done, we took some photos and went down to the base camp. We finished early and had lunch at around 10am.
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| i wonder what this facility is for |
Then we were toured to the geothermal plants managed by Aboitiz Power. I'll appreciate it more if someone from Power could explain us what each plant or facility does but to no avail.
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| IT team joined the Aboitiz group-wide tree planting for biodiversity enhancement |
I'm glad that our company gives back to the community not just by donating but also by organizing activities that involves its employees in helping rehabilitate our planet. It's a social responsibility that each corporation is required to do but we do more and with passion for a better environment, a better world -- and that's what I'm most proud of.
yehey! next year ulit!