#pylp

baby Pylp, student Pylp, scoundrel Pylp

Sorry if I haven’t been posting lately. School has just started and projects are kind of picking up speed. As of now I am still planning of a way to finish my plastic bottle trash bin prototype. 

You buy something, a snack or a drink, perhaps. You open it, eat or drink the contents, but there’s one problem: You’re left with an empty container. Trash. Waste. Useless. Those are the words that come to mind. You immediately start searching for a trashcan to throw that useless junk that you’re left with.

Sometimes (especially in the case of Filipinos, such as myself) you can’t even find a trash bin to throw your wastes in. So you might have resorted to something else... You casually walk to the nearest canal, or whatever area you can find that seems like a suitable drop-off for trash- door hinges, under rocks, off the side of buildings or cars- you name it. Then you walk away slightly happy, since you got that annoying piece of trash off of you.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t know the consequences of our little actions. You might have been thinking “This is just a little garbage, surely no one would mind.” But hey, think about how many others are thinking the same thing as you. Picture a few hundred, a few thousand, or even a few million people, all thinking that the trash they thoughtlessly put away would have no effect on anything. The amount of trash gets a whole lot bigger, doesn’t it? 

Now imagine the natural calamities and phenomena all around the world. You’ll notice that our thoughtless actions have either worsened or added to the damage caused by these events. One of the best examples I can think of are floods. They would have occurred less often when we kept our canals and rivers clean and free from floating garbage that cause drainage problems. Floods would also be less damaging without all the garbage clogging drains here and there.

Another example would be air pollution which, by the way, we probably might have increased a lot since we started using fossil fuels. Burning plastics and old rubber tires (Also known here as “pagsisiga”) ? Still a big practice here in the Philippines. 

Incinerators? Same case. Smoke belching cars? More or less still present. Open-air dump sites? Sure.

By now you probably get the point: Lack of discipline, BAD. Proper waste management and disposal, GOOD. Now you must be thinking, how could YOU help make a change? You may not be making a change for the Philippines (if you’re not in the Philippines), but the ways in which you can help pretty much apply to anywhere you live. You can start by riding a bike (which by the way is pretty exhausting if you’re riding uphill) or by being a clean and green person. 

How, you ask? Being clean and green doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do so many investments or seminars or whatever it is. You can start small. Practice pocketing or keeping your trash until you find a suitable waste bin, of course it doesn’t hurt if you also pick up pieces of trash you find along the roads and canals. You can recycle plastics and other non-biodegradable wastes into things you can use for profit. Here are a couple of sites that you can visit if you want to do so:

http://www.designrulz.com/product-design/2012/11/45-ideas-of-how-to-recycle-plastic-bottles/

http://www.earth911.com/recycling-guide/how-to-recycle-plastic-jugs-bottles/

http://www.boredpanda.com/plastic-bottle-recycling-ideas/

At the end of the day it’s really all about disciplining ourselves to help Mother Earth, to ease the burden on her, even just a little. Of course, you can’t force everyone to do the same thing that you are doing in a snap, but you can show them and explain why you do it, and just give them a few friendly reminders. Hopefully they’ll catch the habit and help the environment in their own ways.

Alumni Reconnect- A chance for US-based programs alumni to converge and share ideas with each other, as well as forge better connections and friendships. Team PYLP Pagadian (which includes my colleagues John Gregory and Junnette, and our teacher Sir Mo Al) had the opportunity to join one of the reconnects held at Iligan City, which was a 3-5 hour drive away from Pagadian City.

There were many things to do like Sharing of ideas for projects, action planning, conversing, as well as fun activities like mangrove tree planting. Below are some pictures taken from the Alumni Reconnects Iligan Page (https://www.facebook.com/AlumniReconnectsIligan?fref=ts):

After the 2-day reconnect event, one of our PYLP12 batchmates, Gian, offered to tour us around the city. We got to see the different barangays and spots in Iligan, like 

The Paseo de Santiago, with its beautiful view of the sunset,

the majestic Maria Cristina Falls, 

and my personal favourite: Mimbalot Falls. 

It was a hot summer afternoon, and we were looking for a place to go swimming. Unfortunately, the Timoga resorts were full, and we needed an alternative place to enjoy cooling off. And Mimbalot Falls was just the place.

Flowing water? Check. Multiple areas and pools to swim in? Check. Constant fun? Check.

It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but when you enter you’ll be amazed by the many choices you can make: A flowing stream, a 4-6 ft deep swimming pool, various kiddie pools, or a spot below the crashing waterfalls?

Hello everybody! I started this Tumblr account for a very specific purpose: To help change the world. Sounds like too big of an ambition, right? So I’ll scale it down. I’ll start with me, and eventually (hopefully), change those around me. 

Why am I attempting this? I recently became an alumnus of the 12th batch of the Philippine Youth Leadership Program, which is sponsored by the United States Department of State and hosted by Northern Illinois University(NIU). We were chosen (28 of us, 4 adult leaders, and 24 youth leaders) because we have the qualifications and potential to help lead our peers towards restoring our world and becoming ecological activists and agents of change.

Each of us is required to create and complete at least one community project that we believe can help create an impact, no matter how small or big the projects may seem at first, and part of my project is starting a blog and helping raise awareness about the issues of the world, especially the environment (and also to help my co- participants with their projects by asking for participation or donations).

Hopefully, someone stumbles upon my blog and sees my posts. Thank you and may God Bless you always!

NIU’s International Training Office Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Training-Office-NIU/564385103590790?fref=ts

Philippine Youth Leadership Program Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Philippine-Youth-Leadership-Program/115768076877?fref=ts

You can email me at: [email protected]

For now, you can check my social media accounts:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacob.parulan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bookworm1800

You can also check my colleagues’ (From the same city I’m from) Facebook accounts:

Junnette: https://www.facebook.com/maryjunnette.andale?fref=ts

John Gregory: https://www.facebook.com/gregory44718?fref=ts