THERE is always a first time for everything, but for a 21-year-old who has never planted a single tree in his life until this weekend, Val Amiel Vestil said it is never too late for anyone who looks to the future not only for himself but for the coming generations.
“Some people never really know the crisis they are in or the depth of the problem that is in front of them until it is finally in front of them. That is sad,” he said, noting the need to increase awareness among the youth on the importance of planting trees as well as on the environment.
Val, a fourth year Mass Communication student of Silliman University in Dumaguete City, is one of 28 student youth leaders from Negros Island who graduated Friday evening from the three-day Binhi Youth Camp (BYC) of the geothermal power leader, Energy Development Corporation (EDC).
Having returned recently from a six-month scholarship at a university in South Korea, Val Vestil has expressed enthusiasm that following the completion of the BYC, he and three others from Silliman University in this batch of campers will endeavor to undertake on-campus activities promoting tree-planting and other ways to protect the environment.
For Aileen May Catalan, a former nun from a religious congregation, being a part of the 3rd Binhi Youth Camp, held in Valencia, Negros Oriental, has given her more insight and awareness of the “outside world,” particularly on caring, protecting and preserving the environment.
Catalan, 29, had spent 10 years in the Reparatrix Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a semi-contemplative religious order, before she left the convent to study Criminology at the Bago City College in Negros Occidental.
She is grateful for the exposure given her by the EDC through the Binhi Youth Camp because it has made her stronger as a steward of the environment.
Her spiritual formation in the convent will be her foundation to work on things like apostolate or evangelization in the community to encourage members “to protect the environment because it is God’s gift to us.”
The former nun and now third year Criminology student finds the Binhi tree-planting “a fulfillment and a symbol that there is hope and that we must not lose it.”
During the graduation ceremony Friday evening, Vestil, Catalan and 26 other youth leaders pledged their commitment to “spread positive energy” and to engage in activities on and off campus for the protection on the environment.
Now on its third year, the BYC is the Energy Development Corporation's (EDC) leadership camp that aimed to instill pride among the participants for this gift of geothermal energy in Negros Island.
During the youth camp, the participants were exposed to various activities and lectures on geothermal operations, as well as other areas that would help them develop their leadership skills, said Jingo Sobrevilla, this year’s BYC camp commander.
Lectures included EDC’s operations on clean and renewable geothermal energy, the 10M in 10 forest restoration project in Negros Island, map reading for the Amazing Race and even basic survival skills and disaster preparedness by the renowned Dr. Ted Esguerra.
A tree-planting of endemic species such as Molave, Narra, Nato, White Lauan, and Yakal seedlings, which are all a part of EDC's 96 flagship native tree species under its Binhi Tree for the Future, highlighted the youth camp.
The Amazing Race capped the three-day BYC with activities such as rappelling and wall climbing, with seven stations that had questions that the teams had to complete before they could move on to the next, the camp commander said.
Camp Commander Jingo Sobrevilla emphasized that the BYC is not just an ordinary summer camp kind-of-thing but it is unique in that it provides the participants the opportunity to be exposed to geothermal operations and become stewards of the environment.
Meanwhile, two Binhi Youth ambassadors have helped in this year’s camp as facilitators.
Elmar Escoro, 26, who hails from La Castellana, Negros Occidental, and who is a fourth year college Criminology student of Bago City College, said he returned this year as a representative of the school to the BYC, this time as a facilitator.
Escoro, a School Supreme Student government senator of Bago City College, has lauded the EDC for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects that benefit the people.
What he has learned on environmental awareness, such as how to fight climate change and how to take care of the environment, he has shared with this year’s campers, Escoro said.
For his part, Ivan Christopher Cordevilla, 18, of Foundation University, said that doing small things for the environment each day will go a long way.
“As a youth champion and environmental steward, I practice it every day, and I participate in small activities,” said Cordevilla, who, along with Escoro, is a grand finalist representing his school in the EDC’s Battle of the Brains quiz bee championship in November.
Cordevilla beams with pride as he disclosed that he has planted endemic and endangered trees in his backyard, to include Tindalo, White Lauan and Almaciga species.
“It is not the typical teenager thing that you do, planting trees in your backyard,” he said.
“It is not really the extravagant things that you do for the environment, but simple things would also work,” Cordevilla added.
As one of the “environment champions” of Foundation University, known to be the most eco-friendly school in the country, Cordevilla said he also participates in FU-EDC’s Endemic Trees Arboretum project.
Cordevilla has this to say to the millennials: “The youth has a big role to play in mitigating the impacts on the environment because of climate change, because we will stay longer here on earth and it is our future that we have to protect.”
“We can create innovative things, we have fresh minds. Try to reflect on what you can do for the environment because it can really affect you in the future. Climate change is felt now. Global warming is already here causing strong typhoons, and now is the time to act,” he said.
This year, delegates from these schools participated: Colegio de Sta. Catalina de Alejandria, Negros Oriental State University, Saint Paul University Dumaguete; Foundation University, STI-Dumaguete, Asian College of Science and Technology, and Silliman University from Negros Oriental; University of St. La Salle, Carlos A. Hilado Memorial State College-Alijis, Bago City College, La Consolacion College - Bacolod, Visayan Maritime Academy, Colegio San Agustin - Bacolod, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, and West Negros University - Systems Technology Institute from Negros Occidental. (PNA)