ALAY-LAKAD 2010: DISPLAY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CARING: The annual “Alay-Lakad” affair in the Philippines took an urgent global theme Sunday, September 5, 2010, as Rotary International (RI) District 3810, the lead agency for this year’s version of people walking to raise funds for socio-civic purposes, pushed the idea of caring for, and preserving, the environment among the thousands who “walked for a cause” that day.

RI District 3810 Gov. Tranquil Gervacio Salvador III led the “environment walk”, even as he earlier exhorted the 90 or so clubs comprising his district (Manila, Pasay City, Cavite and Occidental Mindoro) to wear shirts colored environmental green, containing the “Four Way Environmental Test” he himself formulated for Rotary Year 2010-1011.

As early as 3 in the morning Sunday, Gov. Tranquil was already busy coordinating the yearly walk around the historic Quirino Grandstand at the world-famous Luneta Park, exhorting Rotarians and the other participating agencies to follow the “Four Way Environmental Test”.

“FOUR WAY ENVIRONMENT TEST” TAKES CENTER STAGE: This is of course the first time that caring for and preserving the environment has been given a stronger and more urgent push by any Rotary district worldwide, with a set of first-ever environmental guidelines to boot, formulated in four questions similar to the time-tested Rotary’s Four Way Test.

Without doubt, Gov. Tranquil’s efforts to involve Rotarians in his quest for a better environment to combat the malady of global warming and pernicious climate change are reflected in the “Four Way Environmental Test” which Rotarians are now mandated to observe in their daily living.

The environmental test, as formulated by Gov. Tranquil: “Is it good for the environment? Is it environmentally friendly? Will it promote healthy ecology and clean environment? Will it be environmentally beneficial to all concerned?”

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ROTARY EFFORTS TO CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT LAUDED: I am greatly pleased by these efforts to care for and preserve our environment, at least in this part of the globe. The undeniable fact is that the damage that climate change and global warming has so far brought to mankind is already inestimable and destructive beyond measure, but we have not really seen the end of it.

Everyone must therefore contribute his share to care for and preserve the environment, and Rotarians under the leadership of a visionary leader like District Gov. Tranquil Salvador have that awesome power to bring about a collective change in our people’s attitude towards nature and how to make it healthier for all of us.

Certainly, Tranquil’s efforts along this line happily complements what other groups are already doing to abate the pernicious effects of nature going awry, particularly those who are advocating a spiritual approach to solving climate change and global warming, under the belief inspired by the Bible that climate change is a curse from God directed to a people who no longer listen to Him and who no longer obey Him (Deuteronomy 28: 15-68).

GLOBAL WARMING, AS WARNED ABOUT BY THE BIBLE: Deuteronomy 28:15 says: “However, if you do not listen to the Lord your God, and do not obey His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all of these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” Deuteronomy 28:22-23 says: “The Lord will strike you with …scorching heat and drought…which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron…”