Tea Talks and Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  Today, 22 April 2013 the world celebrates Earth Day and for this year, the theme is Face of Climate Change - effects of which have been becoming more and more evident in the Philippines in the past couple of years - from Ondoy to Sendong to Pablo. 

This is the the perfect day to share the learnings I gained during "Tea Talks". If you are a regular reader of this blog, you would know that I am concerned about the environment and the impact that my family has on it.  When I received an invitation for "Tea Talks" from Dappy, WWF-Philippines and Holy Carabao, I immediately saved the date and said yes.  

Dappy is owned by Jenny Chua, a mom of 2 active boys.  With her 1st baby, she used a mix of disposable and reusable diapers.  She became concerned where her baby's used nappies ended up in, did some research and was horrified to discover that most disposable diapers do not decompose until at least 250 years! This was way past the time of her children’s great grand children from the time she disposed it.  This realization gave birth to the Dappy brand.  What makes this brand different is that the Dappy diapers use bamboo fabric - more absorbent, hypoallergenic and anti-bacterial.  Dappy has been supporting the WWF programs and for every Dappy you buy, P10 goes to WWF.  

For this event, Dappy tied up with WWF-Philippines and Holy Carabao to launch their "I will if you will" project.  The refreshments were thoughtfully served in ceramic plates and paper cups - no plastic.  There were also reminders displayed all over the venue of how we can lessen our carbon footprint by reusing items or choosing to purchase reusable instead of disposable products. 

The afternoon started with a talk by WWF-Philippines.  While the Philippines is nowhere near the top rankings for the most carbon contribution per capita, we are one of the countries most susceptible or vulnerable to climate change!  WWF-Philippines also emphasized that we are currently using the resources equivalent to what 1.5 planet can provide! This means, we are using resources faster than the planet can produce them.  WWF-Philippines has this downloadable calculator which allows you to compute your carbon footprint. 

Dappy reusable towels

Among the changes that WWF-Philippines encouraged us to apply to our households would be to switch to reusable items such as cloth diapers, chargeable batteries, washable tumblers and choosing to buy local.  

N writes her pledge

We were also encourage to write our own "I will, you will" pledges to spread the word and encourage others to make little changes which will have a great impact on the environment.  It was a good thing that I brought N with me to the event because she was able to realize that there was a reason for the saving tips that we practiced at home.  For instance, when we use tissue paper, we limit it to 3 squares at a time.  She also uses scratch paper [instead of fresh paper] for her scribbles and drawings.

N joined the action and wrote her own I will pledge: "I WILL REUSE SCRATCH PAPER" and "I WILL REUSE TOILET PAPER ROLLS FOR MY ART PROJECTS"

Meanwhile, my own pledge was "I WILL REDUCE OUR AIRCON USE BY 2 HOURS, IF YOU WILL SWITCH TO MAMA PADS".  Here are some of the other pledges made during the event:

Jenny's pledge

Pledges from the SoMoms, SoDad and SoKid!

Have you thought about making your own pledge?  Today, Earth Day, is the perfect time to make one.  Share your pledge in the Dappy wall!

For more information about Dappy, Holy Carabao and WWF-Philippines, visit their social media pages below:
Dappy - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
WWF-Philippines - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Holy Carabao - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram