BIG NEWS! I am super excited and proud to report that EVERY school in Mt. Province is now making Ecobricks. Mam Sally, the Superintendent, had our Vision Ecobrick Guide (the culmination of a year of research and development) published in Bontoc two weeks ago. A copy and encouragement was sent to all 263 elementary and highschools and 10 private schools across the Cordilleras with my good friend Nhe An‘s help . I’ve since been receiving reports from all over the province! Friends visiting the most remote areas of Natonin and Barlig have reported seeing children picking up wrappers from the paths, parents stuffing bottles. Other friends report that their villages (Bangan) are suddenly and miraculously cleaned! Others report families working together to help their child make ecobricks.
A crazy idea that begin in my home has within a short time become a power solution nearing universal adoption! Best of all, nobody needs me! The schools, with the help of our guide, are empowered to do it all on their own. And a funny thing, the politicians, whom I didn’t bother with, are now getting into the solution. The mayor of Sagada has planned to build public toilets with Ecobricks, all the government staff are packing, and the mayor of Bontoc is going to help fund our bottle Inspiration Center.
Best of all though, is seeing a stranger or a child packing a bottle with plastic as I hike or bike around. Hurray! — Those plastics will stay out of the staggeringly beautiful ecologies here! And put to good use. AND the process is making people reflect on the plastic itself… I can feel that this is just the beginning of a much deeper movement as the younger generation move back into harmony with the Earth.
I’ve done community collaborations in the past, but never provincial collaborations! This is the power of the mandala. By holding true to the principles of collaborative mandala making, the potential is there for even broader and grander collaborative movements. For those of you who are curious, there are no NGOs, governments, or corporations behind me, its just my passionate friends and I who are making this happen. Perhaps, that is exactly why it is working.
The window is open to take this even broader, if anyone is interested in sponsoring me, or helping to take this further, let me know.
