Hundreds of environmental advocates ran, cleaned the sea, and planted 350 mangrove trees during the May 5 Climate Impact Day at Silliman Beach in Dumaguete City recently, a press release from organizers said.

Zephanie Danieles, national coordinator of the 350.org, said runners, scuba divers, environmentalists and individuals gathered to educate, advocate, and mobilize people to act on reversing the warming of the earth.

Science has tracked the earth’s temperature through the last five decades and has determined that the temperature of the earth continues to increase. The increase has disturbed weather patterns by intensifying storms, draught, and causing unpredictable seasons, Danieles added.

The activity was led by the Metro Dumaguete Runners Club, that went from Silliman Beach to Silliman Avenue and back, before planting and adopting 350 mangrove propagules in a nursery prepared by BPI Bayan Dumaguete Cluster, the press release added.

It also said that mangrove trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen. The rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is considered the primary cause of global warming. Mangroves also combat the effects of rising sea levels, coastal erosion and flooding, offer refuge to fishes and help strain the creek and ocean of plastics, it said.

Meanwhile, a team of divers led by Harold Biglete, and members of the Philippine National Police, collected plastics from coral reefs and the ocean floor. The divers, calling themselves SCUBAsureros, pulled up several sacks of plastics, the press release also added.*

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