Illustration by JOSEPH ANTIPOLO

Climate change may be a big problem but the solution is simple — live a greener lifestyle. And lessons on living a greener lifestyle should be taught at a very young age for children must learn how to act and save mother earth to prevent the full-blown threats of global warming.

Actually, today’s younger generations are the ones who will take the long-term effects of the problems brought about by global warming - due to the time delay in the greenhouse process. So even if people stop producing greenhouse gases today, the climate will continue to get hotter and it will take time for the earth to heal itself.

That’s why many non-governmental organizations in the Philippines are now taking bold steps to arrest the situation, and one of them is Children’s Environmental Awareness and Action Foundation (CEAAF), which is relentlessly helping kids to take better care of the environment.

The volunteers for nature of CEAAF together with the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) group recently went to Cebu City to promote their mission in raising national consciousness and behavioral change among the youth to protect and sustain the rich biodiversity of the Philippines.

Together with the Cebu local government headed by Margot Osmeña, wife of Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña, more than a hundred indigent children were given awareness programs about marine sanctuary at the Parian Dropping Center for Street Children in Cebu City.

“We are very glad that through this program, our children will somehow realize the value of our environment, especially the sea which had been severely affected by global warming. We want to educate them because there’s still hope to save our earth,” Margot said.

As part of its corporate social responsibility, the HSBC group is committed to fighting climate change which represents the single largest environmental, economic, and social challenge.

The HSBC has been one of the world’s pioneers in addressing climate change in partnership with The Climate Group, Earthwatch, The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).