One of the things I’d like to do this year is to be actively involved in an eco-friendly project, particularly one that helps in preserving our Philippine seas. In fact, last year, I started searching online for local groups that I might volunteer to help out with whale sharks conservation (okay, don’t laugh, but I’ve been fascinated with sharks since I was a kid, so this was the first thing that popped into mind).  I already have a fashion project in the works that should be launched early this year, and I’m contemplating the feasibility of contributing some of the profits I’d get to projects such as these.

Do you know what this is? It’s a butanding (whale shark). We had a really crappy underwater film camera but I was a happy camper while swimming with the whale sharks back in 2008.  I know this is a pretty close shot, but I did not touch the poor whale shark (you shouldn’t, they could be traumatized for all you know and never return to Donsol!  Who doesn’t hate being poked at?)

Anyway, I hate my Googling skills because apart from WWF Philippines, I didn’t find out much. So I was very thankful when I received this notice in my email about EndDanger, an eco-art and music festival for Save Philippine Seas’ Pawikan Watchers program.  The poor sea turtles–you know how it’s already very hard for them to survive the moment they hatch, and it makes me sad when I hear about pawikan eggs being made into a delicacy or souvenirs made from turtle shells sold in tourist areas.

The email, by the way, came from Artists for Nature and I was really pleased to know that a group like this exists!  I wish I could’ve thought of contributing to eco-friendly projects when I was still doing art exhibits, too.

Pawikan Watchers aims to educate volunteers from different parts of the Philippines on the ecology and biology of, and PAWB-approved guidelines for, handling sea turtles. Apart from raising funds, Artists for Nature sees the exhibit as an opportunity to broaden public awareness of the urgent need to preserve our wildlife.

I hope you can drop by the event on January 19, as EndDanger is seeking to raise funds for the monitoring of one of the Philippines’ most threatened species, the pawikan. All proceeds from the event’s ticket sales will go to the Pawikan Watchers training program, which Save Philippine Seas (SPS)—an independent movement that fights abuse of our aquatic resources through legal discourse and social media—launched in cooperation with Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).  The program really needs all the help it can get!  Do give me a heads up if you plan to go–we might meet each other there.

Two things I love!  Art and sealife conservation.  And it’s because of this that I discovered other organizations that could help me with questions with regards to volunteering.

EndDanger is sponsored by Numa the Organic & Eco Baby Store, Ministry of Mushrooms, and Holy Carabao Holistic Farms, and is in partnership withWhenInManila.com, Clean Up Philippines, Eco-Sys Foundation, Green Fins,Society for Sustainable Tourism and Development, Inc., Sea News Network,Butanding Network, UP Green League and Earth UST.

The art exhibit runs up to February 8, 2013. Conspiracy Garden Café is located at 59 Visayas Avenue, Project 6, Quezon City.

For opening night tickets or more information, please contact Wendi Garcia at +639162742859 or artistsfornature@gmail.com.

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