Enderun Colleges for a Sustainable Christmas!
By Carlos Arnaldo
Tuloy Foundation Chorale- Don Bosco, Alabang, outreach partner of Enderun Colleges, light the
Sustainable Christmas tree with their honey-toned voices.
Honey-toned voices pierced the evening darkness, as the Enderun Christmas sustainabilitree shed its lights on the young Tuloy Foundation Chorale. Twelve young boys and twelve girls shared with us the Christmas joy of giving. Tuloy Foundation is one of the principal outreach partners of Enderun Colleges.
Macky Maceda, and the Christmas sustainabilitree
Macky Maceda, Director of Sustainability explains the four hour evening 1.2 kilowatt consumption of the sustainabilitree lights, powered by solar cells generating 2 kilowatts all day. One could also power the lights from energy transformed from the bamboo bikes! The Sustainability Department showcased these experiments to demonstrate the simplicity of renewed energy and how economical these sources are.
Macey Tayco, Operations Manager spoke on behalf of her company, ERA Solar (under the Buskowitz Development Group) which provided the solar panels for the sustainabilitree. James Buskowitz is a graduate of Enderun Colleges.
Enderun Colleges’ President, Dean Ed Rodriguez.
President of Enderun Colleges, Edgardo Rodriguez cited a few words from the Christmas sermon of the late Fr Horacio de la Costa, SJ. “This is the night when one small donkey, bears on its back, the weight of the world’s desire, and an ox plays host to the Lord of heaven. This is the night when we are told to seek our king, not in a palace, but in a stable.”
Dean Ed continued with his own words, “That faith of the unexpected and hope for a less troubled world come to life specially at Christmas time, and specially in the Philippines, both for Christians, as well as for non-Christians, like me. For ALL of us, Christmas becomes the time of year to become particularly mindful of giving instead of receiving. Tonight, we, the Enderun Community, pause to give back to our Mother Earth, instead of relentlessly receiving from Her.
“Might the living lights of our SustainabiliTree shine on our life as a community, in special ways!”
Joey Tuason, President of the Student Government
“What nerve! You keep snatching my cookies!” said the girl clutching her bag. She had put her bag of cookies down on the bench beside her when an elderly man sat beside her. As she started to pick and nibble her cookies, the elderly man did the same and this went on until all the cookies were finished. “Thanks for sharing my cookies,” she shouted angrily as she got up and walked away. Clutching her handbag, she realized her bag of cookies was still there. She had been nibbling on the man’s cookies! Joey Tuason, President of the Student Government told this story to illustrate that we’re all eating the next generation’s ‘cookies,’ the future well being of the planet. We need to open up and share now, and take care of our common resources for the future!
Our Christmas sustainable evening was graced with four muses – Loren Artajos (Miss Philippines Earth 2016), Shannon Bridgman (Miss Philippines-Fire 2016), Melanie Mader (Miss Philippines Eco-Tourism 2016), Angelia Ong (Miss Philippines Earth 2015).
For refreshments, guests had a difficult choice of Sauvignon or Merlot red wines from Oxford Landing, a South Australian winery that was founded in 1958. It implements ‘Vine to Dine’ supply chain practices that promote environmental bio-dynamic sustainability.
