I love Davao!
Aside from Davao being my hometown and the place I grew up in, Davao has taken a lot of measures to stand out and set itself apart from other cities. We have a state-of-the-art traffic system which is comparable to that of Los Angeles, the first in the country at that. It is the first to have taxis who can pay using EPS (in layman's terms, using your ATM). We have an emergency response hotline (911), clean drinking water, a no-smoking policy (hello, pollution-free environment), honest cab drivers, cheap and fresh food and a whole lot more! Davao is also just 15 minutes away from both the beach and the mountains! On top of that, Davao is typhoon-free. We are indeed so blessed.
Recently, Davao has implemented the plastic ban which aims to reduce the amount of waste. Indeed, since then, you could really see the difference with fast food companies and stores opting to use paper bags instead of the usual plastic bags. SOUL Lifestyle, a homegrown and lifestyle brand, has also joined the green revolution to move and support Davao to being a totally and plastic-free city. SOUL has done its little part before by using the chic black and white paper bags we've all grown to love, but now they are stepping it up a notch. With the campaign entitled Love Sustainable Style, SOUL launches 10,000 eco-chic bags for each customer's purchase.
For your first eco-bag, you pay 1php and on subsequent purchases using the bag, you get 10php off PER item, which goes to an environmental fund. How's that for saving the environment?
Can I just relate this to my Chemical Engineering side? On my end, I think that re-using is really the best alternative, the better being the substituting (with paper bags). Why? Because you still have to produce paper bags. Indeed, substituting paper for plastic makes a difference as paper decomposes faster than plastic. Still, wouldn't you rather produce (and use) something 1 time big time than to keep producing? Remember, trees are cut off to make paper bags and the forests are being depleted rapidly as we struggle to meet our growing demands..and fully grown trees age in what? Every 125 years?
Pardon the nerd-chat. I'm just really passionate about the environment that's why I immediately jumped on when I found out about this project. (Segue! I remember being asked this question once: What is the essence of being a Chemical Engineer? and I answered "to be an environmental steward" Naks ha. Bongga yun, diba?)
Anyway, I am inviting you all to take your photo with the SOUL Lifestyle eco-bag to be recognized as a #sustainablestyle ambassador! We will be posting your photos on Facebook along with prominent Davao personalities and bloggers. For such a good cause, for doing your part, why be shy to hide your face? :)
