John Mark R. Sagum, 23

A former College Instructor, currently Team Leader in a BPO Company

I’ve been volunteering for Greenpeace for over four years now, after I saw a feature about their work on whales on TV. I was delighted to learn that there was an opportunity to help out with the Greenpeace Philippine office. Since I have a background in IT, I started helping out with office work, doing data encoding, and helping with emails and online research. Later, I got drawn into more hands-on activities such as coastal clean ups, tree nurturing and information awareness campaigns, particularly with the Water Patrol.

I joined Greenpeace Water Patrol not only because of how it helps make the public aware of how water pollution issues affect our health and ecology but also because it involves people in the process of solving this challenge. They say that water is life. If water really is our life, should we just sit around and do nothing despite knowing its current abused and forlorn state? My answer is no.

With the Water Patrol, what I enjoy the most is working hand in hand with the youth. There is not a time when we had a Water Patrol activity without any youngsters involved. It’s always nice to see children as young as four to six years old already aware of environmental issues around us. It’s also refreshing to learn of their honest opinions about these issues.

The work I do definitely motivates and inspires me as a person. Working with the youth on environmental issues reminds us why we do what we do today—for the future. It makes us realize that our efforts will not be put to waste, and that in turn the youth will carry it on for the next generation. Being with youth who are active in social issues also makes me feel young again.

I always feel thrilled in helping out with campaigns, seeing them through to completion and actually effecting change in government policies, corporate practices and individual habits. There are still a lot of issues to be addressed but there are tons more we can do to help Greenpeace achieve more victories. We only need to have time, a never ending flow of creative ideas and an unrelenting passion in protecting our planet—the only planet we have.