Much has been said about climate change and the destruction wrought by men towards the environment. With the recent calamities that resulted in the loss of lives and the destruction of properties, awareness is not enough as everyone needs to take urgent steps to save Mother Earth. 

The Meralco Development Center (MMLDC), in its mission to provide the best learning solutions to companies and organizations, hosted its 4th MMLDC Educators’ Forum with "Environment" as the central theme. More than a thousand public school teachers and principals flocked to the Meralco Theater last Nov. 5 to be part of "Karunugan Ukol sa Kalikasan Para sa Kinabukasan, Kilos Na!". 

"Teachers have an important role in raising the environmental consciousness of their students, as well as their community", said Leonisa C. De La Llana, MMLDC Vice President, in her welcome remarks.  She stressed further the urgent need of environmental education in the face of recent natural developments, such as global warming and its effects.

This was reiterated in the presentation of Dr. Angelina Galang, Executive Director of the Environmental Studies Institute of Miriam College. She challenged the teachers with her talk, "Climate Change:  A Teacher's Challenge" and illustrated the relation of carbon dioxide production, both from man-made and natural sources, and how it is balanced by the presence of carbon dioxide sinks such as the forest cover, sea grasses and mangroves.   Her presentation made the teachers aware of what climate change is all about and how they could impart these lessons to their students.

"Progress has depleted the number of 'sinks', while the amount of carbon dioxide has been steadily increasing, leading to global warming" said Dr. Galang who then outlined the concept of mitigation and adaptation as a two-pronged attack in dealing with the after-effects of global warming.
 
However, mitigation can only go far in offsetting the changes wrought by climate change, if only people are willing to change their lifestyle.  According to former DENR secretary Elisea 'Bebet' Gozun, the moving force behind the Ecowatch program, there has to be a shift in the way people live and it starts with education. "Teachers have to become eco-role models and show their students that a well-lived life starts with an eco-friendly lifestyle", she said.  Each small step “like recycling, proper segregation of waste, minimal use of plastic bags, etc." goes a long way in saving Mother Earth.

 After stressing the need for environmental education and action, the forum also highlighted MMLDC's commitment to further alleviating the status of science education in the Philippines. Vivien Arnobit, MMLDC Director for Academic Services, and Agnes Fidelino, MMLDC Managing Director, turned over to Dr. Galang the first issue of "DokuSiyensya: Science Digest" a groundbreaking project of the Center coordinated with the Association of Science Educators of the Philippines (ASEP).
 
The DokuSiyensiya is a collaborative effort between MMLDC, renowned science educator Dr. Josette Biyo and her team of science teachers from the Philippine Science High School in Western Visayas, to teach Investigative Science Research Methods to MMLDC's beneficiary-teachers. This was started in 2007 with the conduct of 3 batches.  During discussions with Dr. Biyo, the science teachers said they wished they could encourage more students to do investigative research but that the students were "afraid" to write papers. MMLDC helped by making a checklist and a report template and sharing these with the schools.  "We also documented winning science projects that can inspire budding scientists" said Ms. Arnobit.

With support from ASEP, which conducts the Annual National Science Quest, MMLDC attended and documented this year's event in Calapan, Mindoro. A team then gathered the reports and profiles of the winners and their projects, which are now included in the first issue of DokuSiyensiya. The copies will soon be disseminated to various partner-schools of MMLDC.

After the forum, MMLDC engaged the audience to submit their pledges to Mother Earth and become a part of the Ten Million Movement for Environment Protection. This project by Dr. Gozun seeks to enlist the commitment of 10 million Filipinos to take positive action to help address the environmental crisis.