Read-Along highlights sustainable living, care for environment

MANILA, Philippines — Stories on sustainable living and caring for the environment were featured on Saturday in the virtual Inquirer Read-Along session attended by around 50 children via Zoom.

Actress and host Marlann Flores, together with professional storytellers Rich Rodriguez and Posh Develos, joined the storytelling session that was aired live on Inquirer’s Facebook pages and held in partnership with Globe At Home.

Flores, a member of #TeamGlobeofGood, which promotes sustainable living, read “Bakawan” written by Catherine Yu Untalan, Reena Rae de Leon Sarmiento and Mae Astrid Tobias, with illustrations by Van Zeus Bascon. It is about animals living in a mangrove who become distressed by all the human garbage in their home.

Afterward, Flores shared ways people could minimize their waste through simple practices.

“We don’t just need less, we need to recycle. With clothes, you don’t have to buy fast fashion all the time, you can use your old clothes or sell them as pre-loved items. There’s so much waste already, so it’s important to reuse things,” she said.

Rodriguez and Develos read “Si Emang Engkantada at ang Tatlong Haragan” written by Rene Villanueva and illustrated by Wilfredo Pollarco and Alfonso Oñate. It tells the story of an enchantress who teaches three naughty children to care for their surroundings.

Recounting the message of the story, Rodriguez stressed the importance of practicing sustainability to help save the environment.

“Sustainability is very much equivalent with contentment. I think contentment is the most important virtue today that a lot of people need to learn because if you have that in yourself, you would know how to be sustainable,” he said.

Flores also highlighted the value of reading for children in the digital age while Develos said the joy of reading should be instilled in kids by their families.

“There is too much information that children can get online so it’s good for them to go back to reading to develop their imagination. Let’s encourage kids to be children again and stay innocent as well as develop their vocabulary and learn to be eloquent,” Flores added.

Saturday’s session was opened by Barbie Dapul, marketing vice president for Globe At Home, who gave away prepaid Wi-Fi to some participants.

—ARIANNE SUAREZ, INQUIRER RESEARCH